While considering the difference between programs and programming I sought an educational analogy. Take curriculum as distinct from study. Here I think back to grade school when I was given a mimeographed list of States and Capitals to learn. There will be a test. Flash cards?
I've observed programming progresses in Episodes, each with their own start and ending and with some sort of flash of insight when the problem is solved somewhere in the middle. I've even offered advice on how to approach such discovery as an individual and on teams. Mostly offering ways to compound small achievements as durable know-how. Finish something, and prepare to finish more.
24-hour tour of capitals.
Let me construct some small achievements relating to states and capitals. Imagine that I am driving from Indiana, my boyhood home, to Florida, a trip I remember taking four long days. Google maps says 19 hours today, without traffic.
I change the problem. Let's say I want to visit as many state capitals along the way from capital to capital. Indianapolis to Tallahassee. Hmm. Look at all those double letters in that name. Only Ta and aha left if I removed them. 11 hours, 30 minutes. Skipping half of Indiana and most of Florida.
Now I drag the route to include more capitals. Oh darn, what is the capital of Kentucky? Frankfort? Really? I add a destination and see Frankfort and Frankfurt offered. Same root word? How do I even look that up?
I can drag destinations up and down to change my route. Handy for the traveling salesman. I set a goal of the most capitals possible in 24 hours. Go east or west? Smaller states out east but a big diversion.
I discover that if I click on a destination a panel pops up showing city info, like the capital building or the current weather. Quick facts too.
> Frankfort is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the seat of Franklin County. It is a home rule-class city in Kentucky; the population was 25,527 at the 2010 census.
Home rule-class city? What does that even mean? Google chooses Reddit as its top answer.
> A municipality with a home rule charter has complete control over local laws except where specifically defined in state law. The cities and townships are further broken down into "classes" based on population and local government type. State law then defines what each class of municipality is allowed to self-govern.
I zoom out to look at states and zoom in to look at cities. I ask, how far out of my way am I willing to travel. Not much. I choose the limit of 24 hours driving time. Find two capitals half that far apart. The game is to stretch the route to pick up more states. I hit 24 hours exactly when I add Lansing.
- Indianapolis, Indiana - Lansing, Michigan - Columbus, Ohio - Frankfort, Kentucky - Nashville, Tennessee - Atlanta, Georgia - Montgomery, Alabama - Tallahassee, Florida
Now for all fifty capitals I have to repeat this until I have them all checked off in 24 hour tours. I can post these to my wiki with the map for each and see who can improve on them. map 
This is going to be hard for Alaska and Hawaii. What about Territories? There are five. American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Do they even have capitals? The captial of Guam is Hagåtña. Try spelling that. wikipedia