The best book on the market currently for learning programming in general, in my opinion, happens to use Perl as the basis for teaching programming. That book is
Elements of Programming with Perl by Andrew Johson, published by Manning.
It starts off with basic programming logic without any programming commands. That is to say it starts off with exercises and examples with just human instructions, but instructions that follow the logic a computer use. This helps the reader to understand how to communicate with a computer without getting bogged down with learning commands. Then the book gradually replaces these human instructions with simple Perl commands. With Perl being a very natural programming language with many English like words that one would use in normal conversation, it makes for a natural transition from human to computer language. A very clever approach that will give you a basic foundation in computer programming and Perl in a short period of time.
I will give you one warming about the book, though. The first three chapters or so are so basic that it can be a little slow moving. My advice is to force yourself through them because it will pay off. After the first few chapters, it picks up speed and you can then jump around. If you skip the foundational chapters, though, you'll soon find yourself confused and frustrated. So, if you decide to use this book, commit to yourself to endure the first chapters and you'll be glad you did.
