Computer Programming, where do I start/go?

[ilikeberrypie]

Lets get right to the point. I'm 17 right now, I'm graduating high school in 2 months, and I want to get into computer programming. I don't really know if it's the right path for me atm, but I did play around with html for a good year or so and I liked it. Anyways, I will be going to FSCJ (Florida State College at Jacksonville) and I want to then transfer to Jacksonville University, it was recommended by my teacher. What I want to know is if there are any other universities that aren't as expensive as JU and still support the classes I need to take. I'll admit I'm not "rich" and I don't have thousands stored away in some bank nor do I have some $30,000 scholarship waiting for me at the end of highschool and FAFSA most likely won't be helping me out that much. I also want to know if there is anyway/anywhere I could learn programming/program something just to see if I will like it or not. I would also like to know where I should start with programming. I don't really have any friends that are into this so starting this is pretty hard... Are there any sites I could use or books I can read that will help me start? Any help and any extra tips would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[Kewlx25]

FAFSA paid for my entire college education and then some. enough left over to help with rent. Of course I need to pay it back, but it was a nice low interest loan. Is your schools too expensive for FAFSA to help or do your parents make too much? Those are pretty much the two main reasons why FAFSA won't help much.

 

[ilikeberrypie]

Parents make too much. I'm most likely just going to take out a student loan with the school.

Do you know where i could start programming just to get a feel for what I am working towards?

 

[BeccaJT]

Hi, I'm also teaching myself a bit of coding and web development, although I don't have as much time as I would like to.

An excellent site in my opinion is Codecademy: http://www.codecademy.com/
And I also really like one called w3schools: http://www.w3schools.com/

Both have been really useful. Then there is also a YouTube channel which I quite like called "Eli the Computer Guy", his videos are sometimes a bit slow (esp for me that I'm currently always short on time), but he really explains things in an easy and intuitive way from scratch.

 

[ilikeberrypie]

FAFSA paid for my entire college education and then some. enough left over to help with rent. Of course I need to pay it back, but it was a nice low interest loan. Is your schools too expensive for FAFSA to help or do your parents make too much? Those are pretty much the two main reasons why FAFSA won't help much.

Hi, I'm also teaching myself a bit of coding and web development, although I don't have as much time as I would like to.

An excellent site in my opinion is Codecademy: http://www.codecademy.com/
And I also really like one called w3schools: http://www.w3schools.com/

Both have been really useful. Then there is also a YouTube channel which I quite like called "Eli the Computer Guy", his videos are sometimes a bit slow (esp for me that I'm currently always short on time), but he really explains things in an easy and intuitive way from scratch.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Kewlx25]

If your parents make too much money, ask them for some help. Otherwise you need to "divorce" your parents. I'm not sure if that's a legal term, but when I was applying for student loans and grants, that as long as I didn't have proof that I was no longer getting any help from my parents I would have access to limited resources.

If I could prove that I no longer got any help, then I could get a ton of grants and loans. by default, schools assume your parents will help you, as they should.