Here are some of the best online Python tutorials, including a link to videos and course material for MIT's introductory computer science course, which uses Python: http://www.quora.com/How-can-I-learn-to-program-in-Python/an...

Build something that you want to use so it will be meaningful to you. Do you have a blog? That's usually a good first exercise. It's easy to do using Flask -- follow the tutorial (http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/).

Here are some tips to get you started:

Use Emacs as the text editor to write your code -- it usually comes pre-installed on Ubuntu, and it has a Python mode. Here are some Emacs tutorials (there are some good videos on YouTube too):

http://philip.greenspun.com/teaching/manuals/usermanual/emac... http://www2.lib.uchicago.edu/keith/tcl-course/emacs-tutorial... http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/tour/ http://cmgm.stanford.edu/classes/unix/emacs.html

Use PostgreSQL as your database. To install it on Ubuntu, use this command:

$ sudo apt-get install postgresql

Use SQLAlchemy (http://www.sqlalchemy.org/) to connect your Python website to PostgreSQL.

Here's a good SQL tutorial: http://philip.greenspun.com/sql/

When you build a blog, you don't have to worry about building a public authentication and comment system if you use something like Disqus (http://disqus.com/) -- you just include the Disqus JavaScript tag at the bottom of the blog's entry page.

Here are some good JavaScript tutorials: http://www.quora.com/What-are-good-books-preferably-found-on...

Use StackOverflow to ask programming questions: http://stackoverflow.com/

Setting up Linux teaches system administration skills. Useful, but nothing to do with programming. Learning Emacs is fantastic (I'm a huge fan), but again — nothing to do with programming. For that matter, writing a blog engine should not be someone's first exposure to programming. Frameworks and web development should be simply banned for people who haven't yet written a Fibonacci sequence generator. Please don't waste your time learning how to integrate other people's services and APIs. You aren't ready for this yet.

Don't think about tools, think about concepts. Learn about how programs flow. Learn about data structures, the basics of algorithms, and recursion. Understand how and why programs are structured the way they are. This stuff isn't hard, and won't take more than a few weeks to learn. Then you should look around at tools and at the kinds of problems you want to solve. In the meanwhile, you'll only slow yourself down if you try to run (e.g., figure out why web frameworks work the way they work) before you can walk (e.g., understand functions).

Use gedit as your text editor. It's the default GUI text editor in the Ubuntu operating system, and works well enough for programming, and is significantly easier than Emacs for someone just starting out programming.

I'd also suggest MySQL instead of PostgreSQL, for the same reasons (works well enough, significantly easier for beginners).

On the other hand, MBA types will have heard of MySQL -- that might be an advantage, of a sort.

But may I recommend geany instead? Its a pretty good GUI text editor. Alternatively Kate...it is quite awesome too.

The problem is, someone who is just starting doesn't even know what to look for. They don't know their mindset or needs, yet.

The OP advice should be taken as "these are good defaults, when you grow older you'll be able to tell what to change and, more importantly, why to change".

I started learning this stuff... my god... 10 years ago.

It took me over a year to figure out that line 1 was the best first step OS (a question I didn't even ask until 4 years in).

It took me four years after that to figure out that line 2 was the best second step (I am on chapter 18 of Mark Lutz's Learning Python, very easy read, the only problem is to not get impatient).

It took 3 years to figure out that line 7 (including line 8) was the best way to go for databases.

10 years ago was the first time I read Greenspun's stuff and decided to march down this path (lines 6 and 10). I still use vim as my primary editor, but I'm learning emacs. Most valuable starter tip on emacs I ever got: you should have hundreds of files open.

That is a great answer.

This is because the first and foremost important thing about learning to program is the desire to do so. The early hackers programmed by directly banging hexadecimal machine code into computers without screens. Were they not programmers? Sure they were. Don't put too much stress on the tools - just program.

/me bias because I'm an Emacs user - but I don't think myself above VIM users...

Next, you probably have an idea about where you want to be with your business. Is it mobile? Is it web? I'll assume the latter, because even if it's the former, you're going to need both eventually.

