Advice to a Junior in High School?

[Roy Smith]

Tom Plunket <tomas at fancy.org> wrote:
> Learn Python, learn C++, learn Lisp.  Understand what you like
> and don't like about each of these languages.

The most imporant thing you can learn in school is how to learn.
Especially in a fast-moving technology field, most of the cutting-edge 
stuff you learn in school is going to be routine in 5 years and obsolete 
in 10.

Languages come and go.  Operating systems come and go.  Programming 
methodologies come and go (flowcharts and coding grids were the range 
when I got into programming).  The constant is knowing how to think and 
how to learn.  In school, people decide what you need to know and 
spoon-feed it to you.  In the real world, you'll need to be able to look 
around, figure out for yourself what's important, and teach it to 
yourself.