   newbie needs helpie
  i am completely new to programming and i want to start learning an easy language that i can use to program pong in less than a week. i just want to start programming something easy. i want results. i tried to learn c and it didn't work. so, i want to learn c when i have more time to put into it. i would especially like to take a class but when i take that class i want to have some kind of know how. which could be in the form of programming a simple game such as pong then working up from there.   
  for beginners i'd go with game maker.  its not a real language, but it can help you learn the basics.http://www.gamemaker.nl   ;  I suggest making some basic programs yourself first. I'm sure you can find a lot of problem sets on making C programs. Then I would possibly suggest Allegro as a game library. I know there's some Thompson Game Programming book that mentions it. Good luck.   ;  Nah...don't go with GameMaker...  you should start out with a easy to use language.  I highly recommend BASIC.  It is awesome for beginner lvl programmers and allows you to easily make a 2D game within a week.  The software I used when I started with BASIC was "Blitz Basic".  You can google search it and probably find it pretty easily.  Mine came with a book that I bought called "Game Programming for Teens" by Maneesh Sethi..which helped me really kick off my game programming skills.  If you need any help in anything that I just said...feel free to contact me via AIM..screenname is the same as the name on here:  BenDrummin58good luck!   