Even though it's not programming, you need to know HTML/CSS. Start there, even though it's not programming. You can get your feet wet editing and you can add programming shortly.

Start with a simple but capable editor. If you're on Windows, start with Komodo Edit or Notepad++. On Mac, something like TextMate. You can always 'upgrade' to Emacs/VIM later.

Once you're comfortable with basic HTML, you'll probably want to make it do things. You can start with JavaScript. This makes programming exercises simple and quick. Just refresh the page.

Once you decide you need a bigger challenge, then a larger world of choices becomes available: what server side language (Python and C# are two options), what server (Linux is pretty standard), what web server (Apache or Nginx are good), what database (Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB, etc...) are some of the many choices to be made.

I would first survey the above and decide what you think you might need, then pick the language based on that. Let's say you pick Python. Start playing with it from the command line or with your editor like you did with HTML. Once you understand the basics, then pick a web framework (like Django) and start making it produce the HTML that you now understand.

It's a stepwise process. The goal is to pick off small, achievable pieces, and then use them to build something more substantial. The core of it all, though, is programming. Programming is how you make the gears turn the way you want them to. Eventually, everything will start making sense and you'll just add to your repertoire as the needs arise.

Use a forgiving and simple language like Python, and ideally an operating system where the tools you need are already installed.

Learn the documentation systems for your language of choice. For instance, in Python, you can go to http://www.python.org, run the command-line "pydoc" tool, and use the "help" function in an interactive session.

Use things like StackOverflow and Google (i.e. learn how to find answers and ask questions). These days, help isn't too far away.

Choose some programming goal, even that goal is something arbitrary like reading 20 lines of a text file and printing all the words that start with A. Make yourself write programs that achieve arbitrary goals so that you're satisfied with how well you're learning the language. Do this for a few weeks before you attempt anything remotely related to the "real" reason you learned programming.

And not only write code, but also read code.

And debugging is actually a more useful skill than writing new code, and comes in handy far more often. It also tends to be more painful. But where there's mud, there's brass.

I am quite a lot older than you and I have a child, a company and a girlfriend to manage, so you can probably pick it up much faster than me. Basically I have been forced to take an hour here and an hour there, sometimes more.

I have worked on it a while now but http://www.blueskycouncil.com is my idea of a idea generation website. still lot's of little mistakes but again it was actually having a goal in mind that helped me know how far in the process I was.

So here is what I have done.

1. Sign up for Lynda.com

2. Watch php/mysql for beginners twice, just to get an understanding of the scope that I am about to venture into.

3. Start programming with an idea in mind.

4. Use IRC, StackOverflow and friends

That should take you plenty of the way.

I can also recommend reading books like Code Complete to get a sense of some of the programming issues and paradigms to think of.

https://www.cs50.net/

I'm in the same boat as the person that posted the original message but I'm currently doing Rails for Zombies (free in-browser interactive course) after first doing tryruby.org (free interactive introduction).

There are a ton of good resources online. Hacker News is awesome, Stack Overflow, etc. Python has a nice and free online book to get you started.

Best of luck!

Oh, I agree with the need for a good editor. Emacs is great (of course others will argue for VIM of course ;). Unless things have changed in the last release, you'll have to install it yourself which is one of the reasons people choose the lighter weight editor of VIM.

If you have a mac, I would suggest TextMate. I recently came across SublimeText 2 which is currently in alpha stages but is really cool too! It is cross platform so it will also work on Linux.

Then, write a program that works on all major platforms with little or no modifications. Learn C++ or C. Learn how to use a debugger, how to distribute code to end-users, etc. While doing this, learn data structures, big O notation and why they are important when you need to scale. Learn how to handle threaded data safely and Unicode input too.

Just start coding ASAP to solve "real-world" problems (not book exercises), the rest will come as you progress.

Edit: Spelling

To your comment "Solve a specific real-world problem" I would say +1, but add that you should start by trying to solve the smallest possible specific real-world problem that will create some sort of value for your customers.

And before you start, describe that problem using a testing tool like Cucumber (cukes.info). This will ensure that all your early coding and learning is completely focused on solving that one small problem.

