What programming language should EE's learn first?

As an EE you are going to need to know what is going on at some point, so you need to understand assembly language - start with the simplest one you can find, maybe even a pseudo assembler. After that programming is just a tool to get the job done, so escalate through the various levels to the highest level language you can find as fast as you can. The one that fully solves your problem in the least amount of time is the best one. For example Visual BASIC is actually a higher level language than C (fewer lines of code and generally faster to complete a solution). There will be times when your high level language of choice is not able to solve your problem and you have to resort to more tedious languages, you may even need to get all the way down to assembly language if the timing is tight enough. C is one of those languages in the middle, there may be many times when it is the best language to use, but it should only be used if a higher level language can't get the job done quicker. Hand trowels may be the best tool for some jobs, but not if you have to move a mountain. If you don't program every day, pick a high level language that uses descriptive operators instead of oddball punctuation based syntax as it will save a lot of time getting back to productivity. Can any of you who had to learn APL remember any of the syntax? On the other hand, EEs that have not programmed for decades can still remember how to program in BASIC.

You can of course make a convincing argument for just about any language, and it is certainly a topic of interest and controversy, so I thought I would stir the pot a bit...

So what is the highest level language that is easy to remember?

As an EE you are going to need to know what is going on at some point, so you need to understand assembly language - start with the simplest one you can find, maybe even a pseudo assembler. After that programming is just a tool to get the job done, so escalate through the various levels to the highest level language you can find as fast as you can. The one that fully solves your problem in the least amount of time is the best one. For example Visual BASIC is actually a higher level language than C (fewer lines of code and generally faster to complete a solution). There will be times when your high level language of choice is not able to solve your problem and you have to resort to more tedious languages, you may even need to get all the way down to assembly language if the timing is tight enough. C is one of those languages in the middle, there may be many times when it is the best language to use, but it should only be used if a higher level language can't get the job done quicker. Hand trowels may be the best tool for some jobs, but not if you have to move a mountain. If you don't program every day, pick a high level language that uses descriptive operators instead of oddball punctuation based syntax as it will save a lot of time getting back to productivity. Can any of you who had to learn APL remember any of the syntax? On the other hand, EEs that have not programmed for decades can still remember how to program in BASIC.

You can of course make a convincing argument for just about any language, and it is certainly a topic of interest and controversy, so I thought I would stir the pot a bit...

So what is the highest level language that is easy to remember?