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People recommended books a lot for some reason when I was starting out programming. I tried them once or twice and it they just didn't work for me. Instead I just followed random internet guides and asked questions in IRC, then eventually went to college. All worked out.

I think a good self learner will just find what works for them on Google, not that that can't be books for some people.

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It depends.

I learned programming by myself reading from the internet and some books that were not very good (actually simply bad but the most popular in my country), then I went to college and read specific books and got to learn from some of the teachers that actually programmed for a living and realized that I had holes the size of the mariana trench in my knowledge.

I have almost the exact opposite experience: tried asking dumb questions on IRC a lot, until I realized going to the source (books!) is the way to learn.

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