Knuth says programming languages are all alike (OK, he says they have several properties in common.) Still, it is a lot easier to learn a second or "N 1th" language than it is to learn the first one.
Many languages are available, each with strengths and weaknesses -- and fervent fans. Knowing what you intend your progams to do makes picking an appropriate language a lot easier.
Bookmark
The Art of Computer Programming
The Art of Computer Programming isn't a "beginner's" book, but it's a great place to start a serious study of computer science. Programming is a detail-oriented process. Knuth never loses sight of the conceptual forest amidst the syntactic trees. Expensive. Worth it!
Art of Computer Programming, The, Volumes 1-3 Boxed Set (2nd Edition) (The Art of Computer Programming Series) (Vol 1-3)
Amazon Price: $159.99 (as of 07/12/2009) 
Further Reading
This lens certainly got side-tracked in the RSS frenzy! However, there will be some additions "RSN." If your favorite language isn't listed here, try:
Computer Languages
Computer Programming
Web Scripting
Eric S. Raymond
Eric was for many years the keeper of "The Jargon File" FAQ, which is the source of the "scratch monkey" reference, and became The New Hacker's Dictionary -- still is, I guess.
Anyway I couldn't plug the dictionary without mentioning The Cathedral & the Bazaar which helped to launch the open source "revolution."
The New Hacker's Dictionary - 3rd Edition
Amazon Price: $22.37 (as of 07/12/2009)
The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary
Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 07/12/2009)
In Memorium : Mabel the scratch monkey
I knew there'd be problems screen-scraping Amazon.com. I just didn't know they'd be so pervasive or happen so soon.
Meanwhile, The Jadebox Store is our "scratch monkey".
Ajax
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Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC) was one of the first computer languages to gain wide acceptance. It has since sprouted a number of offshoots, including QBasic and Microsoft's Visual Basic.
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PHP
Programming PHP
This is the definitive PHP reference. You will want this book whether you are currently a programmer or not. Non-Programmers will probably want Learning PHP 5 as well
Amazon Price: $26.39 (as of 07/12/2009)
Learning PHP 5
Amazon Price: $19.77 (as of 07/12/2009)
Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition
One of the frequently-cited advantges of the Programming PHP above is that it doesn't treat PHP as if it were joined at the hip to MySQL as many books do. If, OTOH that's what you want, try this book.
Amazon Price: $29.67 (as of 07/12/2009)
Visual BASIC (Beginning)
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XHTML -- the emerging standard language for publishing webpages -- is a variant of XML or an XML vocabulary. Think of it as XML designed to be viewed in a browser as a human-readable page. Most XHTML books include material on standard HTML and CSS.
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"Core XML" might be a better title for this book. This is not "For Dummies" introduction, but an overview of the entire XML family including XHTML, RSS, XSLT, etc.
With the release of the fourth edition just a few days away, there is little reason to buy the third edition, unless you don't need the "bleeding edge" bells and whistles and want to catch the publisher's closeout pricing.
Beginning XML, 4th Edition (Programmer to Programmer)
Scheduled for release : May 21, 2007
Amazon Price: $26.39 (as of 07/12/2009)
Beginning XML (Programmer to Programmer)
Amazon Price: (as of 07/12/2009)
XSLT (eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations)
XSLT-FO (eXtensible Stylesheet Language - Formatting Objects) which handles the display of the output document.
Learning XSLT
This is a clear, concise introduction to the confusing world of XSLT. A great place to start.
Amazon Price: $23.07 (as of 07/12/2009)
XSLT, 2nd Edition
This edition won't be out until September. Get the First Edition if you can't wait.
Amazon Price: $31.49 (as of 07/12/2009)
XSLT 2.0 Programmer's Reference (Programmer to Programmer)
Many people swear by this book. Others swear at it. Notice that the title calls it a "Reference" -- not a tutorial. Lacks coverage of XPath.
Amazon Price: $26.39 (as of 07/12/2009)
XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language)
The current usage is to enclose transforms in a xsl:stylesheet tag which supercedes the older xsl:transform tag, thus creating needless confusion with the HTML CSS specification. Generally, the transform tag is retained to distinguish the XSL 1.0 specification in older code.
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The Whole Ed Cata-Blog
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I've never quite been sure what distinguishes a blog from a regular webpage. Timeliness seems to have something to do with it, but that doesn't seem to be a hard and fast rule.
Anyway, here are some of the things I've been working on lately...
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