Keeping reading, Googling and experimenting until you find you can write enough code to solve that small customer problem. Then set your sights on a slightly larger customer problem.

As for tools, I like and recommend Ruby on the Mac but there are a number of options that seem to have lots of community support and free tutorials, including Python and Perl, whether on the Mac or Linux.

Try Mark Pilgrim's Dive Into Python. It's free online, and python is one of the better introductory languages: http://diveintopython.org/toc/index.html

Aside from that, search stackoverflow for variations of your question - it's been answered lots before!

I have to disagree with the book choice - for this case. The first sentence on the main site for the book[1]:

>> Dive Into Python is a Python book for experienced programmers.

It might be a great book, but not for someone who knows nothing about programming.

[1] http://diveintopython.org/

Also there's HacketyHack, Rails for Zombies, CodeSchool.com.

Also there was an old HN thread that is very similar to your situation. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2280070

On the other hand, I imagine you building the next big thing as a social webservice. You won't understand security, you won't know why it is important, you won't know why it is hard... this worries me. Even big supposedly tech savvy companies (Google being a prime example) get this wrong (when it comes to my data PRIVATE IS THE DEFAULT dammit, not public!!!)

On the gripping hand, you can treat programming like any other kind of artistic talent. You say you need to understand every aspect of the company... well, will you have art? Will you have splash screens and icons? Does that mean you will go to art school as well as learning to be a programmer? Maybe you need some sound, will you spend 10 years trying to become a concert pianist?

Peter Norvig: http://norvig.com/21-days.html

Eric Raymond: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html

Paul Graham: http://www.paulgraham.com/pfaq.html

http://see.stanford.edu/see/courses.aspx

In particular, check out CS 106A.

If you'd like to learn best practices, check out Hunt & Thomas' 'The Pragmatic Programmer' (http://www.pragprog.com/the-pragmatic-programmer).

To get up to speed fairly quickly on what's going on under the hood, check out Petzold's 'Code' (http://www.charlespetzold.com/code/) and Nisan & Schocken's 'The Elements of Computing Systems' (http://www1.idc.ac.il/tecs/).

He's sort of a maroon. You can figure it out and be 'functionally illiterate' fairly quickly with some ingenuity and hard work. You'll produce some hardcore drek that will need to be cleaned up by a professional at some point though (maybe you after a few years of programming :)).

Python is the current fad language for introductory programming. I am not a huge fan, but there's lots of gentle reference material, which is probably more important.

Remember though - entrepreneurship is not a career. You have to have a solid idea that you can develop into a product - developing and then taking that product mainstream and running that particular business (or working on selling it)is then your career.

Just like non-profit work is not a career - usually people who go into a non-profit work environment have a passion for something in particular, that then becomes their career, which so happens to be for a non-profit entity.

In fact, what I saw impressed me so much that I've bought a copy to work through, even though I'm already writing basic flash games in AS3.

http://pragprog.com/titles/ltp2/learn-to-program

While espeed gave you good advice for how to setup your own server and all the tools needed for a Linux-based web application, this isn't necessarily the best route for you to go. If your software is intended to run in a big corporation, for example, then you should probably consider learning either the Microsoft technologies or the Java Enterprise technologies. If instead you're going to be working on iPhone/iPad or Android devices, then you will need a different tool set. There are a number of other alternatives you could pursue, as well. The answer really depends on what kind of startup software you need/want.

If I can help you further, please send me an email (address is in my profile) and I will be happy to try. Good luck with your endeavors.

After time, you will begin to understand more, and gain confidence. Just keep at it. Don't stop pursuing your business interests, etc, but just code code code. Best of luck!

The strategy is simple. Stay focused on practical problems at all times. Pick some real thing you would like to achieve, and bang away at it, learning as you go. When you get stuck, look for help on places like Stack Overflow.

Expect to suck at it, and expect to spend countless hours baffled by things you can't figure out. There's no skipping this process. Most people find it too painful, which is why most people never learn to program.

It doesn't really matter what projects you pick, so long as they're relevant to you. If they turn out to be "too difficult" you'll learn just as much, and be able to pick a smarter project next time.

