'Someday VB you'll grow up to be a real language with boolean short circuiting I had a bunch of nested if statements that could have been simplified with boolean short circuiting and I was frustrated.

Qaos

Ultimately it depends on why your son wants to learn programming. What is his interest? Games? Websites? User applications? Server apps? I would choose a language that would lend itself well to his interest and is not overly cryptic in syntax and semmantics. Even if you don't know the language, you could both learn it together. Just start with the basics like variable declarations/assignment and flow control with plenty of application. Don't rush the learning process. From there it will all depend on if he wants to be a software engineer, a software developer or something else. C#, C++, Java, and VB.NET are all good introductory languages. If it were my son, I'd choose C++ and teach him to clean up after himself. ;) It would make him a better programmer in the long run.

Justin