1. Pick a Language
2. Find a beginners guide to said language.
3. Start building stuff.
You need to start building stuff. The only time I've ever learned to code was when I was trying to build something. Reading books, taking algorithm classes, etc never did anything for me. Give me a real world problem and turn me loose. That's how I learn best, and I expect most people do too.
How do you pick a language? I've heard soooo many different perspectives on this. I just started fooling around w/Ruby because the tools were easy and fun to use... but since I'm just getting started I'm wide open for suggestions.
Your choice of language is almost irrelevant when first starting out as long as you pick something like php, python, or ruby. As the languages get more exotic or lower level they can become increasingly more difficult to learn.
Thanks for the reinforcement - it is a little daunting to wonder how far you should go down a given path w/out knowing much about the other options... this is a great way to sort some of that out. Thanks again!
You need to start building stuff. The only time I've ever learned to code was when I was trying to build something. Reading books, taking algorithm classes, etc never did anything for me. Give me a real world problem and turn me loose. That's how I learn best, and I expect most people do too.