Hi Melinda!

I’m basically self-taught and I’ve spent a few years thinking about this issue, and the recommended path I’ve arrived at is:

Start by learning how to write simple programs that move the mouse around and send keyboard-presses; that’s the fastest/easiest way I’ve seen knowledge of programming translate into a real-world benefit for the person learning how to program (I’m a huge fan of AutoHotkey because it’s so easy to install and get started with, but it’s Windows-only). If the person is in the workforce and has a job where she uses Excel, then I would recommend she also start by getting comfortable with Excel formulas and writing simple VBA macros. If she’s into gaming, she should also try starting by learning to create mods (eg a Minecraft mod) rather than creating games from scratch. Once she’s comfortable with those I recommend learning how to automatically send emails, scrape websites, and build websites with Python and PythonAnywhere.com. (Python is my favorite programming language but IMO it has a steeper learning curve than AutoHotkey/Excel/modding before a total newbie to programming will feel comfortable doing useful stuff with it.) And from there, if she has some kind of specific situation where she needs to pick up another language, she can learn about other languages.

Here’s a video of me and my friend walking through how to use AutoHotkey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ULy4KmAYbU