I second that. In fact, dive in now before your mind gets used to other ways of thought. Explore different schools, don't take one programming paradigm and only

I second that. In fact, dive in now before your mind gets used to other ways of thought. Explore different schools, don't take one programming paradigm and only stick to it (e.g. don't do one of php/perl/python/javascript only till you hit your 20s.) This is purely personal experience, but I find people who started programming early have a better "sixth sense" at getting algorithms, data structures, and design right. It's like solving crosswords, you read a description and the word/concept comes to you. Like the reverse of looking up a word in the dictionary, but with a fuzzier input! :) I've seen late life, college usually, programmers have hour-long meetings to get to something others get in seconds. Many, perhaps most, competitors in programming contests are 15-25. Most started programming very, very early.