This probably does not need to be announced 'round these parts, but Project Euler is an incredible website. When I wanted to start programming I went out and b

This probably does not need to be announced 'round these parts, but Project Euler is an incredible website. When I wanted to start programming I went out and bought a few books to learn Java. I got the general idea and I could make things happen but I didn't really know how I'd solve problems that weren't in the book. Enter Project Euler. I picked up Python and started working through the problems. As I went, I learned what questions I needed to ask and I got a real sense about how to attack a difficult problem. Sure my solutions were mostly brute force messes that I'd be embarrassed to show off today, but I was solving problems with a keyboard. The feeling of mental potency was incredible and it's what got me hooked on CS. As a bonus, sometimes I'd come up with the elegant solution on my own and it's an incredible feeling. Working for 3 hours to eventually independently re-dicsover Pascal's Triangle and combinatorics was a really enlightening experience.