Messages

What exactly is an x86 machine?  I've been interested in starting programming/ white hat hacking and have seen websites mentioning x86 machines.

Aight thanks hopefully I won't have much trouble understanding this stuff.  I'm very cautious purchasing books cause I don't wanna end up paying a chunk of money for something I can't even understand because it claims to be for beginners.

I was thinking about Visual Basic but then heard it gives you bad programming habits, and was suggested C++ or Java.

Hey I want to get started programming and have had C++ and Java suggested as languages to start with.  I've decided to learn Java and heard you are good at with it.  Could you give me a few resources to get me started?  I found the eBook Thinking In Java 2nd Edition.  Also if this is not a good language to learn as your first please go ahead and tell me.  Thanks :).