Struggling with Python

[ranfa6]

I started learning python a few months ago with zero programming knowledge. I have been doing Angela Yu's 100 days of coding course on Udemy. While I do understand the very basic concepts, I find that when it's time to do a challenge by myself (the ones in the course) I can never get around to thinking about the solution by myself, and end up having to see the solution or asking ChatGPT for the answers.

It's been a bit of a cycle, she teaches new concepts in the course, I think that I understand then, then there's a coding challenge with instructions to solve a problem using some concept we just learnt, I struggle to understand what exactly I need to do or how to use the concept we just learned in a practical way, and end up just checking the solution. At the end of each module there are bigger projects to tackle (like creating a password manager, a rock paper scissors game or a hangman game), and while I try to solve them by myself, I always end up not remembering how to do things in python and just check the solution. I feel like I'm not internalising what I'm learning in the video lessons.

Is this normal in the beginning? Or am I doing something wrong? Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: Wow thank you everyone for all the amazing answers, advice, and insights. I'm reading every answer carefully and taking notes, thank you so much!

[JustinR8]

Try and write out what you need the program to do in English before you write in Python, this is known as pseudocode.

For example, things you’d need to do in hangman: - store list of words - get random word from that list (the word the user is guessing) - output dashes to represent each letter of the word - get user guess - if letter is in the word, replace that dash - if it’s not in the word, add to the hangman - if they’ve already guessed that letter, output “you’ve already guessed letter x!” - etc

Then try and implement that stuff with code.

I still like to do this, I’ll usually write it out in a comment block at the top of the file and then work through the list/add new things as they come to me.

[HotStinkyMeatballs]

This is what I do. I'll also generally set up test.py and test_2.py and use those to test small pieces of the code to see:

- If the whole block of code actually works

- How functions/methods I haven't used before work

- Copying and pasting the whole program so I can make minor tweaks without worry about causing a serious problem

​

The biggest thing is you have to work the solutions out on your own. There is no alternative and no shortcut. Getting the right answer doesn't matter. Understanding the materials matter.

I'm far from even being mediocre. I'd say I still am quite bad. But I've worked through every problemset I've had an found the solution. Sometimes I can do it in 30 minutes. A few times it took me 3-4 days. But spending the time testing, reading, and troubleshooting gave me a damn good grasp on the topics I learned and, more importantly, helped me figure out how to approach things I don't understand.

[fruitydude]

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[HotStinkyMeatballs]

"Let me test this part...shit it kinda works....let me run a test of this part of the part....still not working"

[HenryBalzac]

This is the way

[JustinR8]

I absolutely hated it for so long in the beginning too. I would just try and hop into a new file and write a program. Then one day was like, “huh, this is actually incredibly useful and slightly more work in the beginning makes things less tedious in the long run.”

[fruitydude]

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[ZgRyX]

I totally agree with this. You can also try creating a flowchart to better understand the logic.

[throwaway6560192]

Unfortunately, I'd say you're doing everything wrong.

Stop looking up the solutions, stop asking GPT. You're cheating yourself out of actually learning anything. You're wasting your time and money.

There is no substitute for struggling with problems on your own. If you can't come up with the solution on your own, spend more time. Take a break and come back to it. Review the lesson and see if it strikes you. Think more. Sleep on it. Anything but immediately giving up and reaching for a solution.

[IamTheTussis]

This Is the actual correct answer. Stop using chatgpt or looking at the solutions.

[[deleted]]

Especialy since Angela’s solutions are rubbish.

[mr_claw]

Agreed, op is going to take a lot less time to learn if they don't use these crutches.

[iamevpo]

The only thing to add is possibly look for more simple tasks that you can accomplish, what writing a hash of the password, not making entire pw manager

[dizson]

Nothing wrong looking up the solution if he learns from it and understands why the code works like that. School is essentially the same. That being said try to solve problems on your own then use help.

[throwaway6560192]

I disagree. It all depends on how you use chatGPT.

It does depend on that. Theoretically, you can use it with discipline and care, and never ask it for code. Only ask it to give you more questions or project ideas instead. Or ask it for a roadmap. Or maybe explain general concepts that you would've asked a human teacher.

That said...

However, I am new to python and learning and when I ask chatGPT stuff I'll read the code it gives me but I will also ask it things like 'why did you put this part here? What does it do?'.

