What's good these days?

It's been. . . Nearly 4 years since i last used any of my programming knowledge (Basic and C) however I'm looking to get started again. I figured I would start with C seeing as most games are coded in that, and i usually end up tooling around game files , however there are no longer any classes available for any programming languages nearby . Any suggestions on books I should read? Probably looking at a book for absolute beginners, I tried thumbing through a book at a bookstore and needless to say I don't remember any of it.

 

In our C++ courses we use Starting out With C++ by Gaddis. It's a pretty thick book and starts with simple things like datatypes and basic manipulation. You could try taking a look at that.
You could also try browsing the programming section of Safari Books Online.

 

I have a good collection of programming books, and the ones I use the most specifically for C are: The C Programming Language, Expert C Programming, C Traps and Pitfalls and C: A Reference Manual.

Because computers have advanced so much, I don't see C as the general-purpose programming language that it used to be. It's mainly used for low-level programming (operating systems, embedded systems, drivers, etc.). Obviously it can still be used for any application and is often easier if you're experienced in it because most of the libraries are written in C. C++ is easier for general-purpose programming in my perspective.

Java is a good, easy language to know now for both hobby programming and professional, as well as .NET (word of advice: don't bother with VB.NET). I only know a little of C# and VB.NET, so I can't say much about them. I really like Python and Perl, but I haven't tried Ruby yet. Any enthusiastic programmer has to give a dialect of Lisp a try (I know Common Lisp and also a bit of Scheme).

Not to mention Fortran, Haskel, Erlang, ASM, Pascal, and other scripting languages and programming languages.