You're fine wordman
Input is always good, relevent or not!
Now, what you're saying is totally relevent. Aptitude
can be important, but it can also be how many other languages you know. Just like communicative languages, the more you know, the easier it is to pick up another. If you know Japanese, it's easier to learn Chinese and Korean then to go straight to English. Same with coding: if you know C++ or C, it's easier to move to C#, or even PHP. PHP uses a lot of the same coding principles as PERL.
So, it's a preference really, if you like to read text on the computer, or read it from a book, either way you'll probably learn the same, depending on content. eClasses, which I have never personally done, might be a new revelation for some!