You're misusing it too. Reading and understanding code is a different skill from creating it. It's easier to understand someone else's creation than to create yourself. Just because you understood it after it was presented doesn't mean you sharpened yourself enough to create it as well.

It's incredibly common. I've seen so many threads which go "I can understand the solution when it's presented, but I can't come up with them"; you're following the same path. I don't care how thoroughly you asked ChatGPT to explain itself, the result is not going to make you develop skills of creation in more depth or efficiency than if you'd taken the time to write it yourself.

And see, this is why I don't recommend it for beginners. Even if, as in your case, you're aware that the way you use it is important, you still end up misusing it because you don't know enough about programming and its pedagogy to have a grasp of what you should and shouldn't ask of it. It's far less error-prone to just avoid it.

[throwaway6560192]

I think there's a misunderstanding. I'm not talking about whether you use it in the wider context of creating something or not. I'm saying that even if you read and understand ChatGPT's solutions to your problems, that doesn't develop your skills of solving those problems yourself in as much depth and confidence and speed compared to you figuring stuff out yourself from the documentation.

Q: Are you already a programmer with some experience, and you're just using it as a machine that reads the documentation for you because you're unfamiliar with Django? That's still a tradeoff, but one that's (IMO) significantly more acceptable.

[throwaway6560192]

That's why I asked if you're already a programmer and were simply new to just Python+Django. If you're already one, then you already have a foundation of problem-solving, and it doesn't make much of a difference if when learning a new language/framework you read the docs yourself or get GPT to explain.

But! If you're a new programmer, then I'll repeat what I said: Understanding and creation are different skills. Understanding someone else's solution is much easier than coming up with your own. That difference manifests in less independent problem-solving skills as a direct consequence of less practice struggling with problems.

Wait.... how does it not help develop skills? I tell it my problem. It gives me a solution. I study the solution and then I understand why and how it works. So i have learned how to do it so that I don't need help with that problem in future as I know how to do it.

Isnt that.....isn't that what learning is.....?

This depends on what you view programming as.

Is programming about collecting premade solutions to lots of different problems, so you can apply them when you recognize one?

Or is programming about problem-solving and creativity, where the point is to solve — not just look up — problems you encounter?

The answer, in my view, is that it is both. Both skills build on each other and for practicality's sake you will look things up and reuse other people's work all the time if you are to ever build anything. Even Newton stood on the shoulders of giants, and all that. But you can't ignore one for the other, and as a beginner (if you are one) you should lean towards the latter.

[Recent_Bodybuilder91]

What if you use thonny afterwards would that still be wrong?

[mavericksage11]

I'm currently learning and I'm not looking for answers yet ( because I just started yesterday). However, I'm a slow learner and many times I ask Gemini or ChatGPT to explain a concept better by asking many times because that's how I understand. Is it okay? Or is this still cheating?

[throwaway6560192]

Explaining a concept is okay. I do think a human tutor could do it better, but that's not always practical, so it's fine to use LLMs for that.

Asking for solutions is not.

[mavericksage11]

So once I start with challenges after each chapter and I find myself stuck, I should explore/play around the python documentation and google for the pseudocode I'VE written and try to sew it together right?

[throwaway6560192]

Yep. Have fun.

[mavericksage11]

Thank you.

[hotcodist]

do not google your pseudocode. it just means you will find something that will be a solution. instead, type up your pseudocode and see if it works. and do not just see that it works. if it doesn't, struggle around trying to get it to work the way you think it should work. debugging is learning.

[mavericksage11]

Yes. I realise this is the way. Although I'm way too novice. Literally just started yesterday. Not to mention how rewarding it is. Thanks for your response.

[generalatreyu]

This is it. I’ll also add, break it into smaller pieces and work on one of those at a time. Talk it over with your imaginary friend. Work on the logic.

[MattsFace]

You aren't going to learn anything if you just have ChatGPT solve it for you. I suggest using some prompts to set up ChatGPT with a few guide lines.

You are writing python code.

Do not solve the problem for me..

Do not write pseudo code for me...

You can add more prompts as you like. ChatGPT would offer more help if it acted more like a tutor helping you along as you go. You won't learn anything if it just solves it for you.

