How do I become a computer genius?

I've always been fascinated by tech and computers. I have friends that are good and can do lots of cool shit and I've always wanted to learn.. but there's so much content.. Like where the fuck do you start?? So bros.. I want to become a computer genius.. what is the best way to learn and where do I start?

Are we talking about programming? Learning how to install and use Linux? Becoming really good at using and configuring Windows? Assembling a computer?

He wants the comptia A+.

>bros

I figure just buy PC's from reputable manufacturers.. just simpler that way.. But in terms of operating a PC and being able to accomplish cool shit with it. Would that be coding/programming?

IDK.. what different areas are there when it comes to that?

>what is the best way to learn
by yourself
>and where do I start?
by not being stupid

I'm not even joking

Computers are a tool, not an end product
If you're not actually trying to do something with the tool you aren't going to learn anything.

You're basically saying
>I have friends that are good with pencils and can draw lots of cool shit and I want to as well... but there's so many different types of drawings... which do I draw first?

do this op

Uhh ohhh.... social fuck up with "Bro's"?

Install Gentoo. If you can do that, you can do anything.

Not really. It's fairly simple once you get the hang of it. The hard part is just waiting for everything to compile.

So that's the official name for Linux? I've heard that's like the gold standard for being tech smart.

And that looks interesting. I will learn more! Thanks :)

Pretty much this.

Do you even own a computer OP? If not, try learning how to build one from some decent-ish components to start out. We've all been there long time ago.

You'll learn some stuff about what's inside a computer, how to install an OS, how to find drivers etc. It's a good start if you're just interested in computers in general.

You need to be a lot more specific with what you want.

What exactly do you want to know?

I guess the software/programing/coding end of things.. I guess I'd have to ask though.. What general areas are there? Aside from hardware.. I have basic understanding of that.

Comptia A+ is basically introduction to computers and it.

Sorry dude, I'm guessing you're like >14?

I don't think we can help much. Build a computer from scratch and install Windows 10/Ubuntu on it and take it from there.

OP's just here to post a picture of a laptop that he may have financial ties with.

I'm 23. I know it's ideal to start younger.. but I figure I'm young enough to learn.

The first step is usually to buy yourself a nice rig OP. I recommend Alienware for your pursuits.

No I wanted a cool picture lol. Makes it more likely people will read my thread. Besides nobody can afford that beast anyways haha.

>Algebra
>Calculus
>Object Oriented programming (take a python tutorial)
>C and Unix/computer organization
>programming languages
>data structures
>algorithms
Devote a heavy amount of time to all of them, but especially the ones lower on the list. Its a lot of work (4 years of studying your ass off) but it really is like having a modern-day super-power. I got into CS for the money, and I stayed for the glory (if you are actually any good, you can get respect amongst the community and literally everyone else who doesnt fuck with computers or math like that). Also, the money really isnt that bad. Its a fantastic career path, but no one has the balls to confront their high-school-years "mental block" that is "keeping [them] from learning math".

I realized I was spending hours a day downloading pictures from Sup Forums

I wrote a program to do it. It took me 2 hours. I spent my newfound time being productive (for the most part, I also just used the program to hoard papes). Granted, there are probably a handful of progs out there that do the same... but the point is that even if there werent, it is a 2 hour investment (más o menos) to write something of that nature.

I have written programs to
>save Sup Forums threads
>navigate in terminal faster
>rename files in bulk to an OCD-like level of specificity
>write skeleton programs for me (saves work programming other stuff)
>save files from sites that arent too keen on that sort of thing (youtube, amateur pornhub vids, etc.)
And I write more everyday. I am currently writing a program that writes code for me in another language. I aim to use it to cookie-cut code for clients using a cheap LLC.

Oh yes, and the entrepreneurial possibilities are something to seriously consider. Of the top 10 richest people in the world, around 5 of them tend to be computer scientists at any given point of time (5 on average).

Just food for thought

>nobody can afford that beast anyways haha.
The place where people coerce to discuss tech often relating to their jobs with starting incomes are around 60-90k a year.
>No I wanted a cool picture lol.
>lol
Right.

