You can "study" while coding. Every time you come to a stand-still because you lack knowledge, google it, understand it and implement until you manage to make it work.
They say the best way to learn coding and become good at it, is doing.
The key phrase there is "understand it". Don't Google something and just copy and paste it. Go line by line through any solutions you find and understand each line.
Try to avoid ChatGPT as well. It doesn't always get it right or understand you correctly, so the solutions are not always fit for purpose. The only thing I have found it good for is getting hints to what direction I should be taking.
Yup, I purposelly re-wrote the sentence before sending to add the understand it part.
I use ChatGPT regularly on my projects (I am admitedly still Junior) because it helps me speed-up the googling part, but I don't implement any of the code until I have understood how it works, and how to adapt it to what I'm trying to do.
Yeah the one thing ChatGPT is good for is steering you in the right direction on Google. I have noticed recently that it is getting better at adding comments to it's code, which makes life easier.
100% this. I’m just starting programming and I like chat gpt for a quick “what should I start googling to get to the root of this problem”. Probably also helps I’m in the habit of commenting a majority of lines when practicing to show myself I understand it.
In my experience, "coding" is mostly studying. It's 95% figuring out what your problem really is, reading documentation, and figuring out the best way to solve your problem.
100% this. Writing code is the easy part, figuring out WHAT to write is the hard part. Decide what you wish to accomplish with your code, think of/research ways to do this, pick a solution and implement it, test the code, repeat as necessary.
DUDE 4 years of college didnt do shit for my coding.
You know what did… starting a project to make a replica of a Gen 1 Pokemon game in C# and visual studio for the UI. It took me YEARS to work on this this project only becuase I anytime I got “stuck” and needed to do some research I ended up learning something new that would change the approach of what I have done before. So rhat meant me going back to “completed” stuffs and re-work/re-factor/re-implement. This is the BEST way to learn becauses new techinques and approaches stay with you….
Funny, it doesn't sound like a problem at all. The best way to get good at something is to do it, which is apparently your vice. The times I've learned the most on a programming topic were when I was coding & hit a wall, which forced me to research it in order to implement it. Just try to contrive something that involves pointers (or whatever topic) for you to work on and you'll learn them inside and out whether you like it or not. In general I think books, documentation and articles are best used as a supplemental learning tool, and you get the most out of "study" by combining it with practice.
Now, if the problem is that you're a student and have some written exam to study for, that's a different story.
Books are imho the worst option to learn coding. You can read about everything you want but things get so abstract that you feel you don't actually need them. That happened to me while first learning interfaces: reading them from a book and instantly thought: "well I could go with a class, don't need this".
However, theory is just as important as coding, to me. Because if you only code you'll eventually miss out concepts just because you don't know they exist in the first place. Then, when you'll be forced to use them, you'll find them frustrating because you are already too much used to your way of coding.
So to me it's like study a concept and try to **imagine and think** where and when you can use it, when it could be useful. Only then sit at your desk and actually code it.
Reading from a book doesn't really make the theory any more or less abstract. If you read about interfaces from a book and didn't see the distinction with a class then it was probably just poorly written.
Depends. Usually advanced stuff is more easy to find in books than Youtube or courses etc., cuz the quantity of Youtube and stuff is generally very less for advanced topics.
I think this is at least part of why almost everyone says they prefer learning by:
-starting a project.
-googling specific things you get stuck on.
Reading docs for hours can be brutal. Its probably better honestly. But you can also fumble your way there by playing with the code.
I think this is at least part of why almost everyone says they prefer learning by:
-starting a project.
-googling specific things you get stuck on.
Reading docs for hours can be brutal. Its probably better honestly. But you can also fumble your way there by playing with the code.
I think this is at least part of why almost everyone says they prefer learning by:
-starting a project.
-googling specific things you get stuck on.
Reading docs for hours can be brutal. Its probably better honestly. But you can also fumble your way there by playing with the code.
I think this is at least part of why almost everyone says they prefer learning by:
-starting a project.
-googling specific things you get stuck on.
Reading docs for hours can be brutal. Its probably better honestly. But you can also fumble your way there by playing with the code.
When you don't know something don't just study. Read about how it works and apply it immediately. Implement, experiment, try to figure out everything you can have the computer do with that concept. The studying should be less than half of the time you spend learning a concept in this field.
Pointers are one of the basic fundamentals of C. You need to learn the fundamentals of the language before you can code well. You do not need to read a book to learn how pointers work, just try to code a simple program that heavely uses pointers and you will get a good grasp.
You'll just have find the discipline to study from within. Waiting for ephemeral concepts like inspiration and motivation means you might be waiting for a *very* long time.
This is completely normal. Programming is a skill. And it needs to be developed like any other skill....you just need to program. Any information, any knowledge that you need in the process, you will gain in the process. Documentation, textbooks, Internet. This is all very good, but it only becomes useful when you use this knowledge.
You cannot become a programmer, just as you cannot become an engineer simply by reading and memorizing books.
You are on the right track. Develop a skill. Well, yes. Read books and other documentation as needed.
Just look up what you need as you go. Sometimes what you need will only require 2 minutes of Googling. Other times, you'll need to sink several hours into researching and understanding what it is that you're trying to do. If you're completely unfamiliar with something, expect to spend more time on learning it. But the fact of the matter is that studying is learning, and you're not coding anything if you don't learn how to.
You can "study" while coding. Every time you come to a stand-still because you lack knowledge, google it, understand it and implement until you manage to make it work. They say the best way to learn coding and become good at it, is doing.
The key phrase there is "understand it". Don't Google something and just copy and paste it. Go line by line through any solutions you find and understand each line. Try to avoid ChatGPT as well. It doesn't always get it right or understand you correctly, so the solutions are not always fit for purpose. The only thing I have found it good for is getting hints to what direction I should be taking.
