I started as a 7 year old kid in the mid 80s learning BASIC, from type in programmes in magazines and from a few books. Though don't over estimate what I was capable of back then. It was mostly dozen line programmes that made cool patterns on the screen.

A gradually got better, and in the mid 90s as a teenagers I taught myself Assembly language, again from books and magazines.

And then as an Adult starting about 8 years ago, I started learning C, from a couple of books and lots of websites.