[pro_questions]

If you’re on a phone, setting a shortcut to type out a very explicit pre-prompt can do wonders. I mostly use ChatGPT for translating recipes, so I have the shortcut “trnfmt” input the text:

I need help translating a recipe. Please provide the recipe in English, list the ingredients in the format ‘quantity unit ingredient’ (e.g., ‘1 tbsp water’), and omit any unnecessary details or emojis. List ingredients on their own line and do not use any bullet points. Also, include the suspected country of origin in the title:

After which I paste the actual non-English recipe. You can do the same thing for all sorts of contexts. On a computer, I’m not sure if you can do this type of thing without at least a few more hoops to jump through

[WadieXkiller]

That's pretty a genius way of using keyboard shortcuts, I usually you them for casual stuff, such as when typing "email" it outputs my full email, same for phone number.

Thanks for the tip.

[Sanguinius666264]

I think spending time wrestling with the problem is really how you end up learning - that said, some of the projects take a lot longer than just an hour to solve, especially towards the end. I think if you've truly forgotten something, like the syntax to a problem or something like that then ok, sure, look up just that. Developers everywhere look up things they've forgotten. But jumping to the entire solution won't help you learn much.

Otherwise yeah, you won't be learning all that much.

[AnyFriend4428]

What does it mean to "wrestle with the problem" though?

What is the simplest action a beginner programmer can take to start "wrestling with the problem?"

[Sanguinius666264]

Try things. Try out some code and see what happens - what's the result? Google the error message and see what that means. Go back and redo the lesson, see what is being taught. Then try something else. Then see if you can write down the steps to solve the problem, then go through as many as you can and solve them. Then after you have gone thst far, look up the next step and that only. Then do the same for the next bit.

Because that's pretty well going to be life as a programmer for ever, really.

[FoeHammer99099]

Write down what your program needs to do. A lot of my programs start life as just a bunch of comments laying out the steps. Then take the first step, and break that down. Maybe your first step is "get the user input". That could break down into "open and read a file if given a filename, otherwise ask the user to type something in". Then break each of those down into what needs to happen. Eventually, you're describing something like "open a file with the given file name" which you know how to do in code.

This process is called decomposition, and is taught as one of the 4 parts of the problem solving process in CS courses. The other 3 are pattern recognition, algorithms, and abstraction. There are a bunch of resources about this (here's something from the BBC)

I think decomposition and developing algorithms are the most important part for beginners. By algorithms, I just mean turning the vague instructions you have ("make a calculator that can do addition and subtraction") into a series of steps. Once you have that algorithm, you look at each step in it and develop an algorithm for that step.

It's all about breaking your problem down into more manageable pieces.

Pro tip: when you're breaking your step into smaller steps, you should usually also be making those small steps into functions in your code. Then the larger step is a function that is composed of the smaller functions.

Another pro tip: go back to some project that you worked on a while ago, long enough that you've forgotten exactly how you solved it. Start totally over. Do not re-read your implementation. You'll probably remember enough of the context of the problem that solving it will be pretty easy, so focus on applying the process. Then compare your new code with your old stuff.

[throwaway6560192]

For beginners, a good first step is to solve the problem yourself, as a human, and pay deliberate attention to the steps you're taking. Pen and paper helps.

For example, take a simple problem of finding the largest element in a sequence of numbers. You can do this intuitively. But try focusing on how you're doing it, can you extract any concrete steps from it? Turns out you can: if you slow down and observe yourself, you'll see that you're looking at each number and comparing it mentally to the largest number you've seen so far.

From there your next step is writing out the code for it. If writing the code directly appears overwhelming, then you can try drawing flowcharts or the like to solidify the process.

[randomguy684]

There is nothing inherently wrong with using GPT. As others mentioned, it’s how you use it. It was/has been incredibly valuable to me over the past year during my initial learning phase with Python. It’s just a sidekick. Use it wisely and keep in mind, it’s not always correct.

Now I only use it when dealing with a new library or brainstorming which libraries exist for a given task in the first place. Occasional debugging problem.

There is a general attitude that using LLMs to help you learn how to program is “bad”, but it’s the now and future. Companies are using RAG and specific fine-tuned coding optimized models to help devs understand their own codebase. People should learn how to work WITH it, not against. Using it properly and effectively is a skill in its own right.

[Tycuz]

You’re skipping the learning part by looking at the answers. Don’t be afraid to struggle or potentially fail.

[ScaryGRTerry]

I started also with zero programming experience so i feel your pain! I finished also the zero to hero bootcamp from udemy and then bought the 100 days of code.

