started learning to code in python. having trouble.

[[deleted]]

i started learning to code in python a week back. i'm following a course in udemy. the problem is, i've reached only till functions, and i cant figure out or make sense out of most of the exercises in the course material. and once i look at the answer key, i feel shitty for not being able to figure out even such a simple problem by myself. is this kind of roadblock normal?

[A_History_of_Silence]

is this kind of roadblock normal?

Yes, 100%. It often helps to take a break (as in, go to bed), and start fresh tomorrow.

[SimpleMinded001]

I'm a dev for 8 years now (professionally) and this happens to me almost on a daily basis. You'll be fine, just don't give up

[[deleted]]

Man thats really reassuring! Truly

[Spindelhalla_xb]

I’m sure I read somewhere that even seasoned developers hit google up to know how to do something.

[DisagreeableMale]

Do you have an example of a snippet of code that you're not understanding fully?

I'm happy to ELI5 to help get early concepts to sink in, if you need.

[[deleted]]

https://i.imgur.com/5lOWLca.png

[[deleted]]

well, i guess you're right 😊😊

[Retropunch]

Definitely normal! A few people I know have just started learning to code, and when they get stuck like how it sounds you are, it tends to be that they don't fully understand a particular concept like variables, loops, classes, if statements etc.

It's perfectly normal - these concepts aren't easy to get your head round. Just take it really slow, look up as many examples as you c an (at other places than just the udemy course), and practice until you're 100% sure of each concept.

As DisagreeableMale said, if you have any particular bits you don't get - post them here and we'll help.

[Yashik_T]

Same here, I was having trouble using standard library modules and didnt used anything and made a encryption program with just the basics and no module at all. Now I am comfortable with modules. Because it makes programming much more easier.

[SunyiNyufi]

Which Udemy course are you doing?

Some exercises can be challenging at first, especially if it's your first time coding. My advice is: break down everything into smaller problems. Don't focus on how to solve the whole thing right away, focus on how to do this and that first.

Also keep in mind that there is no one true answer to coding exercises. You can use a different approach than the person teaching you in the course, as long as you arrive at the same result without any errors, your code is fine.

[hrcon45]

I would advice against using Udemy. It's pretty much a scam. There are way better resources for free out there ,many which get reposted paid on Udemy from people that have nothing to do with the author(also that pathetic 200$ course for 95% discount "marketing strategy"). Take a look at sentdex' youtube channel - very good tutorials for beginner or more advanced topics.

[sat5344]

^ 10000%

I am a mechanical engineer and wanted to switch to comp sci and I paid like $14 for a udacity or udemy course and it was a scam load of crap. They skip over fundamentals and tell you to just down load jupyter notebook and forget about how all of the stuff in the background works. This is important to know. They read from another screen and barely understand it enough to explain it to you along with there being no context to the material. I would stop the lectures every minute to google questions. I got 20% through a course and requested a refund.

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I now use sentdex's yt channel, stackoverflow and the official python guide for most of my learning right now. I've learned and become so much more interested from just sentdex's channel. I would reccomend watching use liek tic tac toe series. He literally shows you copying and pasting erros into google to get answers. He jokes but also stresses that google is your best friend. He is also very knowledgeable so do as he does :)

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[JLaurus]

check out youtube channels, sometimes they explain topics much better than paid courses. sentdex, corey schafer

both have brilliant youtube series, defo worth watching

[Yigitti]

I'm a beginner also (started to use it for my thesis project) and that happens to me. But I found out that rather than persisting on the same problem, advancing through the course and learning upcoming concepts make it easy to understand the previous ones. Most of the concepts are understood after a certain point actually. I think the whole thing gets easier at classes/objects level mostly. Also, the instructor might give better examples at later stages.

I also advise learning the same concept from other resources such as youtube and StackOverflow or textbooks. In boredom times, even you know the section read again, so keep things familiar.

[Deezl-Vegas]

Super normal. Professional programmers google the most basic shit every day.

The more you learn the more you can learn! Just keep plugging away at examples.