I’m a newbie. My brother is looking to learn game design using OpenGL. He asked me to find out what’s the best programming language to pick-up for easier coding with OpenGL?
I don’t think using OpenGL differs much between languages, at worst you’ll end up prefixing namespaces or such to calls (e.g., Tao [.NET OpenGL bindings] GL implementation was “GL.glFuncName(args);” if I recall correctly). Personally, I think just starting with C would be best, but for a person who has never programmed before that is usually (in my experience, anyways) a pretty steep learning curve up until the basics are covered (then stuff seems to fall into place pretty quickly).
Anyhow, you could try a suggesting a BASIC language ( BlitzMax is one I like, but that’s 'cause I’m a Blitz advocate…) or perhaps a typeless and/or managed language (Ruby, Lua, Python [I dislike it, but it’s still worth mentioning], etc.- mostly interpreted languages).
Also, you may want to look up some books like the GL Redbook (should be freely downloadable), the OpenGL Super Bible, and OpenGL Game Programming. I’ve only skimmed the Redbook and OpenGL Game Programming, but they seem to be decent. As for the GL Super Bible, I’m suggesting that based on comments regarding it.
Just my 2 cents.