Hi, I am interested in what you have to think about this. How do you get good at programming in an effective fashion? I want to learn C# and Unity.

The way to get good fast is to study hard and practice, practice, practice.

By writing a lot of code. Keep experimenting and try incrementally bigger challenges. I'm afraid there's no real shortcut. Reading books and tutorials while writing your own code is pretty much the fastest way, and I'm afraid it won't go over night anyway. Maybe if you hired your own teacher you could learn slightly faster.

The road to wisdom?

Well it's plain,

and simple to express.

Err and err and err again

But less and less and less.

Or in the words of a famous artist: "Draw lines, young man, draw lines."

Things take time; so you have to be prepared for that in the first place. Programming is a life-long skill to master, and it takes multiple years to even just get 'good' at it. You can learn the basics quickly, but getting 'good' requires time.

In my opinion, to be skilled you need a mix of experience, which comes from practice, and knowledge, which comes from study.

Skill = (experience + knowledge (primarily)) + (intuition + intelligence (secondarily))

(I say 'secondarily', but I'm lacking the right word. Experience and knowledge give the most increase early on (and for years) in learning a skill, then the curve flattens out and their returns start to diminish as intuition and intelligence rise above it to provide even greater benefits on top of the experience and skill)

You can strengthen one to make up for a lack of one of the others, but the easiest to grow in rapidly is experience and knowledge. Experience comes from doing and encountering, knowledge comes from studying and questioning. You can grow in intuition and intelligence also, but experience and knowledge will show the most results in the shortest amount of time.

Read a good book, write code, ask questions here, rinse and repeat.

FYI I read the "its plain" as "its pain" lol. The road is painful in the sense of the amount of time and energy you need to spend on honing your skills. I too like the painter/craftsman parallel, as that's how I see software development in general. Something you hone over many years, and really never stop refining. There isn't anything "fast" about it.

How to get good fast?

Vat of toxic chemicals. Hope you get super powers.

More realistically, surround yourself with like-minded individuals with the passion and knowledge of making games. University game dev clubs and local game jams are one place to find these.

How to get good fast?

Nothing worth doing can ever be done fast. I've been programming for nearly twenty years and I would say I'm decent, but still have a ways to go before I ever say I'm good or great at programming. Programming is a challenge, and to get better you have to be willing to challenge yourself constantly in order to become good. That is the only way.

Here is a how-to guide to learn programming in just 21 days: http://abstrusegoose.com/249

Much like any other skill it takes time, dedication, and experience. Think of it as learning to draw. To become a decent artist you must draw - alot. Programming is the same way in the sense there are no shortcuts.

Make programming something you do daily. Pretty soon it will become a habit and you will see results. When I was first starting I tried to sit down and program for at least thirty minutes a day. At the time I felt rather silly. Years later though I am actually amazed at how far I have come. The skill level difference I have when compared to my fellow students is something I am proud of. It brings a warm fuzzy feeling when I am given an assignment or asked a question and I already have an answer in my head.

Also here at Gamedev there are vast amounts of resources available. More often than not if there is something you are stuck on someone else had the same/similar problem. There are many great articles on various topics as well spanning well over a decade. Just the other day I found myself reading an article from 1999 on DirectX isometric rendering. While a bit dated, the concepts haven't changed much and I was able to use the ideas for my own project.

Hope that helps and good luck on your endeavour! :)

How to get good fast?

You don't Programming is a craft and like all crafts it must be mastered and perfected. Also as already pointed out by Servant of the Lord it is a life long process.
Read books, read online articles and tutorials, frequent forums like Gamedev but above all else practice.