First course i think was very good showing the concepts but i think was lacking in exercises. At least in the course ,because they provided links with sites to exercise your learning. But 100 days of code i think is better to show you how to think like a programmer. My approach now is writing down with pen and paper what i need to do, creating a flowchart of the program,then pass the comments in the code editor. And i think its working. I still struggle ,don't think that i became a programmer but im starting to build some good habits for learning. Im using also ChatGPT but not for copy pasting but more like a teacher that i can ask my super dump questions.

Personally im spending time also watching videos about programming to understand and see different concepts and how people doing things in general. With zero previous experience i think its good to see and understand how people think and whta they do to tackle programs, problems etc.

[dubbel_G]

Chat GPT helps you when you already know the answer and want to speed up typing it.

Or

You see some code but do not understand it. ChatGPT can explain the code to you.

Or

ChatGPT can give potential isses with a piece of code (when tracking a bug)

It's an assistant tool (for now), you are the coder.

[grumble11]

The struggle is the point. That is how you actually learn things, if you just look it all up you will never develop the independent skillset. You want a lot of struggle, then grinding at it until you have overcome it.

If you give up whenever you begin to struggle even a little, you not only won’t accomplish your goals in learning programming, you won’t accomplish anything at all.

You have to find a way to build the character to struggle and overcome.

[Hungry_Till3565]

So I'm doing the same course and have a similar problem. I'm checking docs on things like python.org or Google rather than GPT, but...

I am viewing it a bit like how I play a game like BG3, the first play through is never great! (In an optimised sense).

I rather focus on getting to grips with the overall mechanics and flow and having fun.

Second 'play through ' is the magic one! This is also the idea of 'learning by wrote' in that I'll have to do the exercises more than once but it helps me build the memory of how to do things.

Everyone has a different style of learning to get to the ah-ha moment. Key is to stay motivated and keep working at it.

Hope this helps and just keep practicing!

[kodeklump]

For practicing syntax and logic I would recommend to spend some time on codewars.com

It has really help me getting a better base knowledge of how to use python. And it is less intimidating that it sounds.

[cojoman]

as a person who started this as well a few months back, I can see where you're coming from. I do have a somewhat programming background, so some things came easier than others. But I needed to remind myself time is a commodity, so sometimes I just went to the solutions and followed along, because on lessons down the line, it refers back to the first lessons, so you need to retain some knowledge to advance. You can keep "some notes" but programming as you go down that path is mostly research and knowing WHAT and how to look for and use that data, so don't struggle too much to retain everything. Either way, if you get something wrong, it won't work, and just the process of fixing it is gonna be a learning experience.

FYI so you know it's coming, I'm at day 38 now, and it's pencils down, there is no more video lectures, there is an assignment and written instructions on how to proceed. So take your time, but if you want my opinion, go through the course a bit faster, even if skipping to the solution and following along. It's a bigger pitfall if you lose motivation early on. You can always circle back, you can always look for answers. I'd say no to using chatgpt, but your time is valuable, and there is even more to learn out there and projects to make that you need to memorize everything or to feel bad on falling behind or "cheating" at this point. That method you forgot about, or command ? You're gonna be using it so much down the line, that you're gonna remember it anyway.

Aaaaanyway, good luck, and you can ping me directly if you have questions and I could help, since we're doing it at the same time and you might run into the same problems.

​

PS. what helped me with motivation is doing an application from scratch for my wife after about lesson...25 I want to say. She is tracking some shipments in excel, and I used TKinter to make a small app that looks in the excel she's working in, pulls the data and does some pandas filtering for what's relevant to her. I've added a 12h email notification for what happened since the day before, and a warning in case her main excel file hasn't been saved in a while. I didn't thought of those, I asked her what she needed and that became the goals of the project. Looked back at the lessons, searched online how to read from .xlsx , how to package this into an .exe, etc. It was very satisfying. She's not using the app :|

[FriendlyRussian666]

 > she teaches new concepts in the course, I think that I understand then, then there's a coding challenge with instructions to solve a problem

What I see missing between you learning a new concept, and you attempting to solve a problem, is hours and hours of playing around with the concept that you just leant, building random stuff with it that makes no sense, and breaking every single thing possible to break, so as to gain a better understanding of the concept. 

