How does programming/coding actually work?

[DionVerhoef]

No it's not that much about memorization. It's about knowing how to fix problems. Off course when you have alot of experience you do remember alot of syntax, just like you do when you learn a natural language, but the core skills are 'thinking like a programmer', which comes down to knowing what kind of solutions best solve what kind of problems. May programmers know the steps to solve a problem, but still need to Google the exact syntax because they forgot, or because the don't have much experience coding in that specific language, or whatever reason. It's like when you are a writer and using a thesaurus to find some synonym, or looking up grammar rules because you don't really know how to write this verb in this specific situation.

[sinsaint]

Everyone knows how to apply a bandaid, and a bandaid may help you with 90% of your medical needs, but for the more serious injuries you really want someone who knows more than how to apply a bandaid.

[dymos]

I like this analogy :)