If you want to do it the official way, and get a degree or a certification, you should go (back) to school. But if that level of achievement isn't required, there's some good spots on the web where you can build, extend or perfect your coding skills.

AJAX: also known as Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, AJAX provides a set of scripting languages that are used to create browser-based applications. These browser-based applications behave more like software applications that process a user request immediately.

JavaScript: JavaScript is an easy-to-learn programming language which can be built into Web pages, so that it executes from within the browser rather than on the web server. Originally developed by Netscape, this scripting language can make Web pages seem more animated and dynamic within the areas of graphics and navigation.

Perl: Perl is a programming language frequently used for creating CGI programs on Web servers.

PHP: PHP represents the longer “PHP Hypertext Preprocessor.” PHP is an open source, interpretive, HTML centric server side scripting language. It’s especially suited for blogs and other Web developments and it can be embedded into HTML code as well.

Ruby/Ruby on Rails: Ruby is a dynamic object-oriented programming language that combines syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like object-oriented features. It also shares some attributes with Python, Lisp, Dylan, and CLU. Its creator, Yukihiro Matsumoto, a.k.a “Matz” released it to the public in 1995. Ruby on Rails is a web application framework released in 2004 that aims to increase the speed and ease of web development. Often shortened to Rails, or RoR, it is an open source project written in the Ruby language.

C, C++ and C#: C is a general-purpose, block structured, procedural, imperative computer programming language developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system. C++, which originally was designed as an extension to C, is the object-oriented development of C with classes, member functions, operator overloading, constructors etc. C# (C Sharp) is an ECMA-compliant programming language designed to support .NET development. It is a new object oriented language from Microsoft and is derived from C and C++.

ASP.NET: ASP is more a technology, because it is not a language. This technology incorporates several scripting languages such as JavaScript and VBScript and allows for their use as it acts as a coordinator. It is part of Microsoft’s .NET platform and is the successor to Microsoft’s Active Server Pages (ASP) technology.

Java: Java refers to a number of computer software products and specifications from Sun Microsystems (the Java™ technology) that together provide a system for developing and deploying cross-platform applications.

Visual Basic and VBScript: VBScript is a scripting language used in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser and browsers based on Internet Explorer’s engine. First developed in 1991, this language has evolved to VB6, which currently is scheduled to enter Microsoft’s “non-supported phase” starting March 2008. Why is it included here? Because it is one of the foundation languages for programming with an easy to understand syntax. It’s a good way to get started in understanding programming.