[PlayaSkater]

Well, I first started with Visual Basic thinking that it's a pretty easy language to master, and that it could mastered within a week, then I could head to every other language and master that too. I was sadly mistaken when I found out -- in a competition that I entered tonight -- that I don't know a **** thing about Visual Basic, and programming (well) in general. Plus, for solutions in this programming competition, you could easily look at another competitor's solution (after the competition, that is) and find out what you did wrong. The problem is that nobody programmed in Visual Basic -- you'd find a solution in VB every other blue moon. So, I'm scrapping Visual Basic, and going to C++. I didn't know much about it anyway, and I'm learning PHP at the same time (they're related), so why not.

After that sentiment of humility, my question is, "Where could I start to learn C++?" A good site that teaches it. I don't want one that's too slow at teaching, or one that starts at "hello world" and then the next step is graphic design. I also welcome any tips or links for strategies for good programming.