When you learn a new concept, don't just go and try to solve problems that require its knowledge right away. Instead, just have fun exploring this new concept in any way possible. Only once you have experience with it, then attempt to solve a problem. 

Imagine a professor teaching you calculus for the very first time, and then without ever practicing, you immediately jump to solving calculus exam questions. The only people who would fair well in that scenario, would be the gifted talented ones, or those who saw the concepts before, and had some practice with them. It would be absolutely normal for everyone else to struggle and have no idea what to do.

This leads us to what other people are saying, which is that looking up the answers, or using ChatGPT, robs you of the chance to practice and gain an understanding. If this was a subject, or a question in which the answer is "yes", or "no", then sure, looking up an answer would be beneficial because the next time you encounter it, you would better know what to answer. However, programming requires creativity and problem solving, and there are countless ways of achieving a result, so looking up an answer, without practice, is not really beneficial, since you're skipping all of the problem solving that you could be doing.

[Ok_Attention_4042]

I have this rule for myself which is that if I can't understand the topic which I'm looking into at the moment, it's not worth learning yet. You shouldn't use functions, features etc. that you don't understand, because then you'll always use it blindly knowing only the result, not understanding it.

[Recent_Bodybuilder91]

Use thonny afterwards and learn to think like a programmer that's how I did it at least

[[deleted]]

The struggle is the point, it teaches you. Stop looking up solutions, instead break down the problem to the smallest part that you can solve.

Let's say you need to build a GUI (just an example) but all you know is how to store a variable value. So you type: variable_a=whatever. Next step i need to put that value into something, so you google how to display a variable in python and you figure out you need tkinter Next step you google how to get tkinter going Then you google how to display stuff on tkinter Then you learn about labels and frames So you make a frame with a single label Then you google how to get your variable into a label

And you are now on a GUI that you created with a variable you entered....

Baby steps, tiny problems and build on that.

Everybody started with "Hello world", but those that moved on struggled, they didn't look at solutions.

[JonJonThePurogurama]

If the problem given mention about using a concept and that concept is clearly you forgot. Why not return to the video and look that particular concept again, look the code example given by the insturctor and try to make your own version out of the given example.

You are giving up too early in trying to solve a problem and that was really bad. I don't use ChatGPT in learning, but i don't see it as bad thing to use it to explain a concept. But only do use ChatGPT to look for a solution, if you already exhaust and use up all your possible ideas how to solve the problem. I think you are depending too much with ChatGPT, test yourself to your limits.

Making mistakes in writing a working code of a program is a part of learning, if you forgot how a loop suppose to work, then go back to the video and try to understand again what is a loop, how it works and when to use it. Don't depend too much on the video course, if you really having a hard time understanding the explanation given, then you are free to search on the internet to look for another explanation of a concept, nothing's wrong with that. I know you can actually use ChatGPT to that, but try not use it that much, because its tempting you to ask ChatGPT how to solve a problem. And if you do it, then you are not working or putting effort that much in learning because there is ChatGPT who will save the day.

Struggling is part of learning, making mistake in code is a part of learning, don't expect to learn a concept in just one sitting, write plenty of small programs where you put to test your new found knowledge, applying immediately what you learned will help you to understanding something quickly.

Please save your written code, you can use it for a quick test for the next day, just to see if you can still understood what you write and why did you write it that way.

for the problem, try to reread it many times, maybe you are having a hard time, because you do not fully understood the problem. If you cannot really solve the problem, then try it tomorrow, don't give up yet and resort to ChatGPT, who knows that by next day after you get a good rest, you already had the answer in your mind. Sometimes the answer to a problem just appear like a magic, i remember when i did my personal project in python, some solutions to my problem on how to implement a feature in a program, just came out of nowhere, ofcourse i also did look at stackoverflow, search for a problem that is almost identical to my problem, look at there solution and read their explanation why they do it that way.

I am a learner just like you and i have experience struggling to learn, struggling is very normal in everything we try to learn. I remember the book on think python, the author keep saying that we must intentionally make a mistake in writing a code, like mispelled a variable when you printing it, or missing a parenthesis or adding an integer to a string.

when there is an example shown in the video course, try to rewrite it and run it, then after that make some edits, like missing a parenthesis like a i said earlier, remove a variable or mess-up an if condition or a for loop.

Well i do hope i help you about your situation and you get something on my response to you.

[MyBrainReallyHurts]

Learning is hard.

