Where I grew up, it wasn't socially acceptable. Now, I had other nerdy characteristics, but I purposely stayed away from programming, D&D, and Star Trek precisely because they were nerdy.
Now I'm trying to learn to program. It's slow, and I wish I had started earlier. I'm too old for this shit (http://xkcd.com/447/).
Don't take it at face value; "I'm to old for this shit" is a reference to the link. I was pointing out some of the (unjustified) frustration of a guy who started at 20 when others started out at 12 or so.
In the link there's a comic of a guy who says he can't do math like he used to, until it's revealed he's thirteen. My point was, I'm aware I could have started younger, but I didn't. That doesn't mean I'm off the hook, though. I'm still learning to hack. I agree with you that giving up on programming just because I didn't start very early on would reveal a bad attitude.
Now I'm trying to learn to program. It's slow, and I wish I had started earlier. I'm too old for this shit (http://xkcd.com/447/).