Alternate Paths: Arduino

The Arduino (wikipedia, arduino.cc) is a little hobby and prototyping board.  It is programmable, but doesn't normally drive a screen or connect to the internet (though, it can).  The typical use is as a playground for simple programming and interfacing to the real world.

In my sidebar I'm big on Google searches for tutorials.  Search "arduino tutorial" and you'll see many, wonderful, things.

It provides a perfectly acceptable path to learn computer programming.  In terms of the "solution space" it provides ... well, you'll be able to do many small projects around the house, and you may join the Arduino ecosystem as a hardware or software developer.  There is a good argument that "the internet of things" is a big, coming, wave.

So, it may be a good fit for you.