Programming language help.

Java is very usefull, c# and other languages too , take a look in Unity project (and Unity 3D) and Unreal Engine , take a look what you can understand better, and start by simple things :) this 2 projects are free and you have a huge amount of tuttorials on net

I Particulary reccomend you test Unity :) and Learn Java

I heard C++ is probably the best, and that java is just easier but outdated. I know nothing about programming though.

C++

ActionScript and Processing are good options to start with :)

Java is good for Android and/or cross-platform development but not always the most optimized language. C++ or C# is sure to give you the most flexibility, expecially if you're looking at games development.

Brainfuck

C#

Monkey, C# with XNA, Java for Android, it's up to yo- this is in order of easiest to hardest.

C++ is probably the best when it comes to game programming, since it gives you a lot of power and control, but you have to start from scratch, so...

It really depends on what games you want to develop. If you want to make 3D games and you're all alone, maybe it's best for you to use the Unity 3D engine and learn Unityscript, which is based on Javascript.

Hard to say without knowing what you are making or what platform you are making it for. C++ is probably the best for control over everything but can be harder to use than something like C#. C# is great and you can use XNA. XNA is based off .NET framework so if you aren't making it for Windows/Xbox it isn't a good choice. The main thing is find something you are comfortable with.

Well, I'm guessing you wish to focus more on the design aspect more than anything else right? There are tools out there specifically tailored to help you with such an endeavor. You can use C# or C++ with the XNA framework, which makes developing games less tedious. You can use Unity(though I've never tried it out). There is the UDK/Unreal Engine which I hear is quite flexible, but still requires know-how. There's the Source SDK (but making mods with it will certainly drive you insane). There are many tools for 2D game development but the main one you should start with is Game Maker.

From my point of view, you should focus more on proper coding etiquette and since you seem to be at home with Java, you can use an external library like LWJGL. Though personally, I would never code in Java again due to the retarded memory management.

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Mostly depends on what you plan to make games for.

I might suggest Python if you're just starting at learning coding for games. Since you say you've learned a bit of Java, I would suggest using Unity that you already have to learn more since it uses javascript.

Edit: I might also suggest just modifying code that you can get your hands on to learn about game coding.

Any. There is no 'best programming language'. You can make pong on an oscilloscope if you want. Most 360/GFWL games probably use C# or so. Vampire the Masquerade used Python and it was pretty awesome. Just go with whatever's comfortable for you.

NVIDIA Cg

http://www.monkeycoder.co.nz/

Start with C/C++ if you're looking to get into programming, and then work up to Java if you want. And when you start, don't expect to be making anything even close to the games you see and want to emulate -- a lot of the initial learning involves trial-and-error along with fairly useless programs. Of course, this is a good thing since you aren't going to learn anything if you start off trying to combine it all into a finished product.

But yeah, start with C or C++ (incredibly similar) and focus on the basics, like pointers and whatnot. A lot of people have quite a bit of difficulty overcoming some of the concepts involved.

I'd suggest looking into game engines or toolkits first and deciding on the language based on that. The language is not the most important skill to learn when it comes to game programming, and the concepts you learn with one language should transfer to another without problem.

It's either Java or C++ (no point in learning C beforehand I believe, it makes it even harder to switch).

Java is a little bit easier, and your game can instantly run on any OS because of the way it works (as I remember, it sends a message to the computer which interprets it and sends it back). Otherwise with C/C++ you'll have to rewrite the code for every other OS. On the other hand, C++ is very capable and that's what you're going to use when making Skyrim, MW3, BF3... you get the idea.
Aaaaand if we trust the Humble Bundle's stats to be universal, Linux users gladly dish out more money for games.

Anyway, there's also Flash - ActionScript 2 is very easy (whereas you've got six types of variables with Java, AS2 only has 3) but it's coming to an end. We now have ActionScript 3 which is that much harder... the code to stop the file right in its track is twice as long.

Why am I proposing Flash? Well, contrary to popular belief, you can make some pretty neat video games and some pretty neat money (MochiAds is a great way to do that). In fact, I heard a flash game sold for 20'000 dollars (and that's all the rights to the game) once. Thing is, with a Flash environment, you see what you're working on directly instead of reading through text.

There's also Unity, which uses the Unreal Engine right into your browser. You don't need to know any language to use it, but you can work on it directly. I don't remember which language you'd use then though.

Codeacademy have some decent interactive Java tutorials. There were a couple of times when I found the answer checking to be a bit wonky but the forums there helped me get around that.

I'm learning C at the moment, I do no recommend it.

C++ is the best :D you can always try python or something else.

For 2D stuff : c++ with either SDL or SFML

For 3D stuff: C# with XNA

I'm a java coder myself and was recently forced to switch to C++ and it's not that bad a transition but there is some work involved. I have to say though that C# has an almost identical syntax to Java so if you know Java pretty well then the switch is a breeze.

I'm studying Computer Science. Java-skills needed ;)

I know that you have already done some Java, but if you are looking to learn a language easily whilst learning knowledge that you can easily transfer to other languages then you need to learn Python 3. However, if you want to get straight into making some games then Unity is the place to look.