It's fine if you didn't study CS in school, so don't be bummed about it. If you're really passionate you can get really far on your own, so don't fret over the

It's fine if you didn't study CS in school, so don't be bummed about it. If you're really passionate you can get really far on your own, so don't fret over the "dumb" decision, it'll do more harm than good. Now, first things you have to learn are fundamental programming theories and methodologies. You'll also need to learn these in tandem with a language. There are a ton of programming languages out there - so many, in fact, that picking the one might seem like a daunting task. I'm a Rubyist - it's pretty, it's fun, it's awesome on the web, and I think great for beginners. However, I think it might be best you learn programming with something like C/C++. Python is great for beginners too. If it were me, I'd learn with one of those languages. Which ever you pick, I'd recommend either Learn Ruby the Hard Way (http://ruby.learncodethehardway.org/ http://ruby.learncodethehardway.org/) or Learn Python the Hard Way (http://learnpythonthehardway.org/ http://learnpythonthehardway.org/), both by Zed Shaw. They're also extremely cheap at $2.99 for the PDF, or free if you want to read it online, and the Python version has a video course for $29. After you're done with that, you can start making stuff. At this point, what you learn next depends on what kind of software you want to make. Research and figure out what you want. Remember you never stop learning programming, so I'd advise you to gradually pick more advanced books, preferably covering more theory than practice. Maybe branch off to different languages and paradigms. If I had to give one key piece of advice, it's that you learn by doing. It will be daunting, and it will take time, but I promise you - you'll get better. Here's a good piece that will inspire you: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3179-you-only-get-one-chance-to-be-a-beginner http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3179-you-only-get-one-chance-...