[jsun]

I haven't done any programming since highschool (AP C++) and recently did a self-guided online RoR course.

Simply put, I was frightened by how much I was forced to rely on my 10 year old C++ programming abilities to understand the principals behind what this online course was teaching me.

Someone without any programming experience would get more out of learning principals of computer science with almost any language than a high level MVC framework like rails - there's just too much magic that you'll never understand.