I know there are similar questions on here, which I've read, but I recently read this post by Joel Spolsky: How can I teach a bright person, with no programming experience, how to program? And it got me thinking about my way of learning and whether it might actually be harmful in the long run. I've dabbled with various languages but C# is my first serious one, I've read "Head First C#" and created a few projects. But after reading the post above I've found it a bit disheartening that I may be going about it all wrong, obviously I respect Joel's opinion which is what has thrown me a bit. I've started reading "Code" as recommended in the reading list and I'm finding it pretty hard going, although enjoyable. I feel like it's taken the shine off of my "noobish hacking about" in Visual Studio. So now I'm unsure as to what path I should take? Should I take a step back and follow Joel's advice and start reading? I guess my main aim is just to become a good programmer, like everyone else, but I don't want to be going into bad practice by learning a .NET language when someone who's opinion I respect thinks that it is harmful. Thoughts?