How to jump into "real world" programming?
jrockway: Write a computer program.  Any computer program.  Then do that again.(Note: you will probably fail if you write something that someone else wants, rather than something you want.  So decide what you want, and write that.)Ignore the advice to not write another blogging engine, or whatever.  You need to learn to program before your programs can change the world.  So learn first, change second.