Not OP, but it would be really nice to someone to show the way here.

To provide guides giving a SOLID FOUNDATIONAL tech knowledge.

I've been reading about leafing through How Computers Work by White and reading about networking on Odin Project.

It would be nice for someone to provide a GOOD GUIDE for basic tech knowledge.

read the fucking sticky
if you could not locate it, you're beyond saving

I forgot some things:

bad idea for a newb

Youre good enough at observing patterns to do the work. A lot of people are genuinely not smart enough for the field. They tend to be the people who do not notice fairly obvious social queues like this. A lot of the most socially inept programmers are indeed the most inept programmers. Smart people write better code in general, and suffer less debugging it.

As for what this guy was saying:
Dont do this. Get a cheap piece of shit laptop. Dont ever use any of your emails or credit cards on it. Download porn from unreliable places, download free downloads that look suspicious, etc.
GET A VIRUS OR TWO
>Now fix it
Use google... from your phone. Google is your friend. Google is the best friend of every programmer on the planet. Fixing computer viruses will teach you how to think like a debugger for implementation bugs. It is not the same as fixing syntax, but forcing yourself to research and try things and read documentation is good as an exercise to become a good programmer.

If nothing else, you will pick up residual lessons about the best antivirus programs (protip: they are AVG and Malware Bytes), the most dangerous sites for malware, and if you use your family computer, how to make it look like the computer isnt broken before mom gets home. This is how any real programmer on this site got their start (in one form or another).

Go ahead... ask them.

>I recommend Alienware
were you just born with a heart of evil user?

I can help you get started if you want. Just give me some way to PM you.

>the best antivirus programs (protip: they are AVG and Malware Bytes)
Don't listen to this. Just keep your windows install updated and use Microsoft Security Essentials.

If you're doubting me just read what Chrome and Firefox devs think about anti virus products.

>I can help you get started if you want. Just give me some way to PM you.
Messaged wrong person last time.

>lots of cool shit
Like what?

you don't know what your getting yourself into.

he's 23 and has friends who "do cool shit with computers".

chances are, he already asked them to teach him and they gave up.

if he hadn't asked them yet and his first thought was to ask random strangers on the internet...

So Computer Science is something for me to go off of. Sounds like there are some awesome things you can learn to do. I already have average grade laptop. I never had a real aptitude for math but I suppose I can try my best. Above I was told that learning by doing is best. But any real place I should start? Any resource that would be helpful for basics? Learn from youtube? Take CS classes?

Here's a serious answer:

You really need to be academic, in both skill and qualification to be considered a computer genius.. but you can still learn on your own.

I went into IT as its a easy in, flexible and growing industry that is kind of related to computers, as I have no degree etc. Not a bad choice for a career but I wouldn't say fucking around with MS Exchange or backup software makes you a technical person (by my 'computing' standards.')

First step is probably to understand / respect that computing was made possible by many layers of abstraction. Look that up if you're not sure what it means.

Learn at least the basics in Electronics and Circuits.
Then read about the vacuum tube \ semi conductor relationship and why its important. Then learn about logic gates / data representation etc.

Then once you understand how the CPU works, move onto CPU instruction sets (x86, ARM, etc). Then learn about low level programming languages (assembler) and how we're creating abstracted layers at this point. Next step up is your higher level languages (C for the most obvious example) and also operating systems. Good to know the basics of the core of an OS - memory handling, cpu threading, kernel/user mode, unix vs bsd vs windows etc.

It doesn't take too much to just understand what that all means.
To be able to get involved in some of the development though does require you to be quite intelligent and academic.

But don't beat yourself up about not knowing everything - I've learned that the entire evolution of computing we know today is the result of lots of different people who are skilled in different areas (mathematicians, (electronic)engineers, programmers, and all of the workers in various companies that supported the cause and made it all possible.)

I was not going to teach him but rather just ask questions on what he actually wants to do or does he just want to look like some 1337 hacker. But teaching? Hell no. I deal enough with dumb-asses at work.

...

Thank you.

This is EXACTLY the answer I had hoped for.