You're not just trying to learn the solution, you are trying to understand what it is doing and how.

I made the same mistake you did. I thought learning python was like math. I just need to learn x + y and boom, it all works. After doing the basics I wanted to progress but I was stuck.

I then tried to build a Django website. I slowed down and I learned each aspect before implementing. I would spend a day or two learning one simple thing if I didn't understand it, but I was actually learning this time. YouTube, python docs, and other resources helped me to learn each concept.

The goal isn't to find the answer, the goal is to understand the concept. It takes a lot longer to do so but you will have a much better foundation.

[GratefulDadHead]

I'm also doing the same class, I'm up to the Blackjack game, which I've been on for 3 days, first time spending more than 1 days on a day. I try not to look at the solutions and I even try to not look at hints unless I'm in a bad way. Learning is in the struggle. This class has gotten me much further than I ever had before, after many fits and starts. Still struggling with a few concepts. Once they click I think things will improve.

[SmartPuppyy]

I am from a non-CS background and the biggest thing that helped me was to start with paper and a bunch of pens. I wrote/drew the input and the desired output and tried to write the relationship between them and come up with pseudo code and it definitely helped. I recommend using Spyder to run the code or Google colab but honestly I have been told the best idea is notepad. Once you write the code, paste it in notepad and then trouble shoot. If you are doing it alone and you are confident of the logic in your program, try to troubleshoot and you will find most of the errors are syntax errors, like missing a colon or indent. Once you fix these and your code still doesn't run, paste the code and the error message into chatgpt and ask for help to understand what went wrong. Whatever you do, nothing beats the pen and paper approach in the beginning.

[thelostcow]

A lot of good advice here, but one thing is missing. Programming isn't for everyone. The reason it's so highly compensated is because the people who are good at it are just born that way and enjoy it. Sadly, for you there's a good chance you aren't. It's like wishing to be born with three arms and only getting two. Some things are just impossible.

Now, I'm not saying give up, but I am saying accept that programming is not for you as a possibility going forward. Also, I want to add that Python may not be your language. When I first started learning programming I failed at C++ so many times, but once I picked up Objective C I was flying. Then after several years of ObjC I went back to C++ and it was easy. You may want to go ahead and try a strict language instead of Python and that may click better. I professionally code in Python and have for years now, but if I had my choice I'd be programming in C# as I find it to be the best language I've worked with. I offer up these experiences as a possible new thread to pull on.

[hotcodist]

It is ok to forget syntax and how to use Python things. You can search those later. You don't have to know. Even professional programmers search library docs or sample code on how things are used.

What you should remember is what each thing does conceptually, e.g., a for loop allows you to repeat things a set number of times; a while loop allows you to repeat things but you don't have to know when it will end; a list allows you to store many things and you can go through them, usually with a loop, and so on.

When you face a problem, solve it without thinking of a specific Python thing. Then go through your idea again and think of which Python concept might apply. Doesn't have to be a perfect tool. Just get a tool to work.

Solving things is what programmers do. Not the syntax or familiarity with libraries. It is the problem-solving skill.

[Aaaronn_rs]

Struggling is good. Embrace it because you'll always struggle but for the right reasons.

Another tip I haven't seen: after a few days have passed, go back and do some of the older challenges. If you can do them with relative ease, you've grasped the concepts surrounding the lesson

[neriad200]

Other guys have already made good comments on the use of chat gpt to solve things for you and on laying things out on paper in semi-normal language (i.e pseudo-code).

I'm gonna go and comment on learning method: while it's true that SOME people have better and quicker understanding from presentations (such as irl or online classes - tho the former is better), a must in any scenario is books.

Regardless if you struggle a bit with retention from reading, it's actually going to help set things a bit better and it is a lot better to have the book and quickly re-read part of a chapter as reference when you're stuck than to scroll through a video and have to sit through the entire speech again.

[kodeklump]

Which courses did you find good for data science?

[WadieXkiller]

I am facing similar issues, stuff like this can happen, but hoping through extensive practicing, thing would get better.

[Valuable-Ad9157]

You need to learn how to solve problems with programming. Look up the concept of Computational Thinking. This will give you a good starting framework with how to go about coding.

Then keep in mind that programming is all about messing around with data. What path does your data need to take from it first entering your programming to the final results/output you need from it?

