I have used php for this purpose - though it was originally for the
net, Ive written small fun scripts to change the desktop background
every 5 minutes. Lots of tutorials out there for php and its well
documented.

Many people like Python, Perl and PHP to start programming.It is the P in
LAMP which is Linux, Apache, Mysql and Python, et. al. Python and Perl are
used similarly and PHP is used on web and server applications. Both Perl and
Python are considered high level powerful programming languages. Python
emphasizes clarity and the code is considered easy to read and the syntax
very clear.

For scripting bash (CLI) is well documented and free online courses are
avaiable as are good books.

I talked to my son who is a progammer and he advised against starting with
PHP which is something he knows a lot about since he programmes in it for
the university. He says it a great language for experienced programmers, but
it can teach bad habits to new programmers because of the way it does
things. I can't explain more because it was over my head. He suggested
Python, but not Perl or C, C++. Python and PHP are very marketable skills to
have. He said learning a low level language is good, but after you have
programmed for awhile. I am not a programmer but know lots of them, so am
used to hearing their rants.

You will probably get as many different suggested languages as you do responses
(we all have our favorites!), I'm going to have to second the Python suggestion
earlier. Python is a fantastic language, and is tremendously useful AND
powerful. An added benefit is Python and Ubuntu are closely linked (a lot of
the control programs for Ubuntu are written in Python), so this gives you a
ready source of existing programs, on your computer, to study.

There are a few good *free* tutorials on Python out there:

docs.python.org/release/2.6.6/tutorial/index.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/g2swap/byteofpython/read/
http://greenteapress.com/thinkpython/html/

These should be more than enough to get you started, and if you want to go
further with Python, there are lots of good books out there

Full Circle Magazine has had a series running on programming in Python, for a
year and a half. All the issues are available for downloading from the
magazine's web site. The series author is a good writer.

http://fullcirclemagazine.org/downloads/

For some things FreeBASIC and Gambas are OK, also. It is useful to learn these
languages.
I am a beginner with both, as i did not have much time.

If you are working from the Linux angle, I would empasize using the built
scripts for your shell. BASH scripting is a powerfule tool and full of real
progamming issues. There is a surpising shortage of good shell progammers out
in industry and I think this would be a good skill set professionally and
technically.

Ha! that's what I do for a living. I'm the 'script weenie' for our team. I
work mostly in Korn shell and Perl, but also get some Python in there, when I
can.

I agree with you that shell scripting is powerful, and that we have a shortage
of good shell programmers. I also believe that, for someone just beginning to
learn programming, shell scripting might be a bit over their heads. This is why
I recommend Python. Python is very easy for even non-programmers to learn. As
people become used to a Linux (or Unix) environment, and also learn the
fundamentals of programming, they can move on to things like shell programming,
C, Java, Perl, etc...

Excellent choice. Python is a powerful tool that is in high demand.

Been doing clean-up and found this thread. I was planing to respond but
forgot to mark it. I like to think that planing is everything. I am not
alone, has a lot to do with any engineering project. For this reason I
would rather not talk language but procedure tools. One tool that will
help you with examples is one of the many UML tools.

I have used ArgoUML, and Umbrello from the repository. Most
instructional videos and courses will work on any of the UML tools.
Manuals are there to be downloaded, and followed. Some will spit out
code for C, C++, Java, Python, and many other languages. Many of these
tools will help you reverse engineer code to help you understand it.
UML is not without a learning curve, but well worth the effort to learn
it, and use.

But that's not all. UML can help you build organizational charts for
almost any business model. Truly an all around elegant solution.