Others have already mentioned either getting the PHB or downloading the SRD. Go ahead and download the SRD and start looking through it to get a basic understanding of things.
You asked about the best type of character. By type, I will respond with the belief that you mean race.
IMO, the best race for a first time player is Human. Some have advocated Half-Orcs, but they have several penalties, and there could possibly be roleplaying drawbacks to playing them as well. Humans do not have any bonuses to ability scores, but they also have no penalties either. Half-elves are similar in this regard, but you won't really have any idea how to play one since this is your first time. You're already human, so you can pull that off without having played the game before.
Humans do not have darkvision or some of the other neat racial abilities that dwarves, gnomes and others do, but they get bonuses where it counts; skills, feats, and favored class. At 1st level, a human gets 4 more skill points than any other race. They also start off with an extra feat. Humans also have Any as a Favored Class. That means, down the road if you want to take different classes, you won't face an XP penalty, like other races might.
For your abilities; Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma, these will be determined by whatever method your DM tells you to use. Two of the most common are the point buy and rolling 4D6, six times, and taking the best three dice of each roll. Strength is the most important ability for a fighter, a high strength grants bonuses to hit and damage in combat and allows you to carry a lot of gear without being as encumbered as someone with an average or low strength. Constitution is only slight less or as important as strength as it grants extra hit points and a bonus to fortitude saving throws (used to resist physical injuries such as poison, disease, some magic spells, etc.). Dexterity is good for granting bonuses to armor class (the higher the armor class, the harder you are to hit and injure) and bonuses to reflex saving throws (resisting some spells, traps, etc.). A high intelligence will grant you more skills per level and a high wisdom will grant a bonus to Will saves (used to resist mental effects, charms, and some spells), while a good charisma score is helpful in social situations and many skills.
For class, the best for beginners is Fighter. If you take a spellcasting class (Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard), you are then forced, not only to learn spells, but you would have to know which ones to prepare and for your first game, you won't have any idea beyond what the other people (if any) you are playing with tell you to choose. But then, it won't be so much your character if they are telling you what to cast and when; you won't really learn it yourself by having others do it for you. Ranger or Paladin are good classes, but not good choices. You likely don't know what they are at this point and just quickly glossing over class descriptions won't help much either. Monks are a difficult choice, sometimes for expert players, as there are several variables that you have to keep in mind while playing a Monk, as well as any roleplaying requirements or restrictions for playing a character belonging to a monastery or religious order.
Rogues are not really a bad choice, but there are too many options for a beginner to easily consider. They have a decent selection of weapons available and can wear light armor. They do have Sneak Attack which can make a critical difference in combat, but until you have played some, you're not really going to understand the implications of its use and what you have to do to be able to use it. Rogues do have the most skill points of any class, but for a beginner, that is too much. Right now, you might be able to look at a skill and guess what it does, but you don't necessarily know how to use it. They have only D6 hit points, which is much worse than a Fighter (D10) or Barbarian (D12).
Barbarians are not really a bad choice, but they are not the best choice either. They are limited to light or medium armor and simple or martial weapons. They do move faster than other classes at 1st level, but they are illiterate, which can be a major roleplaying impediment. They do have Rage, but, being new to the game, you're not going to really know when the best time to use it is and using at the wrong time can leave you dead or in a position where you could really have used it better at a different time.
Fighters are the best class to use for beginners. You can use any armor, shield or simple or martial weapons. They have the second highest hit die (D10), so you'll have about the best hit points to start (the more hit points, the more damage you can take before dying). As far as skills go, they get some of the fewest amount of points to use, but this helps keep things simple. If you are in a mounted campaign or doing a lot of riding, drop some points into Ride. Intimidate can also be useful. Climb or Swim can help, but don't come in handy except in certain circumstances. Handle Animal can be useful and at 2nd level, you can get five ranks in it and get a +2 bonus to your Ride checks. Craft is a good option too and your DM may allow you to craft some of your own starting gear like weapons or armor. If he allows that, you could start off the game with a breastplate or banded or splint mail. Even if the DM doesn't allow that, you should have enough to get at least a chain shirt, shield, longsword, dagger, mace (for creatures such as skeletons that are resistant to piercing or slashing attacks, but take full damage from blunt weapons), and spears. A longspear is a reach weapon which you could use to attack from a distance, while shortspears are good for ranged attacks that still let you add your Strength bonus to damage.
As a Fighter, you would start off with a total of 3 feats, instead of the normal 1 feat a 1st level character gets; 1 for being 1st level, 1 for being human and 1 for being a Fighter. If you took Point Blank Shot, you get a +1 bonus to attack and damage when w/i 30' of your target, which means more accuracy and more damage with those spears or thrown daggers. Power Attack (trade bonus to hit for bonus to damage) is a good feat, but at 1st level, your chance to hit a target (BAB) is only 1 point better than the rogue, wizard or cleric in the group so, you need as much of a bonus to hit as you can get. Improved Initiative is good for helping you to act (and thus strike) earlier in combat than others and Quick Draw lets you draw weapons instantly so you don't have to spend an action drawing a weapon or switching to a different weapon. Toughness will give you 3 extra HP, which, at 1st level could easily mean the difference between life and death. Weapon Focus gives you a +1 bonus to your chance to hit your enemies with a weapon of your choice. There are hundreds of other feats available, but any of these would serve you well as a 1st level human fighter and you could learn about other feats as you play.
Human Fighter is the simplest and still one of the most versatile options for beginning characters. You can learn about other races and classes while you are playing the game and see first-hand what is expected of other classes and what other races can do while you are doing something that is important to the group (fighting) while playing a human (something you're already familiar with).
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