rogramming courses?

Dear /puddi/,

Why or why do so many people fail to learn programming?
Is it because they fail to see programming as calculation of data and instead see a black box that magically does things?

Or is it because they can't grasp the "strict" typing of a programming language?

What is it, /prog/, that makes programming so hard, even the introductory course seems so hard for people, even with languages like LISP or Python, and books like SICP?

I think that more often than people outright fail to understand programming, they just don't know how to overcome the obstacles they encounter.

I remember my first programming class in highschool, I went through half of it trying to outright write an entire program before compiling it, without completely understanding what I was doing. Then when it didn't work, I would ask people until someone told me what was wrong. This is the model of problem solving people are used to in an academic environment. In most academic fields, the work you do doesn't have to be perfect, just be decent and look good. You hand it in, get a grade, and move on.

Programming doesn't conform to this model. People used to the model will do their best to write a program using their normal techniques, and when they fail, they will get frustrated and give up because they don't know what else to do.

Basically, the problem is a combination of the wrong approach, an unwillingness to accept the unforgiving critique of a computer, and a lack of a burning desire to solve problems and/or masochistic rage.