Programming skills - born or made?

[DetlevCM]

One month into the semester taking a Java programming course, and from what I've seen, most students seem to be struggling, a few are good at it, and some are decent. I'm wondering if having great analytical skills and logic is something you're born with or can it be obtained with enough practice?

What makes people really good at programming? Is it because they've done it since childhood? People who tinker with computer programming during their childhood seem to develop great analytical skills and logic to be able to do these things in college on the fly. Is that true?

Difficult to say, I guess this is similar to maths - some are good at it, some aren't.
I suppose that to some extent logic vs artistic freedom might have some genetic roots, combined with how you grow up.

Having said that: If you have a good teacher and are willing to learn something, anything that is based on logic or rules can be learnt.

Speaking about programming languages specifically: When I was at school in Germany I rather hated the "IT" bit.... never liked basic... Visual Basic was acceptable... and hated HTML.
Come university, spending time with it on my own terms, I liked HTML, I liked PHP - and I am rather enjoying writing my own little maths programs.
OK, I did do a maths degree, so thinking programming is fun makes sense in my case

[Gamer872]

I have AS, which basically means while I lack in social skills, I tend to be a very logical person to the point of over-thinking things and getting stressed out over nothing. I am a planner and I like knowing what will happen before it does. However, I am taking visual basic in HS right now, and I am miserable at understanding all of the vocabulary. I can make the box on the screen do something quite easily, but when we are supposed to know the name of the bar this button is attached to, I get annoyed quickly. On top of that, I lol hard at the textbook. A few phrases I have seen "Windows 95" and "this program has 1GB of info!" being 2 of the funniest. I just want to get into robotics programming, that's what I would be interested in but I have no idea where to begin.

[DetlevCM]

I have AS, which basically means while I lack in social skills, I tend to be a very logical person to the point of over-thinking things and getting stressed out over nothing. I am a planner and I like knowing what will happen before it does. However, I am taking visual basic in HS right now, and I am miserable at understanding all of the vocabulary. I can make the box on the screen do something quite easily, but when we are supposed to know the name of the bar this button is attached to, I get annoyed quickly. On top of that, I lol hard at the textbook. A few phrases I have seen "Windows 95" and "this program has 1GB of info!" being 2 of the funniest. I just want to get into robotics programming, that's what I would be interested in but I have no idea where to begin.

Where to begin... Lego Mindstorms might be a good place

[N1L]

I have AS, which basically means while I lack in social skills, I tend to be a very logical person to the point of over-thinking things and getting stressed out over nothing. I am a planner and I like knowing what will happen before it does. However, I am taking visual basic in HS right now, and I am miserable at understanding all of the vocabulary. I can make the box on the screen do something quite easily, but when we are supposed to know the name of the bar this button is attached to, I get annoyed quickly. On top of that, I lol hard at the textbook. A few phrases I have seen "Windows 95" and "this program has 1GB of info!" being 2 of the funniest. I just want to get into robotics programming, that's what I would be interested in but I have no idea where to begin.

Same here learning vBulletin in High School... but I got used to Visual Basic. It's fun once you play it in your own way rather than being forced by the teacher.

Lego Mindstorms is good, very basic. It will help you learn the process of building robots. It's fun.

[tijo]

My on late on the subject. You can learn programming, but some people already have the right way of thinking for programming. I've always found it easy to understand programming and numerical analysis was the maths where i did the best too. On the other hand i do have a friend who was struggling in basic C++, but once i went away on internship and he couldn't rely on me anymore he got real good at it. Of course since we were both studying engineering he was still good at math and all.

Most things can be learned given enough patience, but there are people who start with a genetic head start i'd say.

I have to agree with the Lego Mindstorm statement, pretty basic and fun too . Too bad i can't find the software that came with my RCX 2.0 anymore...

[masterchef341]

it's learned. some people have a natural affinity for it. anyone can learn and improve dramatically.

an average person with solid teaching and personal effort would rank among the most proficient.

[WCFire]

A huge portion of my intro to programming class in college dropped out of computer science when the quarter was over. In my hall, we had a group of ~8 and half of them quit for other things. My brother just finished his first CS course and recalls the same experience.

When starting, it's easy for some people and miserable for others. The encouraging thing is that, like most things, programming skills can be made if you don't already have the mindset for it. With willpower, anything is possible and your life can be just like a Disney movie... about programming.

[RipJak]

1.5 semester into Java programming now and I think being a programmer you need a certain degree of unique creative thinking that will distinguish you from others and also help with learning the methods to approach the problems or goals. This type of thinking might be both innate and nurtured.

Also the "When there's a will there's a way" greatly applies in programming I think.

Also the satisfaction of a working product is most pleasing.

[Steven]

I don't believe a programmer is born with programming skills but rather has a great interest since before the class began to pursue a career in programming and thus devotes his full attention and time to the course and field and will ultimately succeed rather than those who are doing it for the salary.

Sorry to resurrect a dead thread, but this question is currently what's been on my mind as of late.

[3Stars&ASun]

Being here in college I feel like they teach you the basics, but a lot of times they'll tell you to find it online (i.e. Google) to further expand upon your knowledge. So 10% is in college and 90% is self-taught All of a sudden I don't feel prepared for the real world...

I just started pursuing a BA in Computer Science... feel the same as you lol. Why are we paying them 50-ish thousand dollars if they only teach the basics and then say your on your own after graduation...