Quote Originally Posted by Roosta
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1) I'm all new to this so how many different languages are essential to programming. Like when I was building websites I learnt the two essential languages which where HTML and CSS so what is the equivalent to these in programming?<snip>
Depends on the job you want and what the companies you apply at are interested in.
Many will treat programming language as something religious like "X is better then Y" and "Z will do best".

Fact of the matter is that it doesn't matter much which language you learn first because if you learn to grasp the more abstract concepts of programming (whether it be object orientated programming or not), it is relative easy to shift between languages and pick up new ones.
My programming teacher always said the first language was the most difficult and the next one was always easier. So far I tend to agree with him.

Willingness to learn, showing abilities, being able to handle concepts and problems, and come up with solutions to them and so on, is in my view and experience much more important then just "knowing" the syntax of a language. Also because syntax changes over time (.NET for example is changing fast constantly with syntax changes, new techniques and additions to the framework) so you can rarely get by without keeping up to date any way. And then it matters little if you expand within the same language or pick up a new one. Syntax is easy, how to handle problems effectively: a bit more difficult.

Of course if you apply for a job as a senior Java programmer, you better know the Java language. Hence why it again leads back to which type of companies you are interested in and which kind of work.

My advice is to sit down and think hard about which type of projects you are likely to apply for, which type of companies. Then do some investigation and find out which type of languages these companies use, how their process is etc, and then take it from there.