I don't have any suggestions for your first question because I had some solid background on the basics of procedural programming, and so didn't ever have the need for the kind of resource you're looking for. Best of luck!

My personal feelings about it being a first language, however, will probably run counter to others here. I don't really think its the best starter language. If I were to lead people into programming, I'd move them through the web route: HTML->JavaScript (or something similar). Yes, yes, HTML isn't a language, blah blah. Its a good starter point to understand structure, which I've learned most people don't understand to begin with.

Perl is very Cish, which I find to be difficult to deal with. Sure, its FAR better than C for most daily tasks, but I think that the complexity of regular expressions is enough to chase off any newbie in programming, and that's one of the most widely used (and important) aspects of Perl. On the flip side are things like VB or Java, which force the programmer into long complex if/thens, or case statements, but also force structured thinking about what the person wants to happen.

Purdue University's (my employer) School of Technology is using VB as a starting language, but I believe their shift is going toward Java. To me, this is a pointer to the relative simplicity of the languages compared to others, and perhaps toward their perception of its relative usefulness. Perl is offered, and taken widely, but the other two have been given more weight.

So, take my comments as you like, and good luck in your endeavors.