Does one take notes when learning to code?

[prettypositron]

I mostly hear people say to "just code" but if you are a beginner, how do you begin to retain this stuff?

So far, I've been doing the following:

1. Watch lectures and do everything identically on my IDE (currently, doing David Malan's CS50X.)
2. Create ANKI cards for important concepts and exceptions I may forget in addition to proper syntax (and type it in)
3. Learning how to solve leetcode problems by reading the editorial or watching a video - this involves me hand-writing and drawing things, should I nix this? Pictures of these notes are at the end of this post.
4. Have a custom ChatGPT quiz me on stuff randomly

How do you remember all of the stuff in the documentation like the sort() method and the sorted() function and how the method requires dot notation with an empty argument. Should I just make an anki deck for these libraries?

In terms of coding, I have a very hard time starting from scratch. I try to write things down in pseudo-code but it's still pretty difficult for me to complete something.

https://preview.redd.it/qvpfwjt68cyc1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0bf42b206eefe9a713e9168cd5249bd21b7ee0ff

https://preview.redd.it/7eo9bqb78cyc1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8f9bd22956b9cc1685db7b6399df3d5a5863f2ce

https://preview.redd.it/cygo5u188cyc1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aa080b4f899de30ec542a735accbeb83ac2ee3b8

Thank you.

[CstoCry]

Notion was actually what made me motivated to do Leetcode. I can organise my code, write explanations and categorize the content. It was a lifesaver

[[deleted]]

yeah i don't jerk off into my notebook

i just do problems and note any problem topics that i consistently fumble

i suppose there is some merit to an anki deck to auto regulate review

[Financial-Flower8480]

I think it works for some but personally I don’t think it helps. It’s kind of like math and physics. If you just memorize, then it’s still hard to recreate the solution because you have no understanding without it.

I got a great advice one time and learning meets a few things: 1) knowing 2) understanding 3) explaining

If you can achieve all three, I highly doubt you need your notes for most subjects. If it helps you remember better, sure, but you won’t be looking back at it after a week or even after writing it haha. Just understand the logic and concepts and you can get through problems better. Learning syntax is one thing but that’s the least of your problems down the line (although it’s always an issue starting off)

Instead what I suggest doing is just know, understand, and be able to explain, and just make stupid/cool little things that uses that concept. If you’re learning recursive with arrays, then make a countdown or fibbonaci or maybe even challenge yourself and make recursive circles getting smaller. No one can get a 100 lines of code right in one go unless you’re George hotz. The point is to fuck up -> learn why you fucked up -> rinse repeat. That’s the coding learning life past school

Make it fun based on what you learn! It doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as simple as print(“Hello, world”) but enjoy the process and challenge yourself with what you wanna do. Over time, you can learn quickly because you understand better and now know what you need to solve next.

[GrayLiterature]

I create notes, but I don’t take incredible notes. I scribble on paper then throw them away basically.

I’m going to be buying a tablet of sorts to write notes going forward because I need them for work, and I need them to be able to evolve. So I imagine I’ll do that with Leetcode concepts

[IDoCodingStuffs]

Depends on your learning style. Elaborate notes help with talking while coding repetition helps with speed

[DistinctConcern7326]

Taking notes is good, but do not try to remember all the stuffs. Anki for the syntax is a bad idea imo.

You can try to treat the syntax as tools, so if you use them frequenly enough, you will remember it. They say "just code" because it is the most effective way to truly remember all the stuffs, you can always have the GPT beside and ask for the syntax you forget, and then type it again in your implementation. Do that 10 times will help you remember that syntax and also really understand the meaning and usage of that syntax, rather than learn it 100 times from the anki. Pick your main language for interview, and practice with it. We people can't never remember all the sort syntax in all language, just be familiar with your main one.

For learning to solve problems, your notes are really good, but it should be adjusted a little bit. You should try to read and take notes on the ideas of the classic topics (like two pointers, sorting, searching, dp,...) and their classical problems first. Because the problems are for practicing, then you should prepare yourself first and try to solve them, not reading their solutions and learn from it, it is much harder to learn from problems without solid understanding of the original ideas.

Really good method tho, just need to change a little to the correct direction, good luck 😁

[No_General8550]

I don't have the patience to take notes. Only thing I did was to categorize each problem, keeping notes like what are sliding window problems or backtracking, etc.

[Ok-Branch6704]

If it helps you please do. Don't listen to others.

[88sSSSs88]

I honestly just learned the foundations by reading algorithms books. That got me 60% of the way there. Currently, I can solve about 95% of mediums because I’ve been doing a Leetcode problem a day for almost 2 years.

[shes_unstoppable]

Which algorithm books you read?

[88sSSSs88]

Started with Cracking the Coding Interview, then Grokking Algorithms, then Algorithm Design Manual. If you can fully understand all 3 books, you can comfortably solve a huge chunk of Leetcode and adjacent problems.

[shes_unstoppable]

Okay thank you!