[buddym]

From my own experience of learning to program, teaching and learning from others, something that I've seen to be very valuable is choosing any project, doesn't really matter what and just working on it. It doesn't have to be something new or sophisticated, just something big enough that you can immerse yourself into and build out over time. A project I worked on as a teenager was building a paint program (hardly innovative or new) but it was a big enough a task that I could work on for a while and on the way learn to incorporate other people's code, use books to deepen my knowledge, constantly add improvements and show my work to others. This was 15 years ago and I still remember so much about that program. I enjoyed building it and learned that I liked programming and from there began moving to more complex things. This may only be applicable in specific cases or for a younger audience, but I just wanted to share.