#351 overall
Google Python Class
2 recommenders · 2 threads · recommended in 2 years, 2010–2012 · score 1.5
A free self-paced introduction to Python from Google, with lectures, example code, and sample assignments aimed at people learning to program.
Commenters point to it as a fast, practical introduction to Python, citing its good examples, lectures, and sample assignments.
Recommendations by year
20062026
For you that I'd say start with Python. It's used for software development, scripting, system administration and web development which seems to hit everything you want. I'd check out udacity's cs 101 which teaches how to build a search engine in Python as well as Google's Python class: http://code.google.com/edu/languages/google-python-class/
Since you're still in school it might be worthwhile to see if you could sneak into an intro to programming class for your last semester.
A practical/immediate suggestion: Forget about reading books and try the following for now.
Don't worry about the language wars. First learn to have fun. Have a go at http://www.tryruby.org - it teaches you to code in Ruby in 15 minutes'ish online. You can type stuff in and try it out immediately. If you like the test drive, then download Ruby and have a go at it.
If you liked that, checkout Google's python class - it has great examples, lectures, and even sample assignments. http://code.google.com/edu/languages/google-python-class/
They're both competing languages (or so the flame wars make it out to be :) and give you a nice introduction to programming super fast!