I have pretty much taught myself everything I know about programming, so while I know how to teach myself (books, internet and reading API's), I'm finding that there hasn't been a whole lot in the way of good programming.

So I have two questions: First the broad one: Does anyone have suggestions as to sources for learning about good programming habits and techniques? I'd prefer it if the resource wasn't a 5000 page tome. The more I can read it in installments the better.

More specifically: I am finishing up learning the basics of XNA and I want to create a space simulator to test my knowledge. This isn't a full scale simulator, but just something that covers everything I learned. It's also going to be modular so I can build on it, after I get the basics down. One of the early features I want to implement is AI. And I want to take this into account as I'm designing my classes so I can minimize rewriting code.

So my question: How should I design ship classes so that both the player and AI can use them?

The only idea I have so far is:

Create a ship class that contains stats, models, textures, collision data etc. The player and AI would then have the data for position, rotation, health, etc and would base their status off of the ship stats.