First, I'm about as technical as they come (8 years old sounds about right), so take my advice with that in mind. But I think becoming "technical" is critical t

First, I'm about as technical as they come (8 years old sounds about right), so take my advice with that in mind. But I think becoming "technical" is critical to learning how to code. I don't mean you should start solving equations in your spare time. I just mean find a concrete problem that you're motivated to solve (i.e. something fun), and then solve it. Maybe you think AI is cool, so try to figure out what it takes to make an interactive chat with the computer (easier than it sounds). Maybe you think computer graphics are cool, so figure out how to make a web page that has a ball bounce when you click it. Above all, make the path interesting and fun for yourself. You'll get a lot further that way than you will by reading books or watching screencasts that brainwash you into the author's (or the programming language's) way of thinking. Most of programming is a transferable skill set anyway. That's what I mean by becoming "technical". Just make something you think would be cool, and when you're done, make something cooler. And if you don't know where to start, just remember this: Google is your friend. Search engines will point you to plenty of material you can copy-paste, and will answer 99% of coding questions you could possibly have. After 15 years of coding, there's still not a day that passes when I don't look up how to do something.