I used to read a constant stream of magazines before such books became more widely available, and then just read the books and knew the language. I could read APL after reading a pick and write C after reading the book.

Different people learn differently and not everyone needs to type something in to learn it.

Maybe, I haven't looked into it too much, but among the people with a preference for classroom and textbook based learning there does seem to be a large degree of fear of failure, which influences what might otherwise be a different natural preference. Fear of failure is exacerbated by making mistakes in public, but it seems to even apply when nobody is there to observe someone making mistakes.