What brand and model are you looking at getting?
Either way, you can likely still program it by hand as well as by a computer.
Many people like to learn how to do it by hand for times a computer may not be handy. I think that's darn good advice myself.
As far as computer programming goes, it can greatly speed up programming especially with text tags that almost all models use today. Computer programming can also greatly reduce many of the simple mistakes or errors that get in there with todays complex radio systems.
If you are the least bit handy with a computer, you will probably pickup programming by computer rather easy.
If you get stuck, this place here is full of people that can usually walk you through any steps you may have troubles with. With that said, I'd try and learn it yourself and then if that fails, you can always ask for help and see if someone else can do it for you.
So for the time being, save your money and try it yourself first!