R is an open source programming language especially designed for manipulating data and performing statistical analysis. It is very similar to SAS Enterprise Guide except: R is a programming language.

Interest in the open source R language keeps rising, making it the candidate for TIOBE's programming language of the year.

This is why I’ve long argued that BASIC is the most consequential language in the history of computing. It’s a language for noobs, sure, but back then most everyone was a noob.

Four sounds like an awful lot of languages to learn for a beginner, but the idea is to get a broad understanding of programming and the basics down. As for which programming language to learn first?