For me personally, most of skills that I managed to acquire (including coding) came from satisfying my curiosity and messing around with things to see how they work. So, I don't think that struggle-based learning is the only way of learning or even the most efficient way of learning. I think that this idea is more of a social ritual, than an actually useful method.
Curious and fun intellectual exploration is my modus operandi too, but there is something to be said about struggling for weeks on a single idea and experiencing an Aha! moment which surely elevates your intellect in a way fun exploration does not.