learning a language...

heya,
i have decided to learning some programming and was looking for opinions on what to learn

im interested in making music and visuals and as such have so far been recommended to try http://processing.org/ which is a 'type' of java as a way to ease myself into it. it can give a lot of 'instant' gratification (via actual output), then from there java shouldnt be much more to learn (i have been informed).

bear in mind that this is just a hobby thing, im far too old (25) to be thinking otherwise =)

any other suggestions?
maybe i should just go for C or some variant thereof?

Java and C++ are pretty similar, C# more so. They are syntaxically the same.

If you wanna make music or visuals then you probably don't wanna actually write your own code, you should just use one of the production suites already written.

If you really wanna write something like your own trippy screensaver etc then you probably want use C++ (C#) applications for pure speed, but your cut down type of java might be a way to ease yourself into it.

I'd start by wondering what sort of compiler, Development environment I can get my hands on and library functions.

thanks for that PD
im really looking to ease myself into it because i spend most of my spare time studying or creating music already... so diving straight into C++ etc. would be a big ask

what i really want to do is to create my own visuals that react to midi data, and eventually my own vst's (audio effect and instrument plugins)

Processing has its own ide with a bunch of libraries and an inbuilt compiler etc. AND the ability to interact with midi data (via a java/midi library called 'minim' that comes with it)

after i have the hang of that i will move up to using java for creating vst's using a java wrapper (jVSTwRapper)

thanks for the advice!