Processing, http://www.processing.org/, almost seems a de facto development environment for Generative Art - I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned. It has an easy to grasp syntax (which is translated to plain Java in the background), a simple IDE, a huge collection of examples and a selection of great books to help a novice artist on track. Some books, see http://www.processing.org/books/ for a list, especially target Generative Art.
Personal recommendation: "Processing: A Programming Handbook
for Visual Designers and Artists" by the original Processing authors, Casey Reas and Ben Fry.
I was introduced to Processing and MaxMsp [1] in a college course where I was tasked in creating generative art and sound installations. I had no programming experience and I agree it was easy to pick up and definitely drove my interest in programming. I think its a great way for artists to get started in something that can become very complex
Personal recommendation: "Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists" by the original Processing authors, Casey Reas and Ben Fry.