After signing up for Tealeaf Academy's Ruby course, I managed to solve two of the problems, the calculator challenge and the Rock, Paper, Scissors project. They worked too which was encourag_ing and satisfying. Then came the tough parts: Tic Tac Toe and Blackjack. I got the higher language or pseudo logic part quite right (you are encouraged to use English to write down the solution, and introducing code to convert the steps into a working programme) but the problem was in understanding what code to write to translate the pseudo-code into a working one. I am an author and a freelance writer. Logical thinking is as far away from me as saving for a rainy day is to a bachelor on his first salary. This knowledge helped me from smashing my new Mac and throttling the duck.
Did I tell you about the duck? In proamming circles, apparently, they have this method whereby you are supposed to talk to a rubber duck. You tell him your problem, what's keeping you from writing a working code, lying down on a counch while the duck takes notes, yawns, looks at the watch and says, We'll meet next week, meanwhile remember what we talked about today', and charges you $80 a session. 
It's called Rubber Duck Debugging. This, they say, helps. While I see the logic behind talking out your problem loud, I fail to see how a duck can prevent himself from serious threats to his life from frustrated programmers, most of whom are rookies like me. There were times I wanted to beat the crap out of the duck, like Happy Gilmore. That'll only end up in a trail of dead ducks, so to speak. So I took the Codecademy course and finished it in a day and half. Must say it was quite informative for a free course.Finished a couple of Ruby modules on Treehouse. Still, no clue about how to code the blackjack game. So I looked at the solution and did the TicTacToe and am currently doing the Blackjack game. The instructors say you must make some serious attempts to try and code before going to the solutions videos which makes me a trier at least.
The thing is, some of the steps don't even occur to me. I'm sure this is the case if you come from a non-coding background. I've only got the coding bug a few months ago. While trawling the Net, I stumbled onto the Pragmatic Studio again, and this time decided to give it a shot. They were having a discount on their 9th anniversary, and it was affordable, so signed up for their Ruby course, and finished 15% as of now. I like what I see there, like the teachers, and the way they've laid out the programme. It feels good. Progress report to continue, till next time, happy coding, and spare the duck.