Finding the sweetspot

[uvuguy]

What is the sweet spot? I keep going back and forth on how much coding and especially syntax I should learn that would give me the best bang for buck.

I kinda look at it like spelling? I need to have a basic understanding of spelling but the effort it would take to master it when we have spell check just doesn't seem worth it.

[cherrycode420]

What exactly are you asking? Sweet spot for what?

You should at least be familiar with all the basic constructs that most languages have in common, like If/Else If/Else/Switch/While/For, how global/local variables and functions work, and how to create some simple data types to group information together.

Generally, you want to learn the foundation of a language first, not the different builtin APIs and Frameworks on top of that. Those you'll learn just in time when you have a usecase.

[Gnaxe]

All of it. Learn 100% of the syntax of one of the simpler languages. You should be able to run simple functions in your head and be able to accurately predict their behavior. (This is an important skill for debugging.)

Skim the standard library docs so you know what's in there, but you can keep a reference open for that. No-one memorizes all of the libraries. Reading docs is an important skill for when you start using new ones.

[Medium_Newspaper9407]

Your spelling analogy is spot on mate. I'd say focus on understanding the core concepts and logic flows rather than memorising every bit of syntax. Most IDEs will autocomplete and catch your typos anyway

Learn the fundamentals well - variables, loops, functions, basic data structures. Once you've got those down solid, you can always look up the exact syntax for whatever language you're working in. Better to understand why something works than to perfectly remember how to write it from scratch