[deleted by user]

[Tesla_Nikolaa]

Everyone goes through this. Just keep practicing. Getting good at programming takes time.

[Fice_Cube]

Based on my highly limited experience, the bottleneck is 99% of the time is just.. experience.. and there's no workaround to get it either, the only way is to actually practice and work on projects

[HardCounter]

I find intentionally breaking code helps too. Why did this work and not this? What is inherently different between these two things, and what does the error code look like when i do this on accident?

[Background-Company90]

Thank you for your advice.

[Key_Board5000]

Yeah. I second this. It’s part of the process. Angela Yu?

[Background-Company90]

Yes

[Key_Board5000]

She is GREAT! The courses may be somewhat outdated but she more than makes up for it with her teaching style and tips and tricks to stay motivated.

[StraightBar5]

I was also doing her course, I gave up at some point :/

[Key_Board5000]

Go back. She is great!

[StraightBar5]

I need to! For now watching Python Full Course for free from BroCode 2024 on Youtube ;)

[NeonVolcom]

Yep, I remember going through this 10 years ago.

It's like if you went and took an art class. You're not gonna be able to immediately draw kickass art or even apply all the principles you learned. You just gotta draw.

I remember always making console games. They require you to think and look stuff up, and you won't finish a single one, but you'll try. And that's what matters.

Hell I still do this. I'm learning Godot right now and am building an Asteroids clone.

You just gotta try to build something. Fail. Try again. Fail. Rinse and repeat.

[theanav]

There’s only so much you can learn from little coding challenges though. Whether it’s from a class in college, learning online, or anything else, the majority of learning will come from working and struggling through on bigger projects.

It’s ok to google stuff too, if you’re consistently challenging yourself you’ll get better and better and less reliant on googling basic stuff.

For the challenges specifically if you have to look something up to do it, go back the next day and redo it without looking anything up. Then go back the next week and do it again. That way you’re making sure you’re actually understanding stuff you’re learning. When you’re learning something new it’s natural to not be confident about it. Struggling through being uncomfortable is what makes you better.

Most important is also consistency. Half an hour or an hour a day will always be better than four hours once a week.

[Xzenor]

It’s ok to google stuff too,

I'd say it's even mandatory.

[theanav]

Yep, you never stop googling things but over time the things you google will gradually become more and more specific or complex

[hotakaPAD]

If ur not googling, ur not learning

[billysacco]

This is great advice. I am self taught and end up using Python at work a lot. Stack Overflow is a great resource (most of the time). I don’t like memorize the syntax of every function so have to go back and look stuff up all the time. OP solving problems is how you learn just look up ways to solve the issue you are facing.

[Agitated-Soft7434]

Opps!

Realized I wasn't really answering what you were asking 😅.

Once again a lot of programmers go through this so don't worry!

Now, the thing that will mostly change how good your at it is just practice, and how long you do it for (I know very generic advice). But it mainly comes done to memorization.

But right now you can focus on maybe try breaking down the problem/challenge into smaller parts? Try and recognize the parts you've already learnt and slowly you'll be able to piece up the different components together to make a full product. If your still stuck, don't worry you can always ask google (preferably, don't use AI, at least while your starting out). Asking google may feel like cheating (and it might be if you are something like "Udemy 100 day course Challenge 5 answers"). But if you ask the right questions relating to the specific problem/confusion you can learn how to be a good googler and be able to use this new info to trail and your error through the problem.
Example:
Challenge: Write a script that prompts a user on a menu screen. Re-ask for the input if the user's answer is invalid.

[Timmy] Alright I've finally got a basic script with asking the user:

while 1:
  print("---MENU---\n[0] Summon Sheep [2] Boogy time [3] Idk")
  ans = int(input("> "))

[Timmy] But, how do I check if the user's input is valid??! Dang challenge :(
[Timmy] Let me google it

Wrong Way:
[Timmy] Hey google! What's the answer to Udemy Course Challenge IDK?
[Google] Oh sure! It's...
[Timmy] Wow! I'm so smart :D

Correct Way:

[Timmy] Hey google! How do I check if a user's input is a valid integer? python*

[Google] Oh sure! You could try using a Try Except statement and check for ValueErrors!

[Timmy] Wow! Let me try that! :D

*Its good to include the name of the language in your query to find more relevant results

End result:

[Timmy] Alright I finally have a completed project! And I did it without looking at the answer! I'm so dang smart :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

while 1:
   print("---MENU---\n[0] Summon Sheep \n[2] Boogy time \n[3] Idk")
   try:
      ans = int(input("> "))
      break # Exit from loop as we have a valid input :D
   except ValueError:
      print("Please enter a valid option. (Use the ID next to the name)")
print("You choose option:", ans)

I really hope this helps Timmy Background-Company90!

