Is programming right for me?

So /prog/riders, I have a question for you. I am relatively inexperienced with programming, having only learned some Ruby (I know you guys dislike it, but it was rather easy to pick up), and only made simple programs like text-based games and 1 2D isometric RPG (though I never finished it due to laziness). It was really unoptimized and sloppily coded, with a million conditional branches everywhere and so many goto statements.

However, the whole time, although it was fun seeing the (mediocre) fruits of my labor, it did seem rather boring and sometimes stressed me out. Keep in mind I was only messing around with Ruby for fun, not in a class or something. Would taking some programming classes be any different?

>>1
Do you like programming? Even if you do, classes are usually much more boring and annoying than doing stuff on your own.

The only programming classes that taught me material that I probably wouldn't have learned on my own were ones about algorithms and theory (and these were the classes I liked the most). You should also read SICP.

>>2
I had some fun with it, but it was also irritating at times. I'm thinking that perhaps taking some classes and learning more about it would make it more enjoyable for me, even if I have an unrelated career (I'm planning on becoming a sysadmin).

>>4
What do you mean by "irritating?" Perhaps a different language would suit you better.

>>3
Should I really? I know that's a meme here, but is SICP actually worth reading? I mean, I don't think I'd plan on learning Lisp or Scheme, and I'm sure there are other books that can explain the fundamental concepts of programming and all.

>>5
I don't think it's the language I'm using, I think it's my ineptitude and lack of experience which makes it irritating. I wouldn't have to debug and Google search for solutions so much if I really knew what I was doing.

I think once I reach a state where I am very familiar with a language, any language, really, I would enjoy it more.

So do you think it's worth taking a class to learn more?

Read the fucking Wizard book. Back then, I was as hesitant as you are now, but there's nothing to fear. SICP made me a better programmer and a better man.

>>7
My experience so far (at a college in the UK) was that classes don't really teach you anything and you're better off learning on your own, though that might just apply to me.
SICP doesn't really teach the fundamental concepts of programming, but the fundamental concepts of computer science; I don't know whether it would be good as a beginner's book if you don't want to get into the serious stuff.
Can you elaborate on what makes you irritated?

>>9
1.NoMethodError due to something being nil that I didn't expect to be nil

2. Getting all the symbols and punctuation confused.

3. Encountering errors that don't tell me what type of error it was.

>>9
Depends what Uni and what course. I took EE and the programming classes were/are terrible!

>>10
1.NoMethodError due to something being nil that I didn't expect to be nil
That's just being irritated when you make mistakes, I think that's pretty normal.

2. Getting all the symbols and punctuation confused.
This is largely language-dependent, as I said perhaps you should consider other programming languages? I don't know Ruby, but from what I remember variables names must start with symbols, right?

I think taking classes isn't a good choice, because you'd probably end up in a Java class where you're being taught how to be a codemonkey. When you're learning on your own, you can learn whatever you want.
Based on >>1, I'd say that you can easily improve your skills. I'd probably suggest you to take a look at C# (which was my second language) - it's quite easy to get into, has a great IDE (Visual Studio) with features that'll really make your learning more enjoyable, it has a proper debugger (I'm not sure how you'd debug Ruby code), and you'll definitely be interested in XNA, the game framework.

s/probably suggest you to/suggest that you/g

>>10
2. Getting all the symbols and punctuation confused.
If you hate syntax, Lisp is great for you.
3. Encountering errors that don't tell me what type of error it was.
It also has an excellent condition system.

However, I wouldn't consider it a newbie's language. It may be better to learn more "normal" languages first and only come to it when they annoy you too much.

Reading SICP is also a good idea, it's not a hard book and any programmer should read it at least once.

1.NoMethodError due to something being nil that I didn't expect to be nil
Errors happen everywhere, although if you really want to remove "nil" or avoid runtime errors, you could choose ML, however if you do that, you'll probably enjoy fighting with the compiler to get your things to compile in the first place (types are checked/inferred at compile-time). It' all about tradeoffs. We are human and we make mistakes, but better tools, ideas and better methodologies can make our lives so much easier and less painful.

>>14
You syntax hate if forth perfect you for is then.

why does prog hate ruby?

Ruby is like a big, wise turtle that tries to teach rabbits on track racing.

Ruby is like an overweight, teenage turtle that tries to expand your mind by passing around some good stuff to smoke everyday for that refreshing Japaneseness

>>19
I'm so Japanese I shit ramen.