No one can teach you how to hack! Hacking is a mindset. You want to learn to program- a good hacker will teach themselves. Javascript is a great language, afterwords i'd learn python or php. For me they were easier then jumping into something with an MVC framework (like ruby or Java)-- but ruby (and Rails) are awesome next steps. Just read through documentation's online. It's fun and feels great to teach yourself!

I like to think I have a hacking mindset, a non-technical one of course, but it is a big factor in my determination to become a proficient programmer. Thanks for the advice though!

By watching all of these videos and practicing a bit on my own, do you believe I will gain the appropriate knowledge base to create a solid web application?

I do not see why not if you are motivated enough. I would even pursue 'social coding' on Github. Seek a project out and see if you can contribute? Learn from others after you have the basics down so you can ask constructive questions and hone some skills. Could serve as a mentor of sorts that you are seeking.

Sounds good, will look into and pursue it. Thanks!

Give http://codeschool.com or http://teamtreehouse.com a try. They should put you well on your way.

Thanks a lot, codeschool seems quite useful!

IMO, one of the best ways to learn is to just start something and dive in. Pick a platform (I like Grails, but there are plenty of good ones out there), buy the corresponding book (eg, "Grails in Action" or "Teach Yourself Ruby on Rails in 21 days" or whatever) and start going through it... once you know enough to start making changes to what the book is showing you, just start an app of your own. It doesn't matter what it is, and it doesn't matter if it's any good or not, this is just a learning exercise.

Also, as controversial as this link was when it was posted a couple of days ago[1], I think you could do worse than reading through esr's "How To Become A Hacker" essay[2].

Our very own pg also has some excellent essays and articles[3] you might want to read.

If you're interested in getting involved in an open source project as part of your learning initiative, here's a shameless plug for what I'm working on:

https://github.com/fogbeam/Quoddy

https://github.com/fogbeam/Neddick

If you're interested, clone either or both repos, and join the Google group[4] and I'll do my best to answer questions and help out.

All of that said, I believe that one of the defining characteristics of a good hacker is a high level of innate curiosity, a strong desire for self-motivation and self-learning, and a naturally high level of persistence and determination. Given that, a good hacker will find a way to learn to hack, whether anyone else helps or not. So, yeah, asking for advice and help here is a Good Thing, and looking for mentors is always a good idea. But, in the end, don't rely on somebody else, just dig in and do it. If you get stuck on a specific question, ask on StackOverflow, or a relevant Usenet group, or mailing list or IRC channel or whatever. But read "How to ask questions the smart way"[5] beforehand. :-)

[1]: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5248742

[2]: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html

[3]: http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html

[4]: http://groups.google.com/group/fogcutter-dev

[5]: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

And this is why I love HN. Thanks a lot, I will jump in on one of those!