[draker]

I would highly recommend Harvard CS50. Everything is available on the course website, https://cs50.harvard.edu/ . There is a linux appliance with a console utility that allows you to submit problem set solutions for automated testing/grading.

The moment I knew it was a good choice for me was after I completed a problem set that required us to write sorting algorithms.

My prior experience was with Ruby and JS, so .sort() => done, no idea how this mysterious .sort() was returning my ordered set. After the lecture and writing the algorithms, I didn't just have the code as you would following a tutorial. I had a better understanding behind "the magic". I understood how to evaluate the performance of these algorithms using Big O notation and why my Google killing search engine won't do much Google killing if I use bubble-sort.

Give it a try. You'll get a good introduction to CS and write some cool programs, including a program that can recover "deleted" images from a memory card.