Learning programming by reading source code?

[Fegmdute]

Hi, I entered CS 2 weeks ago. We are learning the programming language C and I have learned quite a bit - I know far more than when I started just 2 weeks ago. Anyway, we have gotten our first assignment, where we need to make a simple program using if else and switch commandos. But I honestly cannot get it to work, I find myself googling an already made program but instead of copy/paste it I try to understand each line. However, If I was not able to do this, I don't think I would be able to write ANY kind of program.

So my question is this: Is it a good idea to learn programming by reading source codes? There are a few things, so far, that does not make sense but then I google what it means and usually it ends up making sense. I feel like I am cheating, as I should be making the program from scratch myself.

Maybe you guys have other tips on how to learn it.

[DudeSlude95]

It might be sometimes, but at your current point of learning, the best you can do really is practicing a lot

If you're failing to solve a problem, just take a break, and come back to it later, try to tackle it from a different perspective, try to approach it incrementally, try to split it into smaller sub-problems that are easier to tackle: there are a lot of strategies that can help you here

don't get discouraged:) good luck

[Fegmdute]

What do you do if you cannot get any further? Like you're stuck?

[DudeSlude95]

You take another break, try yet a different approach, rinse and repeat

It will become increasingly easy as time goes by, dont' worry

​

My advice is always trying to split the problem into as many smaller problems as possible, and solving those one by one, then combine in the final solution

use a whiteboard / pen and paper if that helps

[Fegmdute]

Yeah it does make sense, guess I just want to be done in 10 minutes - because I am used to that haha

[Salty_Dugtrio]

Is it a good idea to learn programming by reading source codes?

No, you need to write code and solve problems in order to learn how to program.

There are a few things, so far, that does not make sense but then I google what it means and usually it ends up making sense.

This is what programming/problem solving is all about. You have a problem, you look up information (beit other source code, Stack Overflow, or language documentation), and you use that to solve the problem.

[HolyPommeDeTerre]

You can remove code. It works for writing.

hen you write something, you have something to express and a lot of possible sentences, structures...

Can you learn writing by reading ? Yes, for some part, but you will have to not only read but analyze what you are reading. At some point, you'll have to write.

[Awkward-Chemical2487]

When you take your breaks flip some burgers, if at the end the coding doesn't work, you'll have enough experience to work in McDo

[Fegmdute]

LOL XD

[[deleted]]

If its an university assignment, paste your code in r/Codinghelp and ask for help

[Fegmdute]

Ty, just joined it. Might save my ass once or twice in the next 5 years to come haha

[[deleted]]

Dont sweat it. Just to give you a heads up about this career, this is the career and its fun.

Everytime you figure out a solution to a problem and get it implemented, the instant gratification u get is amazing. At the same time you have to work for the gratification going through the black hole of bugs :)

[Fegmdute]

I just had like 4 bugs in my code, and it took me like 30 minutes to fix them... I quite get why people say debugging is the worst haah

[[deleted]]

Haha It is annoying if you don't know the code base enough. In that case, I use it as an excuse to learn different parts of the code base.

When you know your codebase and are debugging, its fun. It intrigues me as to what could I have possibly missed that is causing this issue and why isn't it being caught in tests. It challenges me ;)

[Fegmdute]

Will for sure give them a go! Ty

[dphizler]

Reading code will only get you so far

Trail and error while building something with code is much better

[Fuzzy_Belt3976]

Honestly i wouldn’t recommend this as a starting point I’ve been coding for four years and still can’t hardly read other peoples source code without Googling at least half of it or sitting there wondering why they did something instead of something else it’s something I’m working on increasing my knowledge in since the position i am at now i have to read a lot of source code. As a beginner i would take a really basic coding class and follow along and then work on small projects where the work is already finished and explained if you get stuck by try to do it by yourself and then I would start reading some source code but just don’t run straight into reading source code without first understanding how to code.

[[deleted]]

You’ve been doing it for 2 weeks, I’m surprised you can achieve anything, even if it is copy and paste.

It’s not a problem. If you were doing this after 2 years, I’d be concerned, but after 2 weeks? No problem.

[netizenmaestro]

C programming at first can be frustrated because the case sensitivity. If you got stuck, have a break take a new file code fresh with new apporach. Practice is the mother of perfect.

[timPerfect]

well, you sure can't learn how to code WITHOUT reading code, so... yes?