I learned how to program in college ~2008 by reading Java books page by page, then typing each exercise up by hand and running it, checking out the results, making slight tweaks for curiosity, re-running, etc. It sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but it's rote work not hard work, and for learning a language that's heavy on syntax boilerplate like Java, it made sense to me. This was the best way to build up momentum.
If I could go back today, I still think that's the right way to start. Maybe the medium has changed slightly — today it might be an "X the hard way" course that's more focused on a final outcome that snowballs over time across challenges vs many discrete exercises.
I think combining something like that with a programming puzzle site like Codewars, HackerRank, Exercism.io, etc is a good combo for growth and reinforcement.
That said, I don't think people should learn to program just for the sake of learning to program. I really think the only way to do it is having a meaningful problem in mind and solving that problem, whether that's for work, a side project, puzzle, etc. I think it's very powerful to learn by writing code that solves your own problems.
If I could go back today, I still think that's the right way to start. Maybe the medium has changed slightly — today it might be an "X the hard way" course that's more focused on a final outcome that snowballs over time across challenges vs many discrete exercises.
I think combining something like that with a programming puzzle site like Codewars, HackerRank, Exercism.io, etc is a good combo for growth and reinforcement.
That said, I don't think people should learn to program just for the sake of learning to program. I really think the only way to do it is having a meaningful problem in mind and solving that problem, whether that's for work, a side project, puzzle, etc. I think it's very powerful to learn by writing code that solves your own problems.