> completely new to programming My personal view is that starting with some simple C is a good decision for absolute beginners.
It is no waste of time, as every serious programmer will need some C knowledge. And C is close to assembler, so you really learn how computers work internally. You should also take a look on the generated assembler code, pages like [https://godbolt.org](https://godbolt.org)/ makes that easy. If you are also interested in Hardware, than some programming of some 8 bit CPU like AVR microcontrollers in assembler is not a bad idea. But I admit that C can be too difficult for some kids when there are no teachers/parents/friends for some help available. When starting with some simple C, one can do a tutorial of a higher level language like Python, Ruby or Nim at the same time. So one learns how computers really work, and one learns what the advantages of high level languages over plain C are.