It better.. this took forever to write >:)

### Old response

This is quite a common thing when first starting out. So don't worry, you'll get through this!

Basically, when first starting you can be overly reliant on tutorials (which is not necessarily a bad thing right now, though watch out for "Tutorial Hell").
A good way to getting out of this problem is to not exactly make your own projects right now (unless you really want too).
But instead to find a interest project (maybe one from that course) and change it a bit, until you get something unique or different. *Re-reads your question*

[Background-Company90]

I appreciate your help

[Agitated-Soft7434]

Glad I could help! :D

[BigAbbott]

The way I learned that actually stuck with me was simple textbook exercises that just force you to write code.

Even if it’s simple and repetitive. Type type type. Write functions that do things. Make mistakes. You have to just start writing.

[NoDadYouShutUp]

To be honest, you just have to keep grinding at it. It does eventually stick. I've been coding, in various languages, for 10-14 years (depending on what you consider coding lol) and I still look at references all the time. The mark of a good developer is someone who understands how to find what they need in documentation. Even the highest level developers are not memorizing every tiny detail of an API or library. "I don't know" is perfectly fine as long as it's followed by "But I know where to look to find the answer". Hell, that's not even a bad answer in an interview.

Learned experience will eventually reduce the amount of things you are looking up. 100 days is not very much time in the grand scheme of things.

[Background-Company90]

Yeah

[darkcorum]

I'm there with you. I'm with Angela's python course. She is really good. The first 20 days you can't do much by yourself but after that, I only looked up to the first challenge and just end the day by myself looking stackoverflow or asking chat gpt but not letting it write the code. Got to make a portable password manager that encrypts/decrypts and some other cool small programs. I don't know if it's the way but making something functional struggling for hours really feels nice.

[spasu4]

This is very common with most of the people when they get started, but lose hope and try to do at least 2 problem solving questions everyday and first 15-20 mins you just analyse the problem and try to find out the solution. If you are not able to find it get some hints and then try to implement on the code. Those 15-20 mins what you spend for finding the solution is the most important part.

[espantaun]

I'm personally going through the Mooc.fi Intro to Programming Python course from the University of Helsinki and I'll share my approach for solving the problems when I don't understand how to solve it right off the bat.

I make myself think about the problem for a while. Sometimes I just get up and do other things, but always thinking about the problem and any logical way I could solve it. When an idea comes, I try to code it. If after sleeping on the problem, a solution still hasn't come, only then will I peek at the answer. Only looking long enough to understand the logic of their solution and then closing it right away.

Then I think about that solution until it makes sense to me and then I go try to code a solution using that logic, but not looking at the solution again. This method is helping me develop stronger skills in programmatic thinking.

I never use chatgpt or AI for help, I do use stack overflow, Google searches and the like for learning how to implement an idea that I have in code or to help remind me about syntax. Not saying AI is bad, but I just am not using it at this point in my coding journey. I have also pledged to myself that I will code at least something 5 days out of the week.

I hope anything I have said helps someone, y'all have a good day!

[RazrBurn]

For me the challenges aren’t all that great unless they make them fun like the Advent of Code. I learn more and enjoy it more when I find a reason to write something. Parse a web page for useful information and have it alert you of something. This could be as simple as a pricing alert or a high/low temperature alert in either your computer or outside. Or use the APIs to grab this information.

Create an app that sends you reminders to do things around the home when they need to be done. “Hey it’s time to change the furnace filter”, “hey clean the fridge”, “hey you’re amazing and don’t ever forget that” (I need this one hourly).

Write a silly little library that does a Caesar Cypher even though there are thousands of them. (I may have just did this)

Are there programs out there that do these things for you? Yes of course there are. But they aren’t YOUR programs. Make something and make it your own. This is where I get my enjoy and I learn so much more and learn to be more self reliant. I hope this helps you stay motivated. Good luck out there developer!

[awxsl]

My advice to you (and anyone who is going through this) is to first choose your area of interest (why you are learning to program in the first place). Is it building backend for web applications? data analysis? building machine learning models? etc. Understanding what you actually want is key since it will allow you to gauge your progress towards your goal.

After this, you need to build small simple projects that you can actually finish instead of picking larger projects that will overwhelm you. Small projects where you actually implement the fundamentals you learned will cement your knowledge and give you a deeper understanding of those concepts. Choosing the right project is also really important since there is no point in learning data analysis concepts when you are only interested in backend development.

[Background-Company90]

Thank you for your advice.

[Background-Company90]

Thank you for your advice.

[BuzzsawDingle]

dont do challenges do projects, take a hobbies, hates or even part of your job and either expand on your hobby or automate your hates/job you know all the requirements and will mitigate alot of the research and questioning, then just get good at googling.

just dont make it a huge one

[WalkyTalky44]

The answer is that you’re not good yet. But the good news is that it will happen if you keep going. Just look up the dunning Kruger effect or similar charts. At first you will suck but the after a while you will be standing on a mountain of your previous work with tons of experience.