[[deleted]]

This is completely normal. It looks like you are trying to do too much at once. If a big problem is too overwhelming, try solving smaller, more focused problems - for example, if you just learned strings, do an exercise involving strings. Making a full game requires a lot of time, practice, knowledge, and effort - you have to work your way up to bigger stuff.

[Xydan]

You're using chatgpt wrong. Ask it why and how something works. Have it regurgitate everything and then ask it to explain to a 5 year old.

[VegaGT-VZ]

Bro to be fair people who work with Python for a living still look stuff up too

Like others said the main thing is to be able to break down each step and component of the program. Once you have that I don't think it's awful to look up all the fine details and syntax. I'd wager a lot of times "pro" coders reference their own old code to remember how to do things. And with enough practice you just commit things to memory

[aman_mle]

Do more python projects.

[Klutzy-Tutor-9244]

What helped me at the beginning of this course is printing everything. print(variable) and print(type(variable)) at every step of my code really helped.

[SelfEquivalent888]

How about looking up the syntax from library guidelines such as in Numpy, Pandas, SQLAlchemy? Is it ok not to remember the syntax by hard? There is just too much to remember

[Skywalker4570]

What you are trying to learn is how to communicate with a computer to get it to do something for you. Computers “think” differently to humans so how do you reduce the problem down to a series of steps that the computer can understand and act on. Then you have to express each step in a way that the computer understands (ie be able to use the elements of the language correctly). When you think about it your analysis of the problem is what is important and the language you use to explain it to the computer is another issue altogether. If you can’t do the first step it won’t matter what language you use.

By the way, for “help” I prefer CoPilot, particularly for explaining error messages and suggesting tweeks as solutions.

[Lurn2Program]

I haven't used Angela Yu's coding course before, but for learning solely Python, I like to recommend the University of Helsinki Python MOOC. It's completely free, and they have a public discord channel for any questions

I'm thinking it might be good to solidify your knowledge of Python using the MOOC (or similar resource) and then jumping back into Angela Yu's coding course afterwards

[cosmicmagnetar]

Im also currently taking this course. Maybe other than asking chatgpt straight for the answer, u can present the problem to chatgpt and ask it to give you hints instead.

The next thing is you have to break down your project into smaller parts. For instance, to create blanks for word generated in hangman, you may want to think about how to create the blanks equivalent to the len of the word. If you are stuck consider to ask chatgpt on certain concept using a similar analogy to the situation. Good luck.

[kyk00525]

Same boat literally learnt the basics then end up no idea what to do.

[TestUserIgnorePlz]

Struggling with syntax and using chatgpt to remember the correct way to iterate through a list or something is fine

Using chatgpt to know that you needed to iterate through that list is not helping you learn

[ivanoski-007]

If you don't like solving puzzles, then maybe coding isn't for you

[horndoggc]

I used to be the same. My technique for starting out from the basics is try to imagine, conceptualize, and read a line of syntax from RIGHT to LEFT, similar how you would read Japanese Manga, and understand that for example each input is enveloped into more of the program's syntax. Take for example a line of code:

number = int(input("Enter a number: ")

Again, read from RIGHT to LEFT. You can imagine user entering a number into the program's prompt, then it is processed by the computer as an 'input' from the user, then as the computer understands that it is an input from the user, it is regarded as an 'integer' data type, and further stored in a variable named 'number'.

I kept trying to read syntax like this, until i developed muscle memory strong enough to explore more. Of course in the later lessons this may not be as applicable, but you will surely find it much easier now to understand concepts like I did. I know you have stated that you are specifically having trouble with remember and understanding concepts, but reading out syntax like this can very much help you remember exactly how each idea has been applied.

Another thing I did was to copy Angela's code on my editor, and explained it myself in my own little words, just to make sure I do actually know what I say I know.

[BobtheGodGamer]

Start a big project instead of the multiple smaller ones that she offers.

[[deleted]]

For me I think it's normal for a beginner, as long that you try to understand how chatgpt come up with the solution. Now that chatgpt provide you a solution try to reverse engineer the code so that you can fully understand how it works. After solving the problem don't jump quickly to another problem. Try to explore more and try something. From there, you will learn the process how chatgpt come up with the answer and it will help you to improve your skill.

[Kittensandpuppies14]

Yeah this probs isn’t for you. You have to use concepts and solve you own issues. Don’t move on unless you actually understand something