Can't imagine the other commenters learned programming by jumping into Scheme or Haskell, or reading SICP, or whatever it is they're recommending :-)

I also learned programming by futzing around in QBasic rather than by reading SICP. But is it really safe to conclude that that's therefore the best way to learn programming? lukeprog writes:

I've since discovered that textbooks are usually the quickest and best way to learn new material. That's what they are designed to be, after all.

Should we really assume that the people writing textbooks are missing the mark so widely that you are better off not even reading the book at all?

In the same spirit, here is another suggestion on how to learn something: take a university course in the subject! That's what they are designed for, after all. And if benelliot is currently studying math and physics, he probably has access to one.

Quite seriously, I am working as a TA for an intro-level programming course right now, and the students there progress much faster than I did when I first picked up programming through self-study and playing around with little QBasic snippets. Their abilities after two semester-long courses are already at a level I reached only after several years of self-study.