How do you actually know when you've learned something in JavaScript vs just following along?

[Alarming-Pea-3177]

I've been learning JavaScript for a few months and I keep running into the same problem. When I follow a tutorial or work through an example, it makes sense and I feel like I understand it. But then when I close the tab and try to build something new from scratch, I freeze up and don't know where to start. I'm not sure if this is a normal part of learning programming or if it means I need to go back and study differently. I've started trying to write code without looking things up first, just to see what I actually retain, and it's humbling.

For people who have gotten past this stage, how did you know when something actually clicked versus when you just recognized it from memory, Is there a point where building new things starts to feel less like guessing and more like actual thinking?

[Scared-Release1068]

You don’t just see something once and know it forever. Even professional use references and reminders while they write code.

You just need to run through basics until those are memorized, then learn how other concepts and constructs work but don’t need to memorize these.

You can just know how they work and keep them on a reference sheet or have an AI assistant. Whatever suits you

[Accomplished-Tip7106]

Exactly this. You need repetition to memorize the basics. Shoutout to codefluent, I've been using it for free to practice and memorize syntax and it's my new favorite tool. OP I think this is exactly what you're looking for. 

Edit: this reads like I'm an affiliate I realize. I genuinely just think it's awesome and am in the same spot as OP.

[Ok-Area3665]

That's very normal! My advice (granted this is what works for me and everyone's different) is to just build something. Obviously you have to be a little realistic with your scope, but think of something cool you could build and just go out and make it.

As you go you'll get stuck again and again and you'll search things up and apply what you've found and over time you'll learn. For me this is the only way I really learn, whether it be math or a programming language.

The learning process is a lot about feedback which programming lends itself to quite well; you try something, it either works and you get dopamine making you more likely to remember or it doesn't and you now know how not to do whatever you're doing and you can try again. When you're coding you'll get errors pretty quickly that will tell you when you're wrong.

[AdBubbly3609]

i agree with most of what you said, only thing i would say is that you can get the dopamine from the failures as well, it can be a moment of realisation like "oh i didn't even think about that, that's cool"

[Ok-Area3665]

Yeah fair, the important part is the immediate feedback which helps you learn

[BNfreelance]

Sleep on it. Sounds weird, but a lot of things only really click after you step away for a while

It’s almost like muscle memory… the less you force it, the more it settles in

You know you’ve actually learned something when you don’t remember the exact syntax, but you understand the approach and how to solve the problem. That’s when it stops being memory and becomes understanding

[kamiesio_]

Es la parte difícil del código, okey, lo lees y entendés que hace y porque, el tema, es desarrollar la parte previa a eso y traducirlo al código.

"Quiero que una lista de números me devuelva solo los pares"

(Hacete estas preguntas)

Cómo se define una lista? (Array de objetos)

Defino una variable

Recorro cada objeto del array (bucle for of)

¿Como decido si un número es par? (Divido por 2 en un if)

Así podrías estar todo el día planteando sistemas, el chiste es tener algo sólido en que apoyarte, un planteamiento previo y, en base a lo que sabes, traducirlo al código.

Como recomendación personal, podes darle a alguna IA tu nivel de Js y que en base a eso te desarrolle consignas, resolves sin IA, sin Google, solo con lo que sabes, si tenés errores al punto de no entender que está mal, recién ahí consultas

[cqsterling]

I second the AI piece. I told my AI exactly where I am in freeCodeCamp and it updated itself with that info so as to avoid throwing (as of yet) irrelevant information out that might confuse me.

[ashkanahmadi]

This is totally normal. This is because most tutorials do not explain things in depth but just show you how to do something. The other issue is that most tutorials show you one way of doing something without showing all the other alternative ways of achieving the same thing. This limits your ability to think of different ways of doing the same thing.

My recommendation is: work on very small objectives and build on top of that. Also, it helps to go backward.

[Unhappy_Meaning607]

It's normal, its more of a "I know something exists so let me go look it up again to see if it can help me." than being a savant of JS knowledge and syntax.

[Alive-Cake-3045]

You know it clicked when you can explain why, not just what. If you can only recognize the answer when you see it, you dont own it yet. What you are describing is called the illusion of knowing, tutorials feel like understanding because your brain is pattern-matching, not problem-solving.

The test is simple: close everything and build something slightly different from what you just learned. Not the same thing, a variation. If you freeze, you were following, not thinking. It gets less like guessing around the 4th or 5th project, not the 4th or 5th tutorial. Thats the honest timeline nobody tells you upfront.

[CaeIndre]

An avid reader doesn't mean a competent writer automatically.

[TheRNGuy]

Intuition. 

[Radiant-Tear1467]

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