Well, I would suggest Perl also because it's really easy on the coder (except the regexes...), it's good to start with and learn a bit of the concept of coding but then when you get into translating and everything, it gets kinda confusing and annoying. (I gave up on chapter 2, that was the chapter in my perl book :/)
I would suggest something like Flash because it's a language similar to Perl and is easy on the coder too. Along with that, you'll learn to do a little Object Oriented Programming. (I think Flash is OOP xD, it has objects and orients around them and AS is programming xD, no seriously...)
If you decide flash, check out this site:
www.actionscript.org
Off-Topic (a little at least): ooo, since you said perl, check this perl script out (not mine!)
Code:
''=~( '(?{' .('`' |'%') .('[' ^'-')
.('`' |'!') .('`' |',') .'"'. '\\$'
.'==' .('[' ^'+') .('`' |'/') .('['
^'+') .'||' .(';' &'=') .(';' &'=')
.';-' .'-'. '\\$' .'=;' .('[' ^'(')
.('[' ^'.') .('`' |'"') .('!' ^'+')
.'_\\{' .'(\\$' .';=('. '\\$=|' ."\|".( '`'^'.'
).(('`')| '/').').' .'\\"'.+( '{'^'['). ('`'|'"') .('`'|'/'
).('['^'/') .('['^'/'). ('`'|',').( '`'|('%')). '\\".\\"'.( '['^('(')).
'\\"'.('['^ '#').'!!--' .'\\$=.\\"' .('{'^'['). ('`'|'/').( '`'|"\&").(
'{'^"\[").( '`'|"\"").( '`'|"\%").( '`'|"\%").( '['^(')')). '\\").\\"'.
('{'^'[').( '`'|"\/").( '`'|"\.").( '{'^"\[").( '['^"\/").( '`'|"\(").(
'`'|"\%").( '{'^"\[").( '['^"\,").( '`'|"\!").( '`'|"\,").( '`'|(',')).
'\\"\\}'.+( '['^"\+").( '['^"\)").( '`'|"\)").( '`'|"\.").( '['^('/')).
'+_,\\",'.( '{'^('[')). ('\\$;!').( '!'^"\+").( '{'^"\/").( '`'|"\!").(
'`'|"\+").( '`'|"\%").( '{'^"\[").( '`'|"\/").( '`'|"\.").( '`'|"\%").(
'{'^"\[").( '`'|"\$").( '`'|"\/").( '['^"\,").( '`'|('.')). ','.(('{')^
'[').("\["^ '+').("\`"| '!').("\["^ '(').("\["^ '(').("\{"^ '[').("\`"|
')').("\["^ '/').("\{"^ '[').("\`"| '!').("\["^ ')').("\`"| '/').("\["^
'.').("\`"| '.').("\`"| '$')."\,".( '!'^('+')). '\\",_,\\"' .'!'.("\!"^
'+').("\!"^ '+').'\\"'. ('['^',').( '`'|"\(").( '`'|"\)").( '`'|"\,").(
'`'|('%')). '++\\$="})' );$:=('.')^ '~';$~='@'| '(';$^=')'^ '[';$/='`';
First time I saw that, I was thinkin, that can't be a perl script... Run it, it's amazing!