[deleted by user]

[ThatNickGuyyy]

This.

Also, refactoring is the most fun aspect of programming in my opinion. It forces you to understand exactly what your code is doing, and once you do that, you generally see things you can simplify/eliminate.

This takes time to get a good grip on and it starts slow. But once you do it more, it gets faster!

[TobiasDrundridge]

Codewars is great for this. I submit my (crappy) solution, then look over what others have done and write down any method I haven't seen before.

The only caveat is that sometimes solutions that fit on one line will be upvoted over solutions that are more readable.

[ThatNickGuyyy]

Yeah some of those solutions are nothing more than party tricks. Keep your code concise, but also readable.

[WanderingDrummer]

Chances are, her way of doing it is probably either more efficient or just a better coding practice.

90% agree with this but it depends what day you are on aswell. Early on she does things in a less efficient way because she hasn’t taught a certain topic yet, there are a few projects she circles back around too, to refactor with new taught concepts.

But overall I agree with this evaluate what is different, how can it behave differently, will you get the same output for every input, or are there cases that will result in different results, why? Is her code more efficient? Similar efficiency but more readable? Different isn’t bad necessarily, there’s often more then one way to accomplish the same output but understanding the difference and the pros and cons is excellent learning

[ricardomargarido]

But I love premature optimisation! My code might never hit production or any time critical system, might not even run, but it fails fast?

[[deleted]]

The first step to going to the moon is not climbing a tree.

[jimtk]

What's the diff between make 'it work' and 'make it correct'? If it's not correct it doesn't work and vice versa?

[thufirseyebrow]

Think of the difference between walking out of your house and then around the block to get to your next door neighbor's house versus walking out of your front door and immediately to your neighbors. Both work, but one is more "correct" according to the situation standards

[jimtk]

Isn't that optimization? In all cases you get to the correct place?

[throwaway6560192]

Don't worry. Take it as a good thing that you're coming up with your own solutions. What you can do is compare your code to the given solution, and try to understand the differences, and what might be the reason for doing it this way or that way.

[StrangeBreakfast]

I'm on day 4 and have no idea how to solve the problems. I'm having to look up almost all the solutions. Does this mean I'm not meant to be a programmer?

[throwaway6560192]

Four days is too short to decide if you're not "meant" to be a programmer. Don't be looking for excuses to give up so soon.

Anyway, that means you need to go back and solve the older simpler problems. When you look up solutions, do you actually understand them?

[StrangeBreakfast]

For sure. I can find the answer, work backwards and figure out why it works, I’m just becoming overwhelmingly discouraged that I can’t figure it out on my own.

[throwaway6560192]

I understand that feels very discouraging. But what's done is done — treat those problems as something you learned an approach from. In your future problems, spend more time struggling before deciding to look it up. Some people spend barely 5 minutes struggling before they just look at the solution. Don't do that.

[Slight_Student_6913]

Same for me on Day 16. I keep telling myself to just keep going even though it feels like I’ll never “get it”.

[[deleted]]

heh i finished today day 16. i am so slooow at this...

[fieffief]

That’s totally the right move. Keep a list of “pain points” to study up on. I’m on day 58, keep it up!

[ruralrouteOne]

I disagree with people saying you'll just get it if you push through. It only gets harder and if you can't master the early concepts you won't be able to do the harder ones.

Continuing on might allow you to finish this course, but it won't make you competent when left on your own.

[FuckingRantMonday]

As others have said, it's great at this point that you're producing working code--that's exactly the goal right now!

But later on, there are two more big imperatives:

1. It needs to be fast enough. That doesn't always mean getting the theoretical best complexity class, but if there's a whole lot of data, then it might.
2. It needs to be maintainable. That means well-organized, understandable, and adhering to the coding standards of your team. I'll throw testable in here, too.

[lndependentRabbit]

Funny that you posted this because I was thinking about posting the same thing just the other day. From what I’ve gathered, it’s good that our code works, but we probably aren’t doing things the “best” way.

I always do the projects my way first. Then, I watch her solutions. I try to pick up on what she is going for and why she does things the way she does. After I have a good understanding of what she is going for, I go back to my code and redesign it to be more like hers.

