I didn't learn programming by drilling on programs that I didn't want. I saw an Apple ][ for the first time when I was 8 or 9, got a TRS-80 Color Computer a year later, and since then I've been writing programs that I wanted, not programs that I writing to "practice", the whole time -- with some occasional exceptions such as a few CS classes and that time I did the whole Python course at Hackerrank.<p>Sometimes it's been driven by utility and sometimes it's been driven by fun, sometimes I have chosen projects meant to develop my weak spots but I've rarely "practiced" programming or any other skill.