This is Driving Me Nuts!

I am trying to wade into the programing world a little with hopes of actually becoming marketable.  I have always wanted to know more about programming and even wanted to be able to create.  You just can’t go wrong if you know how to program.

Here’s the thing, I know some about programming now and have some experience in a variety of languages from my time at SDSU but I don’t know any of these new syntaxes and I just don’t have the experience I need to start fabricating code.  I have ordered a book with hopes of teaching myself the basics.  And as with anything new, getting started causes the most anguish because you find out how incompetent you really are. But I am hopeful that I can figure it out.  After all, its english right?  My brain works in nice orderly tables and functions!  I like it when my life works like that so I can learn to write like this.

Any good sources or advice for me?