Python is a very good place to start. However,Perl isn't a bad place to start either. Perl has a gazillion ways to express yourself. Perl is overly complicated (yet easy to get started with), so you are exposed to numerous ways to think. Perl gives you 8 million different sized and colored ropes to hang yourself with (google TMTOWTDI), so Perl will teach you to BE CAREFUL. The O'Reilly Perl books are excellent.
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