quote:
1. Sign up for a course at your school/college/university.
2. Find someone who knows how to program to teach you.
3. Buy a book and teach yourself.
that's exactly the order i followed
2 years ago when i went to college i started learning java, half a year later, i also learned about C++, then six months ago a friend of mine who knows a lot about C and C++ teached me a lot about C++ that i didn't learn at school.
Right know i'm making 2 games, one in java and alone, and one in C++ with my friend and some other people who don't know how to program and are just there for ideas. The one in Java is going pretty well, i find it much easier to program, but the performance of a Java program is not as good as a C++ program so there is a limit on what i can do with the game.
The one in C++ is more dificult, especially because you really have to plan the complete structure of the game before you start programming.
If you want to learn how to program, don't just learn a language, but also learn a modelling language like UML and a bit about Object Oriented programming, it can really help if you're making complicated games like 4x