I think a lot of the guys here probably got interested in computer science because of games. I started by making websites using a textarea on tripod and writin

I think a lot of the guys here probably got interested in computer science because of games. I started by making websites using a textarea on tripod and writing HTML for a Worms website. C++ and DirectX were just another 4 years away (I was 11). I did 4 years of game programming in high school before going to college where I finally sat down next to others that wanted to learn. Some of them had never programmed before. But things that making computer games taught me intuitively instead of in a text book (and therefore understanding it deeper because I made the mistakes that called for these concepts): - Polymorphism / Interfaces - Large Project management and organization (main.cpp:10045 anyone?) - Problem decomposition / abstraction - "Full stack" multi-tool pipelining (photoshop->custom sprite sheet editor->low level image loading->memory management framework->abstraction layer->game logic) - The interaction of a full system. These things gave me an edge in school, and I'm not (just) beating my chest when I saw I wasn't really challenged until the second semester of my sophomore year. This is more likely because I had 200,000 lines under my belt by the time I got to school but its games that got me there. I strongly encourage game programming as a way to start because the first time you get a picture moving on a screen you're going to want to do more, and it'll bring you back every time.