I would opt for Python (or Perl, or Ruby) if you haven't programmed before. It may look a little odd but it is much, much easier than Java to pick up.
In Python you can learn the basics in a few minutes, I gave up on learning Java due to the fact you needed to learn quite a lot just to do simple stuff.
It is also interpreter based which makes it easier (in most cases) to quickly run it.
There are some pretty good online tutorials for Python (see
www.python.org for a complete list)