I need help starting out with programming
<p>A couple of days ago, I began learning c++. I downloaded visual studio, looked at tutorials, and wrote some simple programs. I was doing good until I got the pointers. Whats the point of "pointing" to a variable when you can just reference the actual variable. It was really confusing me.</p>

<p>So I began looking online at other languages. I debated java, python, ruby, perl, c#, Visual basic, and I couldn't decide. I wanted to make something with a GUI, so everywhere I went, I got pointed to c#. I began looking at that, and it seems fine, but there is no way of working with "unlimited" sized variables.</p>

<p>So before I go too far into c#, is java a better choice? How about python? What language would be the best for general-purpose programming? </p>

<p>Thanks</p>
