How do I become a better programmer?

Good thing is that you already have the interest.
Try some fun projects on your own. Even if its small.
If you are doing on your own, you can grasp the basics better.
If you are stuck, google and youtube are there to help.
Key is to enjoy doing it. All the best.

You can also use these learning platforms.
1- https://code.org/
2- https://www.codecademy.com/
3- http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/
4- Other online learning platforms: khanacademy, coursera etc…
5- Free books online: https://github.com/vhf/free-programming-books/blob/master/free-programming-books.md

Hi Spencer, way to get ahead! There are certain fundamentals in software engineering that exist across languages and frameworks. The quickest way to get a handle on these fundamentals is by trying to write something on your own. Pick a programming language like C, Python or Ruby and find a "Hello World" tutorial. If you come across something you don't understand, google it! Use the experience to identify what you need to learn and seek out the answers. My own career in software engineering started when the individual maintaining the website at my company left. Someone needed to step in so I made it my missions to figure out how the site worked so I could improve it. Four years later I took an opportunity at a large tech company and never looked back!

Programming is an art!

In order to be better at something, you need to practice, practice and practice!

1. Try to write clean code
2. Use meaningful variable names
3. Add comments in between your code so it will be more readable and understandable.
4. Use functions wisely. Make your code modular. Don't write your logic in single go. This way you can debug your code more efficiently also, you can use these functions in another code going forward.
5. Sign up on GitHub and contribute, see other people's code
6. Try to think time and space complexity constraints before you write your logic
7. Practice on hackerrank.com, leetcode
8. Believe in yourself and your code

If you're already programming, get out of your comfort zone! Try a new language. Reformat some old code you haven't touched in a while using new skills you've learned. Try tackling a project you don't know how to solve at first glance. Volunteer on an open source project. Just keep growing and don't stagnate!

I would read programming books, then practice what you learned and get it to work. Youtube might be useful as well.

It depends on the programming language a little bit I believe but in general, the internet is a great source for learning programming. I learned my first programming through books but I believe the internet (and visual tutorials in general) would be more helpful with understanding certain things better.