[amatecha]

Yeah, I always wished so badly I knew an adult who was a skilled programmer. I borrowed books from the library but I would always hit a wall so early on, not being able to make sense of the concepts (and being on a Mac, which none of the books provided a compiler for). Looking back I know for a fact I could have grasped the concepts if they were explained a little more "gradually" for me, which a mentor-type person absolutely could have done easily.

[ShroudedNight]

Without mentorship / guidance, how are you supposed to know that K&R and / or Petzold (and maybe A. S. Tanenbaum?) are where it's at, and everything else is arguably a waste of your time? Almost every programming book I encountered seemed intent on making the computer appear mysterious and esoteric which did not help me feel empowered to explore.

[colechristensen]

I even got to K&R. Types, variables, input and output made sense to young me. Pointers made sense but I couldn't wrap my head around why, and then I was stuck with "what next". For years everything next I could find (like writing a windows application) was way over my head and any "step 2" was completely elusive.