Best way to learn programming is to start with a lightweight programming language and a simple compiler. Qbasic (short: QB) has great advantages for pros and beginners that other compilers can't offer:

Helpful on typing proper Code

Code is checked for errors while typing; each expression will be evaluated immediately after typing. By the way, this extraordinary feature is an important reason for the great popularity of QB: the ability to check expressions while typing. This saves a tremendous amount of time when checking the code, in particular for large projects; just because a comma is missing somewhere.

QBasic with modern Windows OS's

Back then, when DOS was the most widely used operating system, QB IDE enjoyed great popularity. On current Windows systems, QBasic / QuickBASIC requires a DOS emulator, e.g. DOSBox.

Some more Features

No installation necessary, QBasic / QuickBASIC is portable and does't affect the system’s registry. When launching QB, a command line window opens that displays a couple of menus with access to standard functions such as editing, searching and debugging, just to name a few. Qbasic is ideally suited to all users, from beginners to experts; it's an impressive code interpreter including a powerful IDE.