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I am a 19 year old programmer, I began in 2009, learning PHP via debugging a broken PHP script for a friend. It took me a long time, days, as the script was 2,300 lines long and I was a complete beginner. w3cschools was a great help during this time, but I would say that my biggest help was trial and error. You have to get a lot of things wrong before your finally understand how to do them right. Once I learned PHP I wanted an easier way to display data, and started learning markup, XHTML, CSS, etc. I used w3cschools again for this. I read a few books at that time (unfortunately, they were online, and I can not for the life of me remember what they were, apologies) to help improve my skills and began to study typography. This mainly involved searching google for web typography, experimenting in photoshop and then creating the styles as close as I could in CSS. About 7 months ago I realised that I needed more depth, I was not content with mere web applications. I started learning .cpp, using the visual express 2010 tutorials provided with the download and then I started searching for (once again via google) simple code examples. My time with PHP had taught me simple class architecture so it was not as difficult to pick up as a beginner would find it. As I expanded my knowledge I found that I could not find enough online material, so I started a local "computer club", where I could meet like minded people. Via Coursera (the online stanford cryptography class was fabulous) and the club I have since gained what I would consider an acceptable level of programming with .CPP (and Python, but that is a whole other story.) Along the way, I also added javascript, mysql and xml, but I left these out due to their connection to web design. Anyway, this is just the path I chose, I dare say it was unconventional, but it worked for me. If you are looking for advice, all I will say is this: Google is your friend, MiTx will definitely help you to improve once you gain an acceptable skill and coursera's CS101 class would give you the basic knowledge required to continue. Also, on an unrelated note, congratulations, I have read HN for a very long time now, and I signed up specifically to reply to your question :) |