Myself, for a completely new topic, review Wikipedia. If I can find a 'Hello World' example, I do that. I then find a book. If it is something I know a littl

Myself, for a completely new topic, review Wikipedia. If I can find a 'Hello World' example, I do that. I then find a book. If it is something I know a little about, enough to be dangerous, but struggle applying. I look for a step-by-step guide. Now if I know an expert on the topic, I will then go talk with them to fill in the gaps. Following on 'gregjor's comment, I knew a person who learned C programing by reading the appendix of the classic C book. He just read the BNF grammar and was good to go.