If you are using Linux: 1. Google for Python tutorial for beginners 2. Follow it.

Learn some web programming by following tutorials on w3schools. You should be able to create simple static web page and host it on localhost.

Why C# and Python? Well both are widely used and are easy to grasp.

Once you grasp basic concepts like 1. if...else.. 2. for 3. while 4. case 5. What are libraries? 7. What is difference between compilation and interpretation? 8. What is the difference between editor, IDE and compiler?

the force will guide you.

And if at any point you get stuck you can always ask question at StackOverflow.com

Then, you can come back and "Ask HN" how do I become better programmer?

Best of luck!

- http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/ - http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.001/abelson-sussma...

Once you have mastered this material, learning the specialization of web development shouldn't take more than a week or two of intense study.

Plus, as a bizdev person, you will earn incredible street cred with programmers. MBAs with backgrounds in Lisp hacking don't come along every day.

SICP is truly a masterpiece, but it might not be the best book for someone just starting out who wants to do productive stuff like prototype web apps. Peter Norvig wrote in his review, "I agree that the book's odds of success are better if you read it after having some experience" and I think I agree too, although I'm biased since I only read it after getting a degree in CS. I don't know how I would have felt if I'd read it as a freshman.

Felleisen et al argue that SICP isn't the best intro in their "The Structure and Interpretation of the Computer Science Curriculum" and although I haven't read the whole thing, I think I agree that How to Design Programs might be a better first book. It's certainly easier going, and you couldn't ask for a better environment than DrRacket to get started. And it's also freely available online.

1st ed: http://www.htdp.org/

draft of 2nd: http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/HtDP2e/

No comment on HtDP, as I haven't read it. Heard good things about it, though.

You might have higher caliber students than I have had (or am), but I have a hard enough time explaining how to use a text editor in one window and run a script in another. To get to actually doing something useful enough to keep them interested via SICP is, well, beyond even imagining.

While it obviously sucks that your students can't figure out text editors and scripts, I hope to alleviate some of the pain by using Racket, its integrated editor, and the "Run" button on the toolbar.

(But then I am the type who very early learned to avoid what the best professors thought was a good intro text and only trust my fellow students. Because once you see the field as a whole, you have VERY different taste in introductory texts, and more seem to prefer terse and comprehensive overviews which start from first principles, which are also the VERY WORST sort of introductory text possible.)

Every University site I have seen has them in C++ or Java. I was so excited to do MIT 6.0 Intro course for Python and throughly dissapointed that other courses are in C or Java. Do I HAVE to learn 3 languages (even if it just skim through) to just get the basic concepts?

I know of books like Learn Python the hard way, Think like a Computer Scientist and like but I guess they do not cover the above topics. Please correct me if I am being ignorant here.

Painful? It's fun.

Sure, it's difficult, but if he doesn't find difficult things to be fun, he's neither going to be an entrepreneur nor a programmer.

So my vote goes to PHP + javascript (+node.js) + HTML + CSS

edit: i recommend Ubuntu for development, or if you own a Mac, just install xampp and enjoy.

If you happen to try it out, I can answer any programming questions you may have, give you tips, feedback, etc.

Check it out at:

http://blueberrytree.ws

However, if you are either mathematically minded or somewhat into chain-and-bondage, then Haskell might also be worth looking into. I'd suggest reading Raymond Smullyan's "To Mock a Mockingbird" if you want to go down that road.

It's a popular book about combinatory logic. The kind of logic you need for functional programming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6U-i4gXkLM&feature=relat...

Professor keeps everything simple and direct because this class is designed for beginners with no or little programming experience.

1. Trying to recruit friends who have also said they would be interested

2. Watching videos from lynda, killerphp, etc.

3. I have an idea of something I want to build and so am learning with a goal in mind

4. Hiring a tutor via e-lance to answer quick questions on an hourly basis

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/04/the-easiest-way-to-succ...

This does not fit everybody, so if it's not for you, what could you take from this?

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2069477

Don't just learn to learn, because you will forget more than you remember.