Get Good at Programming

Serious question. How do I get good? I know C and Java but I don't really know programming outside of loops and pointers and simple programming exercises and shit. When I try to read source code from a small open source C project, I get daunted and just stop before I even begin because everything just looks alien to me. There are stuff like makefiles and shit. It makes me sad. I don't even know data structures yet. I want to read SICP but I'm not comfortable with it yet so I'm reserving that book when I've amassed enough background.

>>21
How do you break into shell prompt?

On the topic of Go:
Too many things wrong with it, that Scheme and Common Lisp already solved. Why create another ALGOL syntax, when you can roll your own?