You know, I always get so bugged at those “Learn to program in 21 days” books. What can you possibly learn in 21 days about programming?! That is one of the reasons why the development job market is so flooded now days. People wanting to get into programming because “it would be a good line of work”. They spend their $49.95 and buy their book, spend their 21 days with the book and then call themselves programmers.

I think what really bugs me about the whole thing is that people tend to be so over-anxious about learning something new. No one is willing to put in the time to learn things well, learn the best ways to do things that only come from experience and the continuous study of new technologies. Are we really that impatient that we go looking for any do it quick scheme that comes along instead of putting our own time & sweat into it? Why are we in such as rush? It takes time to learn. Even more to learn how to do things right.

There's an article by Peter Norvig that is a few years old that I've seen posted a few places recently. The article dates back to 2001 but the same is true today.

Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years

Take a look at Peter's recipe for programming success. Take your time. There's enough hacks out there that likely learned how to cause their damage in 21 days - do it right.