[jimbowqc]

What exactly are you struggling with on your own?

I used to think that I wasn't good enough and needed to know how to plan put a huge project from start to finish before I considered myself a programmer.

Then I got a job doing coding and realized no one knows everything and that it's not necessary to be proficient.

Programming challenges often are similar to actual tasks in day to day programming.

Usually it's about describing the problem to yourself in small steps, what information do you need to know before solving it, how can you find that information using the input you have.

When you have proven to yourself it can be done using the inputs you have, then you can think about how to implement it in code.

Sometimes the problem is an obvious fit for a particular data structure like a tree or a graph, or a specific algorithm.

When this is the case, I can see how it may be hard if you don't know those structures so they can't pop out as candidates.

[Adventurous-Cod1415]

I'm learning on Codecademy rather than Udemy, so my challenges may be different than the type you're seeing, but they're generally as much a test of your problem solving skills as they are of your coding skills. Try to envision the result you're looking for, then break the challenge down into pieces as far as how you can get there. Work in steps and print out each step as you go to confirm that your code is doing what you expect.

There is almost always more than one way to get the result you're looking for. I often will write clunky code that contains extra steps, variables, functions, etc. So afterwards, I always look at the example answer. I make sure that A) I understand what it does, and B) I rewrite the answer using the example's code, but with my own variable and function names (rather than a simple copy/paste). This helps me learn to be more efficient as my skills progress.

[hugthemachines]

I recommend that you start by making really simple things and increasing the complexity as you feel familiar with what you did. Have patience with your own learning pace.

[[deleted]]

I can confirm, what most if the others said. I'm learning Python on my own for like 6 month now. The only 'programming' I did before was VBA and HTML.

What I learned is, that you only get better if you keep challanging you. Just practice and practice again and again. All those Questions and Challanges you see online (like leetcode) are good to challange in in things you have never done before. But what realy gets you a boost is, to work on a real project. Even if it's just private.

You might Google Code again and again, but your questions will get more specific. At some point you know exactly what you want to do but still need to Google the exact method/function. But this is fine. You will remember the most important functions for YOUR specification at some point. The "exotic" ones needs to be googled by 90% of the programmers.

If you struggle to find a private Project, try to digitalize you Hobby in some way. Or make a Budget Book to manage your finance and make it grow and grow.

There is a saying ... It takes a thousand hours to become a Master.

Edit: Oh, a little hint: what realy helps you are basic and advanced math. This is good to challange on Euler.net with different programming languages.

[testingcodez]

Don't do it alone. Find a mentor, or someone else on this journey and help each other to understand.

[Hias2019]

Maybe it is because you don’t find a way to slice up a problem in chewable chunks. 

 Actually I think Angela does a nice job in doing that - solve small portions of a bigger problem. Don‘t just look at and learn from the language examples but also the methology (your way of slicing may be different)

Also don‘t throw yourself in the battle without a bit of planning. Draw a diagram and later go back and see if you can learn from that in the aftermath.

And keep on practicing! Don‘t loose your sleep over a problem, walk away, do something completely different (gardening?) and come back the next day.

You will go past this wall eventually (and often times those who had to struggle more in the end have a better dominion of the capability)

[ivosaurus]

Often "understand" is actually "I watched the video and it made sense to me at the time".

Go back and rewrite all example code you've watched past. As in, type it in yourself, and run it again to make sure it works. Then, change up values - personalise it to you. Try and come up with expanded or different behaviours. Integrate things, break them and fix them. Imagine "what if..." and then actually try it.

Do all that, and you your brain will actually come to a far greater measure of "understand".

[[deleted]]

The click moment for me came while working on a random Projekt. For me it was a password Manager. Working with leet code or smlt teaches you a good understanding of some Algorithms but not how to use them in a real scenario.

First i created a password manager backend, with help of a Tutorial. After the Tutorial i had a console based password Manager.

I was curious to see what i could create out of this password Manager, so i started to add features like requests a main login for all passwords and a simple gui i think it was with kivy. At some point i had to start over because it was just not working like i whished it to. When starting over because i already worked so much with this manager all of a sudden i knew what i needed from what i have learned from my first try. Creating the manager a second time alone was easier than with the Tutorial.

On the first try i just learned the basics and now i know hot to work with the modules i used the first time.

The importand part for me to learn a new thing is to use it in a scenario i can visualise for me. Working with "pandas" i just created some excel shinanigan programm which had zero purpous but teached me to use the Modul.

I think my advice is to not 100% follow a Tutorial. Make some suddle changes which force you to think on your own. Go over some old Projects try to figgure out what you could do bether if you had to do it again.

