As a complete newbie to computer programming, what would be a good starting language to learn with the intention to getting a job when (or should that be 'if'?) I'm good enough?
Also, how would I go about getting industry experience as even junior positions like people to have some experience?
Depends in which field you would want a Job. C++ is taught as the basics. Then again PHP is good for some Web Based back end programing and such. Otherwise iOS and Android Development would be a good field :)
Search some classifieds and start job searching. Target a smaller company, they usually pay less, but for less, newbies are willing to work to build up experience. While the professionals don't settle for less.
Java or Python maybe.
I thought providing my own "it depends" answer, but considering that the original post is from August I think it would be better to ask "so, what did you decide?"
ok i think C++ is the easy programming language, u can learn it very fast. Java or PHP is good but it base on C++
I was going to say that. C++ is a good place to start. Java can be a huge pain once you get more into it. It can take a very long time to get it perfectly. Granted that goes for all coding but moreso for Java. In my experience anyway.
My university teaches Java as a base and then has C classes as you move further up. But as people said it really depends on what you're doing. My personal favorite is assembly (probably because I'm an EE).
I started with Javascript and then Java, but yeah, it really depends with what field you want to start in. If you want to do say website building, probably Javascript because it's super easy, then maybe CSS. C++ if you want to branch to a more advanced programming after that.