Lucky for you 24 is the cutoff date from starting to learn programming. It has been scientifically proven that it is impossible to learn how to program past th

Lucky for you 24 is the cutoff date from starting to learn programming. It has been scientifically proven that it is impossible to learn how to program past the age of 24. Ok. I lie. 1. Select a language you would like to learn. Taking time to figure out which language to learn first shapes the way you will learn programming. Get advice from programmers. I would recommend one of three routes. Route 1: (the low road) Learning languages like C/C++ or Java can be great for learning the base fundamentals. Then you can appreciate what fancy higher level languages do for you later. Route 2: (the high road) Choose a language like Ruby or Python. These languages have a lot of magic and allow you to accomplish your goals in less lines of code. Higher level languages really make programming fun, IMHO. Route 3: (the pretty road) If you are a visual learner, programming Flash's Action Script 3 or JavaScript would be a decent option. Learning Flash as a platform may be kind of distracting to accomplishing the goal of learning how to program, but it could be used as a visual way to learn programming. 2. Think of a project that will be fun. Don't set your sites too high. 3. Read a book or two first just to get some of the basics down. Don't get hung up with the drudgery of some of the contrived examples. Take what you learn as you learn it, and try to apply it to your project when possible. (Personal Bias Alert! For your own sake, avoid PHP unless you want to learn some really bad habits. Also I would urge you to select an open source technology. Open source communities generally are more willing to help you learn from my past experience.)