[IgorPartola]

If I was to start over again I would go like this: C, Python, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, SQL, Django. For me it's imporant to understand how something is put together on at least some basic level. E.g. I more or less know how Django's ORM translates into SQL, or how a Python inerpreter translates Python code into bytecode (at least very theoretically). I hate the idea of using something as a magical black box.

[jblochjohnson]

I would be tempted to agree; I've wanted at times to go and learn C, so I can know what my Ruby is really written in; but there's always more complexity underneath; I could and should learn how computers themselves work, but there will come a time when I will need to, and for now there's only so much time. Put quickly, I'm using a magical black box to type to you right now, and if I started from the beginning, I'd never have the time to use it.

[techiferous]

I taught a high school Java course for three years. One year I decided to give the students an overview the whole stack of what was happening, from the transistors to logic gates to the ALU to machine code to the Java byte code. It was a thoroughly rewarding experience for both me and the students.

[IgorPartola]

And then we would not have this conversation :(. My advice is to at least learn about pointers and virtual memory. It will make a lot of sense out of a lot of things and it can serve as a nice foundation to actually jump into C one day.

[jblochjohnson]

This seems like a good first step, and I've been looking for a way to get into C. I'll check it out...