Best means many things and indeed any one of those could reasonably classify as that for real requirements I have seen out in the world and would encourage you to have ideas around.
In no particular order.
As others mentioned HTML in the classical sense is not a programming language and instead a markup language. HTML5 does actually become a programming language though. Javascript/ECMAscript being the thing web developers turn to make code run on the user's PC.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Language_Resources
https://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp (once a less than liked website, dubbed w3fools by many, today it does well)
https://www.w3schools.com/css/default.asp and they do have javascript as well.
If you want to wind in some php (what most use to have servers run code) then that sends you down the web developer path. If best in this case is what can I learn most easily and turn into paid work then easily all this -- any number of businesses wanting custom wordpress plugins, websites and such like which this does happily. However don't be a statistic -- learn what security is before touching that side of things, and you might want to learn some very basic server admin as well (granted what is ftp, what is cpanel, what is sql, what is phpmyadmin probably do most things you want for the random local business thing. See also "full stack" developer, even more so if you are also going to learn to slap gimp/photoshop hard enough to make them a banner, never mind a logo).
C++ is probably the hardest conceptually on this list, it is also what most of the higher performance world uses in anger with its ancestor C (you might pick it up by default when learning this but there are many asterisks there) and plain old assembly for the super turbo nerds needing super turbo code (are you writing a graphics driver or something that needs to be super secure? No, then don't worry).
There is a phrase in learning coding that says along the lines of everybody programs everything in their first language (the Basic thing mentioned above also being said to ruin many a developer as they try to fit everything to a Basic mindset, and later in history visual basic/VB).
To that end you could reasonably learn C++ and have it in turn be useful for making games of all flavours (full 3d to higher demand 2d), some drivers, higher performance code for all sorts of fancy things. If you have any kind of background in electrical engineering then that will help here. Going back to the writing code you get paid for thing then this will easily be the longest road for that milestone. So barrier to entry but in turn high performance and is the men from the boys of programming of your list.
Java. *spits*. Originally something of a web programming language it fell off dramatically outside of a few business cases. Said business cases also being what sees its main use on the PC today as some business will have a program it keeps running for the next decades to do some internal function, possibly requiring a specific old version of java to be installed with a list of security flaws longer than a long thing and hard to run on a modern OS. I count myself lucky among computer bothering types that I am not subjected to that outside of one program for one customer that is isolated nicely but various friends are less fortunate.
It is also the primary programming language for a little thing called Android (IOS mostly being C++, a minor tweak on such things called objective C if taking the official path and in the slower performance but easier to learn camp then something called Swift) which is why most will learn it today.
Also where I noted basic and visual basic as the bane of programmers above then today java was probably that thing's place as most computer science courses that teach java will be the lower end ones that see them pump out a lot of mediocre programmers that make life of other programmers harder.
https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2005/12/29/the-perils-of-javaschools-2/ for a now quite old take but one that will be echoed.
To that end real code can be made with it, might even perform reasonably well as these things go, though most will have various levels of resentment towards it. On the easier end of the spectrum as well (generally speaking the easier a programming language is then the more it wrests from your hands to handle itself, which both makes it slower and makes life harder should you wish to step up to a fancier offering).
Python. Said to be the glue that holds modern computing together. It is slower than many things, not particularly low level but it can take one bit of data and convert it to another such that two clunking programs might speak to each other that otherwise could not, has a reasonable means to make a graphical user interface*, runs on many operating systems (maybe even with minimal/no code changes where that would be a miracle for C++), and you can do it quickly in the proverbial hanging by your ankles upside down in the dark of a greasy hole scenario too. Nothing is also ever so permanent as a temporary solution.
The web stuff including php might be quicker to get to the paid work territory but this is not so very far behind, though you are going to want to do some more general programming background knowledge, and if you did want to switch up and learn something with a bit more kick you would be in reasonable stead to do it.
I would 10x go for this over Java myself but that is also my personal dislike (see also massive understatement) of Java shining through.
*of all the languages mentioned then if you wanted to make a program to do some changes to a ROM/save/file format and go from there then Python would be my choice of thing to point most people at. It will struggle to do some kinds of hardcore calculations for a list of 100000 items where C++ will not even blink (if you code it right) or take a notably shorter amount of time but if you don't imagine too much of that then not so bad and the user will probably take more time selecting which option and contemplating things.
Throughout this I mentioned things like general programming and other background info. For many this is the equivalent of being good at a human language and being able to tell a compelling story.
https://textexpander.com/blog/the-7-most-common-types-of-errors-in-programming-and-how-to-avoid-them and knowing how an operating system works (
https://andysbrainbook.readthedocs.io/en/latest/unix/Unix_01_Navigation.html being usually far more useful info than what some esoterica with data handling of a given language. Or to take it back to a language
would something like this (a nice means of analysing characters in a work and writing them) be more useful than geek level response for what is an adverb?
To bring it back around then while hopefully many of the "best" questions will hopefully have been asked as part of this then to spell out the big ones as I generally see it.
I gotsa get paid would split between big boy money (hard, dirty, dangerous works for computing but other than RSI not much dirt or danger in programming. More generally this would be written as keep the legacy things running that nobody else knows and you will be kept around) and from start to first payment (there are a million php programmers but 10 million wordpress installs needing custom work) being how that one goes down.
Best as in easiest -- see low level vs high level programming as your list is pretty much the modern spectrum for that one (would not suggest C in this day and age unless you know you need it).
Best as most likely to succeed rather than being an unread book upon your shelf (how many people want to learn to play guitar vs actually do that? Same here for programming). Big secret for learning programming though is find a goal and work towards that -- I can go through programming examples and if your mind operates in a way that responds to that then great (you are probably 1 in 10000) but if you are willing to take a slightly longer path to making a little editor for a game (save, stats, graphics, level, AI scripting... it really does not matter for a lot of things), making a format conversion tool for a music/graphics/whatever format then that is a tangible goal with real results that motivates more than just "wanting to learn".
Best as in fastest end result in a program? C++ if you can handle it but if you are not going to be a turbo nerd you will find all the others nipping at its heels.
Best as in fastest turnaround to make a suitable program from someone/yourself being all wouldn't it be nice to have? Probably not going to be C++ from even a prodigal newer programmer. What will avoid the spaghetti code in 10 years that is crucial to this task that this field/game modding/company does and nobody knows how to handle much less extend to cover new scenarios? That is possibly less of a programming language question (though it could very easily still be one) and more of a project management question (the short version of that one is always always always have a specification for what needs to be done, and make sure you get it -- I don't mind telling you my greatest failures have been when someone has a vague feeling of something they would like to happen and try to please that than having "this needs to do this").
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RedColoredStars:
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