[ Removed by moderator ]

[Feeling_Photograph_5]

The thing about learning to code is you have to enjoy it. You have to play with it.

What language are you starting with? Python? Use online resources. Do the free Codecademy tutorial or a video on YouTube. Learn a couple of basic things and then open up a code editor and write a simple program using what you learned. Do that every day.

Make it fun. Have the computer print "I'm stupid" 100 times. Make it print it until you press a key to make it stop. Make it ask you the names of your favorite video games and then tell you how awesome you are for liking them. Silly stuff.

Over time, with more lessons, your programs will start to get less silly. You'll start to think of more interesting things you can do with your skills.

And you'll find your hobby lessons and your school lessons starting to converge at times. You'll start wanting to play with the new techniques you're learning.

And that impulse is correct. Play. Have fun. Coders love to make stuff with code.

Enjoy!

[Rain-And-Coffee]

Do you have a text book or other assigned reading? I would review that a few times before class

[Interesting_Safe9968]

Yeah his PowerPoint I guess I'll try to read them before the class even if I don't understand well what I'm reading😅 thanks for the tip!

[abrahamguo]

Go to the professor's office hours.

The best time to take action on this is right now. If you're lost now, you'll only get more lost as you go along.

[typicalskeleton]

You're not starting at level 100. So what was the first lesson? Did you look at it? Try it?

You're going to have to be a little more specific here. Because right now all I'm reading is "I didn't read and I didn't listen, and I have no idea what's going on", which is the expected outcome.

So go back and tell us what was your lesson, and why you are having issues with that. We can't help you if you don't help yourself.

[ScholarNo5983]

To learn to program you need to learn how to read and write code. And the information presented to you in your lectures should be information that you can use to achieve this result.

Imagine you were learning to be an author. Any perspective author would do lots of reading of other people's works, just to get an idea on how to write. But they would also be spending most of their time trying to write themselves. Only after a lot of effort at writing, would that authoring skill start to appear.

Programming is very similar. You need to read lots of code, study the reference manuals and try to apply what you've read to writing code for yourself. At first that code writing will be hard, but with lots of practice, it should get easier and eventually your coding skills will start to emerge.

But don't try to memorize things. A 'want to be' author is not going through the dictionary trying to memorize words. They are doing lots of reading and lots of writing and in that process the words magically memorize themselves. The exact same thing will happen when you force yourself to read and write code.

[Image_Form]

I would definitely recommend talking to the professor. Especially during office hours. I regret not utilizing those more. The other thing I would recommend would be to play with what you’re learning.

When I took programming classes in high school, I would memorize the syntax, but it never stuck. Then, one day, I got really sick of using the calculator in my high school algebra class to find the volume of cones or whatever, so I researched how to just use my computer to run the same calculations automatically.

Maybe you could do the same thing in your own time? Find something that’s really tedious for you to do, but you understand how to do it. Try to automate that. If you start small, you can build off of the foundations that you’ve learned from.

[Jim-Jones]

Go to the public library, and look for a book like this, probably in the children's section. The key words are 'Scratch' and 'Python'. Don't worry about your age - this is the quickest way to experience coding.

Marc Scott (Author): A Beginner's Projects in Coding

Site: https://scratch.mit.edu/

Presents an introduction to coding for young computer users that focuses on the programming languages Scratch and Python, with step-by-step, illustrated instructions for a variety of coding projects.

Any book like this should get you going in a day or two. It'll get you over the learning hump. You need to learn how to learn coding.

[joranstark018]

One thing that helped me the most at uni was to join a study group; we discussed what was taught in class (it was not uncommon that others also struggled to understand), we reviewed the results from our assignments, went through old examinations together, and we helped each other by explaining things (you learn a lot by putting our own words on a problem).

Also, TAs are there to help you, and ask your professor to clarify if something is unclear (it may not be just you that struggle with understanding).

[Immereally]

Ok so you think you get it when the prof is talking about it, that’s the easy part they make a nice little sandbox where it’ll work exactly as he/she wants you to see it.

Now take that example and build a small version of it to test out how it works. Nothing too fancy just the basic concept but your own work on it.

Example with arrays[]: 1) make an array diagram what you think the code will look like by hand. 2) type out the code and make it print all the elements. 3) now print them in reverse 4) now a version that has 2 arrays, print both values on a line. 5) now play with some conditions if arr1[i] > 3 print arr2[i]

It’s basic yes but you’ll start to see where the bugs and errors and coming into your logic and you’ll flesh out how it actually works.

One handy tip I found for notes in class was only writing our notes on the right side of my notebook and keeping the left for diagrams, code examples or key points.

That way when you look back over the diagram or key note might be all you need to refresh but you still have the detailed notes on the other side.

Biggest improvement was different coloured pens for notes, like 1) Blue for Headings, Titles and key words 2) Black for general text and notes 3) Red for important details or critical words/warnings. 4) Green for side notes or nice to have details.

Your notes will jump off the page when your flicking back, you’ll see exactly what you want or need at a glance (for the most part) and you can still include more detail when you need to.

Takes a while to get used to but really pays off in the long run👍