In addition to wonderful responses already posted, I'd like to add one more: Learn Forth. Learn Lisp. Learn APL. No need to be good at these; just enough to lea

In addition to wonderful responses already posted, I'd like to add one more: Learn Forth. Learn Lisp. Learn APL. No need to be good at these; just enough to learn their programming models. Imperative, functional, OOP, or any other, it doesn't matter. Learning the programming model in such languages changes the way you think. Then start with a language you wish to master. Start with a problem in mind. Always have a problem in mind. Try coding the thought on paper. Do the same with the target programming language. Though it appears as an idealistic procedure, it does serve its purpose and instills confidence in the learner like no other approach out there.