Good Programming Guides?

Java is WAAY easier than C. Unless you're referring to C#, then it's the other way around, but by a small margin.

Well...

It all depends very much on the understanding of the person. In syntax, they are about the same.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_syntax
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_syntax

Now, Java comes with a large pre-compiled library to use as you see fit. C comes with nothing (again, unless it's C++ .NET, or C#).
Also, Java is an OO language. Although that adds to the confusion, it opens up many possibilities, and for some people, is easier to grasp.
Edited by ronnin426850 - 8/4/12 at 11:17pm

I am currently teaching myself Java....
If you want an easy to understand and great video tutorial check out on You Tube "Bucky java tutorial" 80 some odd videos ranging from 6-20 mins long on just Java. They are very informative.
I would suggest having a companion book so if you don't understand something you can read up on it. I had a hard time wrapping my head around methods from a different class, but a book i got helped me out ALOT.

Oh and Bucky has a TON of other programming language tutorials as well! Good Luck!

I've done both Java and C#. Java is pretty versatile as is C# but the syntax is funky. I honestly forget C# now that my job requires all java development. Normally if you know one you can read and decipher the other. I recommend the easy head start books or the OReilly books on C# and Asp.net. One of them has a whole tutorial from chapter 1 all the way to the end where you design a full functional site with a Database and web services too.

If you want to learn Python, learn it first.

My first language was Groovy, which is built on Java, and it was a lot easier to do a lot of things than it is to do them in Java. What I mean by this is, there are several convenience functions built in to Groovy that just make using it significantly easier. Python possesses a lot of similar functions (more, I believe), and it will be a lot easier to get used to programming logic coding in Python over any of the other languages you've mentioned.

I would learn ASM after C, just because it is so low-level. You'll probably want to have a knowledge of things like pointers, etc, before you deal with ASM. So, in my opinion, I'd learn Python first, then Java, then C, then ASM.

With that said, take it slow. I spent the better part of a year working with Groovy 8 hours a day (it was my job) to get used to programming in general. It takes a long time to master a programming language, especially your first one. Along the same vein, I'm currently getting to know Haskell, and have been for most of this current year. Learning new languages takes time, so four full languages is a large commitment (although, once you master your first one, you'll start to see similarities among them).

Python is a good starter language because it will allow you to do things without much fuss, and as such, I think it's a good basis for programming in general, and you'll get a lot out of learning it. It will also (likely) be more fun than learning Java (which can get kinda frustrating knowing the power of more modern languages like Python).

In any case, good luck with your studies!

5outh speaks the truth here, my only addition would be not to trouble yourself with ASM unless you require it (working with really low level hardware for industry purposes), because other than that there is minimum application for it (compared to the high level languages).

Given just python, C, asm, and java, this is my advice.

I would learn python to get a feel for procedural and object-oriented programming and learn to think like a programmer. Next, learn C. This will give a lower level view on static typing and data structures. The next step is a good book on algorithms to make you think even more like a programmer. After this is done, learn MIPS assembly as it is easier to learn than x86 and there's more good book about it as it is taught in lots of schools (in addition, it is the best computer architecture around). Finally, about java. Learn clojure instead of java. Both compile to the JVM (java virtual machine) bytecode, but development in clojure using a functional programming style will stretch your mind in another way making you an even better programmer while avoiding the horrid language that is java (you get the cross platform JVM and all the libraries without the java syntax).

To those stating that java is easier to learn. I would challenge you to justify that statement. C is a very small language, so learning all the parts is much easier (there's not dozens of libraries to memorize). The fact that learning OOP isn't necessary makes another case against java being easier to learn. Further, in a normal program, writing libraries in C and then calling them and organizing the general structure in python will be faster and easier than writing in java while performance will be similar or better as all the heavy lifting is done by the C code (and pypy is only about 50% slower than java anyway).