I have seen the greatest success rates with individuals who want to scratch an itch. Someone who has an idea of something they want to build. This way they relate their problem solving and the solutions they find. For example when they decide that their program needs to write a file, they go and look for information on how to write a file, take it and implement it in their program. Conversely someone who goes through a tutorial of how to write a file does not have the situational reference to call upon to remember that accomplishment. I have found that individuals who learn programming via tutorials general do so through a good deal of repetition.

I have taught two people to program from scratch and I did so with both by finding a project that they wanted to do. One was a character creator for the pen and paper Deadlands and the other was an accounts receivable batch crediting application. Both individuals where self-sufficient in less than a month and where able to search and answer all of their own questions within three.