Programming, Learn by Doing: For programming specifically you can learn by doing more than reading. Just like Maths you have to have solved a problem or two.

Programming, Learn by Doing: For programming specifically you can learn by doing more than reading. Just like Maths you have to have solved a problem or two. So hope the following inspires you and in the case of codeschool's rails for zombies or code academy - it means you can learn by doing. http://www.codeschool.com/ http://www.codeschool.com/ Kicks ass. Unless you are scared of zombies. http://www.codecademy.com// http://www.codecademy.com// YC Startup if I remember correctly. Beautiful. Computer Science, Turing Turing Turing: For some serious inspiration the first ever essay we wrote at Manchester in Year 1 of CS was The Life and Times of Alan Turing. His huge impact still hadn't hit me then. The story of Alan Turing is told in so many different ways that to learn about him is to learn about the type of mind that led us to where we are now. His impact at Bletchley Park breaking the German Enigma code, then at Manchester his work not only seeded AI as we know it but showed how Mathematics could help us understand the code behind nature. These deep roots of CS are what keep you going through the more incomprehensible CS books and difficult challenges. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing/ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing/ http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alan_Turing http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alan_Turing http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/alan_turing http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/alan_turing I just found this: Breaking the Code: Biography of Alan Turing (Derek Jacobi, BBC, 1996) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S23yie-779k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S23yie-779k Looks like I am staying up working a little longer! If only BBC Programs could be streamed on demand I would pay for one daily. There were numerous programs on Turing including an episode from the series The Code - Numbers which was the type of programme that should always be available to the world and makes you wonder why the BBC doesn't unleash it's potential... Another story... http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012xppj http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012xppj http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/alan_turing http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/alan_turing I really value all the helpful comments here - thank you for your practical advice guys ;-)