OK. I came across your post completely by accident. I don't usually look at this forum, and I don't know what possessed me to tonight.

Anyway, I'm going to be brutally honest with you. No-one here, or anywhere else, will teach you to program for free, I'm afraid. Your college tutors were there for a reason. To teach you. They are paid to do that. It's their job. No-one will do that for free, simply because there's no reward for the time and effort they would have to put in. It's basic economics. Also, the vast majority of people here who could teach you are either employed on a full-time basis, or are working on their own projects. They don't have the time.

Blitz Basic is good to start out with, but it's just that: basic. The majority of games are written in C/C++, but that can be tough to learn when you're starting out. It's not user-friendly, and even experienced programmmers can be stumped for hours by an array overflow, or some other simple, but obscure problem. Get a good programming book for a language that's beginner-friendly, like Visual Basic, Ada, Python or Pascal. This will teach you the fundamentals of programming and software design. Once you've learnt this, you can progress to a more advanced language like C/C++, and then you can start playing with graphics APIs like OpenGL and Direct3D.

I won't lie to you: this will take time. You'll need to be patient. It'll probably take about six months to get started with a beginner's language, and get the experience you'll need to progress to something more complex like C/C++. However, this varies. Some people take to programming like a duck to water, and others have to work at it a bit more. Also, try to get back into college. The stuff you'll learn there if you apply yourself will amaze you. Why did you drop out in the first place?

I think you're probably a smart guy. You wouldn't have got into college to do Comp Sci if you weren't. Start small, make some simple programs, then go on from there. And make sure that you don't just learn a programming language. Learn algorithm and software design, because these work with any language you choose.

I've also re-written your original post below. Please take note. You don't come across as very capable when you haven't taken the time to check your spelling, punctuation and grammar:

"My name is Matt. I'm smart and capable, but I'm having trouble getting it together. I want to learn programming. I have used Blitz Basic, but the amount of experience I have matches the name: basic. Every time I have tried to get into programming, something goes wrong, and I stop. I was in college on a four-year Comp Sci degree, but I had to drop out in my first semester. I need a programming God to teach me the trade, and I'm hoping to find one here. My light is on and I'm home, but I need to learn to program from a real person. Can you help to teach me?"

Quote:Original post by atomic_west
i need to learn from a person not a book

Before anything, learn to learn from books and tutorials. It's not that hard.

Nice kill guys, I love how we never see them again after someone is honest...

that might be why they are not in college anymore.

atmoic, if your interested I will help you with what I know.

The books suck :)

I program in Visual Basic.

AIM: FlexibleMorality