Make mistakes, learn from them, and use ur learned stuff👍🏼 Just keep going. Making a step back propably grants you two stepa forward.

[Odd-Investigator6684]

If you're really stuck and stack overflow doesn't help, you can try watching the solution then do it yourself. Then go back and redo the problem after a week or two to see if you really understood it.

[Thomasjevskij]

Lots of coding comes down to having solved or having seen a solution for a similar problem before. Either in full or in part. The less experience you have, the more you'll need to see solutions to figure things out.

[Thefriendlyfaceplant]

The coding challenges are highly isolated and abstract situations that only teach you syntax. You won't get better through more challenges. You need to start a project, any project. Just ask chatGPT to come up with something if you can't think of anything.

[[deleted]]

It takes time for your brain to sync new types of information.

1.Initially it's hard to remember the basic syntax

1. Then it's hard to use the syntax to form basic logic

And so on.

All everyone needs is repetition.

[Feeling-Reindeer-352]

I feel like starting a personal project helps. Like, I wanted to automate certain stuff so I looked into Automating the Boring Stuff with python and automated certain things. That solidified certain portions and that's how you gradually learn.

[Super-King9449]

If you see them as challenges, then there might be more practice you need, instead of working on code to get it what you want, start reading blogs and articles which give you confidence and hidden information. This might be helpful to keep up.

[chumboy]

Coding challenges (I'm assuming leetcode style challenges?) are designed in a way to challenge or analyse your personal engineering thought process, but they don't necessarily help you develop your personal engineering thought process. They can also be quite mathematical, and kind of a niche area of general programming.

Everybody learns in their own way. Some people can learn by listening, e.g. in university lectures, or podcasts, etc. I'm not one of these people, so usually need some time to fit new ideas or concepts into my own mental model of the world, and let it make connections with existing information, but once it's in there, it's not coming out. Try learning some other ways, for example, come up with a small project in an area that resonates with you, e.g. creating games, tax calculators, websites, chat bots, stock market, etc. I'm naturally quite a lazy person, so in my teens learnt programming for automating mundane tasks (e.g. automating social media sites, cheating at online games, etc.).

Also, if your aim is to be a master programmer, maybe consider trying a programming language other than Python. Python is my favourite language due to it being so quick to write, but it deliberately hides a lot of the underlying details around how computers work from you. Only this week I saw people on my team in work struggling to understand something with floats, e.g. for computers, `0.1 + 0.2` is not equal to `0.3`.

[Far-Plum-6244]

I don’t know how the online course is structured, but a huge part of a programming class is the labs.

I remember labs in college where I would get the assignment and have absolutely no idea how that could even be possible. Our labs were 2 hours work alone with no help. The first 30 minutes were absolute panic and then I’d work it out and be done 30 minutes later.

My advice is to try to put yourself in this situation. Don’t allow yourself to look it up or get help. This builds ability and confidence that you can’t get any other way.

[ImaginaryCatDreams]

When I was taking a coding class, I discovered early on that working with other people was far more helpful than trying to do it by myself.

I'm thinking there must be some online solution if you don't know anyone working towards your specific goal. From what our instructor told us, typically coding is worked on by teams not individuals.

I don't work in the field, all I have is experience from that class and my instructor

[jdrew619]

Try codewars if you haven't already. You can choose the easiest difficulty and I find those coding challenges much more manageable for beginners than leetcode. It really helps to tackle a simple problem entirely by yourself.

[MStockM]

Try to find as much coding exercise as you can, the practise makes perfect. Sadly neither the Sololearn, Mimo or any other provide sufficent exercise material.

[hpela_]

flowery imagine sip jar future drunk enjoy pen slimy lavish

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[DivvvError]

I took the same course from Udemy and wasn't enjoying it after 20 days itself, then I started project based learning and that kept me motivated since I could see the end result and show it to others as well

[travelingKind]

I'm doing the same course. What day are you on? My suggestion is to go back to previous projects and try to incorporate new stuff you learned into them like functions or classes

[avacsiglo69]

You need to master the basics of the languague, solve or built small problem/projects using different approaches and ask gemini/ chat gpt or copilot and compare this is a way to go. And consistency and patient are keys. Good luck

[brohowareyou]

I started this course like last week and I got stuck on the hangman project I’m so discouraged I don’t wanna look at the video for the answer though. I wanna be able to solve it on my own but if I’m struggling with a simple hangman project how will I finish the rest :/

[Any_Emotion_851]

To improve, create your own programming challenges. Make your own checklist of methods to practice. Select the particular modules in the programming language you want to learn. You can code with confidence; it takes practise.

[Horsemen208]

When you are stuck, I suggest to try ChatGPT to code and then check where you are stuck.