There is a book called Code. I can't remember who wrote it, but it goes through the basics of a lot of stuff that we (programmers) know and take for granted that people we talk to know also. Everything from how do you count binary to how processors work. It doesn't have anything dealing with programming languages in it (well from what I remember), but it is a pretty good primer. I will admit that I am also of the school that believes you have to know how the computer works to be able to effectively program things for it.

《谁害怕c++》 由海勒

也许值得一试

我会让他写大量的代码。你们做什么事都让他插手，随时回答问题就好。

信不信由你，在写了几个月的烂代码之后，他会开始明白这个想法，并开始写更好的程序。在这一点上，你可以陷入细节(内存等)，也可以谈论一般的设计原则。

我听说伟大的艺术家和平庸的艺术家的区别在于，他们每次练习都会在某些方面有所改进，不管这些改进有多小。让你弟弟练习，他每次坐在键盘前都会进步。

编辑:[Justin Standard] 埃斯特班，这让我想起了最近的一篇编程恐怖文章，我认为你是对的。但我认为仍然值得寻找方法来指导他的实践。毫无疑问，我希望他能写尽可能多的代码。这是我要求样本项目的原因之一。

There have already been a bunch of great answers, but for an absolute beginner, I would wholeheartedly recommend Hackety Hack. It was created by the unreasonably prolific why_the_lucky_stiff specifically to provide a BASIC/LOGO/Pascal-like environment for new programmers to experiment in. It's essentially a slick Ruby IDE with some great libraries (flash video, IM, web server) and interactive lessons. It makes a good pitch for programming, as it chose lessons that do fun, useful things. "Hello, world" may not impress right off the bat, but creating a custom IM client in 20 minutes can inspire someone to keep learning. Have fun!

不如这样:纳特·托金顿(Nat Torkington)的《培养下一代黑客》。

我通过学习如何使用流程图和PDL(程序设计语言)以语言无关的方式解决问题。几周之后，我学会了把我写的PDL转换成一种语言。我很高兴我学会了这种方法，因为我大部分时间都在编程，解决问题，而不依赖于语言。我使用什么语言一直是实现细节，而不是设计的一部分。

通过将问题分解为基本步骤来解决问题是一项关键技能。我认为这是区分那些会编程和不会编程的人的一个因素。

至于如何处理语言概念的顺序，我认为最简单的方法是在脑海中有一个项目，并根据需要处理这些概念。这让你可以在你感兴趣的事情上应用它们。在学习一门语言的时候，最好在脑海中有几个简单的计划，还有几个逐步复杂的计划。决定这些将帮助你规划出需要的概念和它们的顺序。