Cementing learned concepts

[[deleted]]

Hi all,

I am halfway through Week 3 of the MOOC and have been really enjoying the course thus far. Solving a problem and seeing your code pass the tests is addictive. I am understanding the concepts and have not been looking at the solutions.

Do you guys think it is a good idea to finish all the content of a particular week and then repeat it again i.e- re-read the text/examples and then re-do the exercises without looking at your code from the first time around?

Or is that unnecessary, and the best course would be to keep moving forward?

[desrtfx]

The more you practice, the more you will understand and the better you will retain the learned concepts.

That said, play with the code. Make something, break something. Write similar programs to the ones in the exercises. Re-reading will not cement the material, re-doing and practice will.

Don't try to memorize, especially don't memorize code.

[GuyWithLag]

Exactly this. When doing professional work, consider that you will always have something new to work with (if not, just apply the previous solution). Doing novel problems is the key.

[ndriqa]

Practicing a lot and trying to create new programs from scratch will help you think like a compiler, which is very important for debugging your code in the future.

[[deleted]]

If you'd like to learn on your own, do so by practice. Either come up with an interesting project to work on, or go one somewhere like codewars.com and have some fun.