[p47]

For graphics its essencial to be great in math.

Rest of programing skills lies in pattern recognition skill. Its like learning new natural language.

I would recommend You to learn esperanto (many good programmers known to me are pros in eo), latin some greek (my professors from univ told me so, i know little of them).

As previous speakers pointed out, logic is essential. I would say that logic is a base line of all success. Cooker like programmer use the tool - brain.

And good luck!

[gommm]

I love learning languages but I'm not convinced it's really helpful to learn if one wants to become a programmer. That said, I would recommend to the op to try and convince his parents to let him go to another country in a host family for a few months (during summer or whatever). It may or may not be useful for programming but it really broadens the mind and it's by far the easiest and most fun way to learn a language.

I would recommend to just go take a python book and start playing around with pygame... Whenever you have a problem that you don't know how to do (be it 3d or whatever), ask the question on irc (after first doing a bit of research before of course) and make sure you understand the answers given to you. You can also go and ask your math teacher when it's clearly a math problem (that's what I did when I was in High School)

By creating actual applications (start small or you will never finish) and trying to fix problems when they arise, you will learn and have more confidence in yourself.

In a few years, once you have a few games, apps under your belt, it's a great time to start learning computer science more formally and read SICP or learn algorithmics because you will have a frame of reference from your previous programing that will help you really understand the materials...

So basically the best advice is just start programing.

[stevejalim]

On this note, in addition to whatever maths/science/engineering subjects you get into, I'd recommend taking one or two modern natural/human languages - French, Spanish, Japanese, whatever (but perhaps not Esperanto because you'll get less chance to use it properly). It'll help you keep your horizons broad, while lubricating the parts of the brain that make learning languages (programming and human/natural) easier. All IMO, of course... :o)