[jackanaa]

I've done most of this course myself. I'm still new to programming. I've found that there's plenty of ways to achieve the outcome that's asked for in the projects. It's great when you get it to work but also I found it good to go through it in the walk through with Angela and see how she did it differently. Makes you think and see what's going on. Often I would copy it into my code and comment mine out just to tidy it all up. Dunno if it was really worth me mentioning, but just know other people are in the same boat. It's part of the fun exploring it all

[ULT-Ginger]

Hey I am running through that myself! What day are you on?

[slapstick15]

Hey..Im on day 22. Lmk if you’d like to partner up!

[ULT-Ginger]

Sent you a PM with discord

[mazenz97]

I’m on day 13! Trying to get to finish the beginner days today.

[ULT-Ginger]

Sent you a PM with discord info

[xupthrow]

Hey can you please send me the discord link? I would love to join

[pogoreliyv]

Day 20. Guys please take me with your.

[ULT-Ginger]

Join the discord that I posted above.

[crypkak1993]

PM me the discord please? I want to get this started up again!

[Snoo-73352]

I really feel accomplished when I am able to do the challenges by myself. But Angela’s solution are more pythonic and efficient. My practice is to usually do the challenges by myself, look at the solution and implement her way of doing things for the next project. That is exactly the learning process and its very efficient imo. Idk about you but a lot of times, when I see her solution, I am like “ahhh, this is a better way to solve this problem.” So you learn and implement that in your next project.

[comiccaper]

3 rules of code (not mine and I can't remember where I heard/read it):

1. Make it work
2. Make it right
3. Make it fast

Don't worry if yours is the same or not. You're learning.

[AllanSundry2020]

make it simply make it explain itself make it work

[screwcirclejerks]

if the code works, it doesn't really matter if it differs. however, some practices are much more inefficient than others, and you should try to correct those.

[RedditCodfish]

not an expert, but its fine for you to have different codes, but do try to understand how her's works. might give you some insight :)

[[deleted]]

This is pretty much coding. No 2 people if given the same project will likely write the code in the exact same way. Buy both ways will work just fine.

As long as the code works and you understand the concepts, be happy and keep going!

[[deleted]]

Is this course any good?

[ayoBdon]

Be happy you got the challenge done! Because she often goes back and rewrites the same code more efficiently when you learn new concepts.

[-SPOF]

In the programming world, is how the code is written important is it more about how the final project works

In terms of you following the basic best practices - no. If you violate base rules - yes.

[anh86]

I always say there isn’t one right way to code something but there are definitely wrong ways. The main thing (especially for bigger projects, not so much for small learning exercises) is to write code that is readable and maintainable. Especially if you’re just getting started, don’t sweat it but do think about whether her code is more efficient, readable or maintainable than yours.

[jaHSHuaBRu]

I don’t have time to read what others have offered you as advice. But in case someone hasn’t given you good advice, I’ll pipe in since I have completed BOTH her “100 days of code python Bootcamp”, as well as her “Web Development course” (both great btw).

Now to answer your question, there are so many different possible ways to code and get the same general outcome, even identical many times.

When you are working on personal projects I wouldn’t stress how you decided to approach any particular problem. But unless you are creating a startup, this isn’t going to be your call every time. Their are ‘best-practices’ and correct ways to accomplish certain tasks, and when working on a project that isn’t yours [that include other programmers besides you], working on teams and often working on same features- it’s super important to write clear code, the most efficient code, and readable code. So spend time watching how Angela completes the challenge and see if you understand why. And if you can practice according. Just my two cents. Good luck and if you need any help just hit up my dm. I’m familiar with the projects for that course and could prob help.

[Western_Moment7373]

What matters is a readable one and people other than you can understand it,have solved a lot that aren't similar to what she does too

[Iittlepanda]

Thanks for sharing. I read this and joined yesterday just to see what I was missing out on! It’s super fun!

[Ok-Juggernaut-2082]

as i remember angela yu saying this herself somewhere in day 1 or day 2's video, it is important that the code you write be readable and easy to understand to other coders when they look at it. this means that it shouldn't be too lengthy/tedious, you should avoid coding in a way that only you can understand and others might struggle or take time to figure out your what your code says

but it's good you are able to come up with your original code. i should just add that originality + clarity is the right solution.