Learning about "komputer" is not difficult, but really learning about it requires a structured approach.

Maintain that books like White's provide good insight as well.
I have written down your response and segmented it.

you go step by step, project by project.
Basically it's like this, i'll greentext the steps and have my own first project as black

>set a goal
I want a website.
>google the topic
A website needs a Server to serve it and is written mainly in HTML
You need a domain-name as well for easy access
>assemble the parts
I rented a small server in combination with a Domain at df.eu, clicked through the config and menues
>google any questions
what is an FTP, what program do I use
>start the project, set a sub-goal or specifics
My website should have some pages with images
>google how to do it
I just copypasted some examples from a HTML Learning site, tried fucking around with it to grasp the concepts (what happens if I change this, why doesn't this work oh i forgot x)
>do it, google anything coming up
Tables are shit and I don't want to write every time, wait, what is this CSS thing...
>after your project you now have learned many things and will have new Ideas, start from the top again
I want my content to be dynamic, how do I do this? -> time to dive into PHP and Javascript
>broaden your Horizon
Why do they all hate PHP and code in Python and shit? How can I connect? (I then wrote Twitter-Bots in Python which tweet images from my FTP)

All of this happened in the course of ~10 years of varying interest and time.

This sounds like I'm rereading Tanenbaum's Structured Computer Organisation.

Ditch Windows and install a GNU/Linux distro like Debian. Use the command line not because you have to, but to make yourself more productive. Gaymer shit is also not what real 1337 h4x0rz user either. At all of the conventions I've been to they use old Dell, Lenovo, or Apple laptops, or anything you can easily upgrade and thinker with. Learn your hardware inside and out. Buy an old Thinkpad and a Raspberry Pi and Libreboot it.

Once you get to a point where you receive a new device in the mail and you strip it down to the mobo to find out what's inside and how it works, you will be a computer genius.

>khanacademy.com for everything math related
>there are a million python examples online... find on that works for YOU
>youtube is great for the stuff after that, but you have to actually LEARN it. If possible, try some examples
>investing in the degree is NOT a bad idea.
You will have to take some other courses not related to CS that will make you a more well-rounded person, and you will learn the ins and outs of the material if you get into a decent uni out of community college and have to actually do the assignments. If you have the kind of drive to do it yourself outside of the academic setting (protip: you probably don't; most people don't) you can be just as talented as anyone with a BA from Princeton University. You can find graduate-program level material on line. They don't teach Fibonacci heaps in the standard undergraduate curriculum at any school I have attended classes for.

computers don't work like that.
You can read about Atom Reactors all day and they're still all different from each other.

Its much better for your own morale and feeling of accomplishment to do some shit, fail, find the error, fix it.
Write up some projects, try to do them, google where you get stuck, proceed. That way you'll have actually made some shit happen you can even show around, instead of just being able to truthfully claim "I've read 10 books on Tech" and remember none of the shit because you never saw it in real life.

There's also shit that books wont tell you since it's either specific to your case, your PC or your favorite way of coding stuff.
One time I wanted to make my own dictionary with a database in PHP only to learn my hoster only allowed scripts to run for 30 seconds at a time.

That's when I got into Linux and DynDNS, now I have my own small server to test shit on.

>want website
>rent server first
I think you have your priority's fucked up there.
What's wrong with practicing in a VM?

You're welcome.

A lot of this board is discussion of particular software or applications and what people prefer.
Higher level stuff about why this or that operating system is better and what is the best programming language etc. Its all techy stuff for sure but its not fundamental or related to the invention of computing and sadly I think a lot of techies skip this area and I don't know why.

When I hear 'how does a computer work?' I think about all of the electrical engineering, production and mathematics/coding and how it comes together to make a bunch of natural physical material (+ natural electricity) calculate (do) something and give us some kind of useful output.

If iTunes is better than WMP or how much better any Linux distro is than another comes way way way after the computer is already 'working.'

Spread the word. :)

Shove a Raspberry Pi up your ass.

Not him, but it's kind of fun to be able to have something that's instantly shareable.

By reading wikipedia articles

Gonna bump this for reasons