bhonda - 9:15 am on Oct 12, 2010 (gmt 0)

However, if I'm honest, I'd say forget it - spend your time doing something more profitable or more fun.

Sorry Kaled, that's probably not too helpful here. This stuff can be really good fun, and I've heard a rumour that there's actually a bit of money to be made with this whole 'computer' lark that's going around, but that's unconfirmed at the moment.

As a professional software engineer, who takes his profession seriously, I'm always encouraging people to get involved in what I do!

Broadway, I'd recommend just having a play with some of the suggestions made here - I'd put in another vote for .NET or Java (but then that's just because I'm biased!). Personally, I find it really easy to knock out quick and dirty windows applications using Visual Studio 2008, with C#.