At this point I'm assuming your programming environment is set up, and you are
ready to start writing and executing programs in your language of choice.
Follow a High Quality, Up-to-Date Tutorial
Before you learn to do anything particularly interesting with software, you'll
have to do some small, boring things. You're going to have to learn how to do
arithmetic with your language, how to work with basic data types, how to write
and call functions, etc. All of these things are covered in any tutorial of
decent quality. There are dozens on the Internet. You'll get through this
quickly. Keep in mind that languages are software projects themselves, and new
versions of the software will continue to be released. Things change from
release to release. Go find a tutorial. If it is terrible, find another.
Make Use of the Official Documentation
If you have a question as to how or why something is the way it is in the
language you are using, sometimes the official documentation can help. Basic
usage, design details, and conventions of the language may be documented on the
language's official webpage. Info concerning different versions of the
software can often be found here as well (new features, etc.)
Experiment with the Interpreter or Compiler
Plenty of questions can be answered by thoughtfully writing a bit of code to
test out what you are thinking. You'll learn a lot by just trying things out.
Programming is certainly the type of thing where you learn a lot by doing it
rather than just reading about it. Make plenty of different mistakes and learn
from each one.
Read a Style Guide for Your Language
Plenty of choices made while programming are somewhat arbitrary. To find out
what conventions are used for your language, find a widely accepted style
guide. This is a point of contention at times, as people disagree on things.
The community surrounding your language of choice will have strong opinions.
Make an effort to find an acceptable way of doing whatever you are searching
and be consistent after deciding on something.
Search / Ask Someone Your Question
If a question about the programming language you're using comes up in your
mind while you are first getting used to it, other people have probably asked
the same thing. Stack Overflow or somewhere else on the Internet most likely
has the answer to your questions.
Alright. So plenty of info on this page probably seems painfully obvious, but
you have to start somewhere with programming. Much of your time will be spent
on this type of stuff when you're first getting started. Go through plenty
of trial and error with trying out basic tasks in your language. Make sure you
actually type the stuff into the computer and try it. You'll get the hang of
the basics fairly quickly.
Now that you have basic competence with a programming language, you're ready
to write small projects.