I've got 40 years C experience, mostly with device drivers and OS internals (helped port Linux to the SH-4 back in 2000). I retired a few years back (thank you Qualcomm), and learned Java to scratch ...
That's probably one of the most popular questions from first-time learners, and it's something that educators debate as well. The thing is, you can ask ten programmers what the best language is to get ...