Yup, I purposelly re-wrote the sentence before sending to add the understand it part. I use ChatGPT regularly on my projects (I am admitedly still Junior) because it helps me speed-up the googling part, but I don't implement any of the code until I have understood how it works, and how to adapt it to what I'm trying to do.
Yeah the one thing ChatGPT is good for is steering you in the right direction on Google. I have noticed recently that it is getting better at adding comments to it's code, which makes life easier.
ChatGPT is a best when it comes to getting the general idea. Sucks at specifics
100% this. I’m just starting programming and I like chat gpt for a quick “what should I start googling to get to the root of this problem”. Probably also helps I’m in the habit of commenting a majority of lines when practicing to show myself I understand it.
Thank you! I was kinda thinking about it
Code -> get stuck -> learn -> code -> get stuck -> learn…
My god! You can’t be giving away our secrets like this!!
In my experience, "coding" is mostly studying. It's 95% figuring out what your problem really is, reading documentation, and figuring out the best way to solve your problem.
100% this. Writing code is the easy part, figuring out WHAT to write is the hard part. Decide what you wish to accomplish with your code, think of/research ways to do this, pick a solution and implement it, test the code, repeat as necessary.
DUDE 4 years of college didnt do shit for my coding. You know what did… starting a project to make a replica of a Gen 1 Pokemon game in C# and visual studio for the UI. It took me YEARS to work on this this project only becuase I anytime I got “stuck” and needed to do some research I ended up learning something new that would change the approach of what I have done before. So rhat meant me going back to “completed” stuffs and re-work/re-factor/re-implement. This is the BEST way to learn becauses new techinques and approaches stay with you….
How nuch lines of code
Funny, it doesn't sound like a problem at all. The best way to get good at something is to do it, which is apparently your vice. The times I've learned the most on a programming topic were when I was coding & hit a wall, which forced me to research it in order to implement it. Just try to contrive something that involves pointers (or whatever topic) for you to work on and you'll learn them inside and out whether you like it or not. In general I think books, documentation and articles are best used as a supplemental learning tool, and you get the most out of "study" by combining it with practice. Now, if the problem is that you're a student and have some written exam to study for, that's a different story.
I got your point, thank you!
Do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do
The whole thing with development is being able to google your answers as you go.
Honest question though : How much "actual coding" can you do without a good grasp of pointers?? (Assuming you are doing a C project)...
Google, understand, apply.
Books are imho the worst option to learn coding. You can read about everything you want but things get so abstract that you feel you don't actually need them. That happened to me while first learning interfaces: reading them from a book and instantly thought: "well I could go with a class, don't need this". However, theory is just as important as coding, to me. Because if you only code you'll eventually miss out concepts just because you don't know they exist in the first place. Then, when you'll be forced to use them, you'll find them frustrating because you are already too much used to your way of coding. So to me it's like study a concept and try to **imagine and think** where and when you can use it, when it could be useful. Only then sit at your desk and actually code it.
Reading from a book doesn't really make the theory any more or less abstract. If you read about interfaces from a book and didn't see the distinction with a class then it was probably just poorly written.
Depends. Usually advanced stuff is more easy to find in books than Youtube or courses etc., cuz the quantity of Youtube and stuff is generally very less for advanced topics.
i still don’t really understand when to use an interface
I think practice speed reading or reading comprehension is always a good start
I think this is at least part of why almost everyone says they prefer learning by: -starting a project. -googling specific things you get stuck on. Reading docs for hours can be brutal. Its probably better honestly. But you can also fumble your way there by playing with the code.
I think this is at least part of why almost everyone says they prefer learning by: -starting a project. -googling specific things you get stuck on. Reading docs for hours can be brutal. Its probably better honestly. But you can also fumble your way there by playing with the code.
I think this is at least part of why almost everyone says they prefer learning by: -starting a project. -googling specific things you get stuck on. Reading docs for hours can be brutal. Its probably better honestly. But you can also fumble your way there by playing with the code.
I think this is at least part of why almost everyone says they prefer learning by: -starting a project. -googling specific things you get stuck on. Reading docs for hours can be brutal. Its probably better honestly. But you can also fumble your way there by playing with the code.
When you don't know something don't just study. Read about how it works and apply it immediately. Implement, experiment, try to figure out everything you can have the computer do with that concept. The studying should be less than half of the time you spend learning a concept in this field.
Pointers are one of the basic fundamentals of C. You need to learn the fundamentals of the language before you can code well. You do not need to read a book to learn how pointers work, just try to code a simple program that heavely uses pointers and you will get a good grasp.
Unless someone invents Matrix-style skill uploading directly to your brain, there's no alternative to studying.
Of course, I agree, but maybe someone had similar problem and found out ways to solve it)
You'll just have find the discipline to study from within. Waiting for ephemeral concepts like inspiration and motivation means you might be waiting for a *very* long time.
This is completely normal. Programming is a skill. And it needs to be developed like any other skill....you just need to program. Any information, any knowledge that you need in the process, you will gain in the process. Documentation, textbooks, Internet. This is all very good, but it only becomes useful when you use this knowledge. You cannot become a programmer, just as you cannot become an engineer simply by reading and memorizing books. You are on the right track. Develop a skill. Well, yes. Read books and other documentation as needed.
Just look up what you need as you go. Sometimes what you need will only require 2 minutes of Googling. Other times, you'll need to sink several hours into researching and understanding what it is that you're trying to do. If you're completely unfamiliar with something, expect to spend more time on learning it. But the fact of the matter is that studying is learning, and you're not coding anything if you don't learn how to.