What does it take to become a computer programmer?

I will put it how my dad puts it. "any idiot can learn to program, but that is not the problem" "That person needs how to solve problems mathematically and learn how to change their language to make it work." "Its not just following instructions and knowing this command does this, it is more thinking and philosophical then anything" that is from a person with a Ph.D in Compsci now if you are just doing IT work, it should not be too terribly difficult, you would have to probably learn something like Cobol or another business language

It's not that you have to be smart, you have to understand the programming language, and there are several of them. Some languages are easier than other, for example, I took Java in highschool, and it was extremely difficult, but now in College, I'm taking C++ and it's challenging, but it's to me at least, a lot easier to understand.

You need a pretty solid base in math and algebra, and you need to be able to read and write well. You need to have an eye for detail, and picking small mistakes out of a lot of information. You need a knack for understanding complex and convoluted processes.

As others said... Math, problem solving, coffee ;P, etc... Programming is pretty easy to learn, yet I'm 14... I probably know nothing about being a programmer but that's as far as I know from reading books and writing my own programs.

Computer programming is a broad subject. You need to narrow down your approach here. You should pick a simple programming language to begin learning. Since you have no previous knowledge I'd try java and then move on to c++ after you've mastered java. In my experience, java is far easier and makes learning c++ very easy. As for what you need: Common sense Perseverance A computer with internet (duh!) An IDE (I use eclipse for java) Optional (but really helps): Books about programming Lots of coffee (long nights...)

it depends what field you wanna go into in it there are all types of computer programing you will need to learn how to write HTML also you will need to learn how and to understand Java you will also will learn how to write in C++ as well as some other languages generally depending what you wanna do with it you can get by on a 3 year degree but a 4 years college degree will get you farther you can also learn networking as well as learning all about the internet and how it was started and you will learn web designs this is all with computer programming i suggest getting a book on Java and how to write Java as well as a Book on C++ before going into college you can practice and learn some of it at home to decide if that's what you wanna do i hope this helps i took 3 months of it i couldn't get it my instructor said either you get it or you don't there is no in between good luck

You need to decide what language to use and the right connections to be successful

Passion. And practice. LOTS of practice.