lol, loved that last post :P

If you are looking for a very strict language, then I would definitely avoid C or C++; C compilers are notoriously forgiving. My basis for my last statement is the fact that C and C++ compilers will give error messages when you use incorrect syntax, but will not do a lot for much else (which, ironically enough, is one of the reasons that the two languages are so powerful and interesting to use).

If you want to learn a strict language, go for Java. (Unfortunately I'm too tired to actually be able to think of reasons to back this statement up :P) But then again, as long as you learn a language using a good tutorial/book/whatever, and are not lazy with your coding style, it shouldn't really matter which language you use.

People might recommend against learning an object oriented language (such as Java or C++) as your first, but I'm not sure that's great advise. A lot of people have the impression that object oriented languages are more difficult or complex than procedural languages, but I don't believe this is the case. The problem is that most people (including myself) have learnt procedural languages before object oriented ones, and this leads to the impression that OO is tough. I suspect that if an OO language was your first, you wouldn't be phased at all because you wouldn't know the difference.

I apologise if that was a bit scrambled, but as I explained I'm tired. Perhaps I'll come back later and edit it.

ac