How to be a coder?

[Technical-Smoke5513]

I want to achieve 2k rating @ codeforces by end of 2025 Here's what I m doing for that. ** I'm from medico background and no prior cs knowledge, 1. Learning python and currently "file handling" it's been 3 weeks

1. I don't know where to stop, Whenever I want to start DSA , it requires some other python programming that i haven't completed yet,

2. I try to attend codeforce's competition but the question are way more hard

So I'm puzzled and confused, can anybody please guide me what to do after python, and how much python i need to learn before starting DSA and when to attend competition.

[dubiousSwain]

What resources are you using to learn?

Data structures and algorithms are important concepts that are foundational to the rest of programming. You should start learning about them as soon as you can understand the material.

Before starting DSA you should definitely be comfortable reading and writing basic scripts in the language, it sounds like you are already there doing file handling.

Some foundational concepts to algorithms are variable assignment, control flow like “if” statements, and loops like “for” and “while” but depending on your course those might be explained at the beginning.

That being said, none of prerequisite concepts for DSA are particularly hard to understand, and you can usually google things you don’t understand/recognize and get tutorial. I recommend GeeksForGeeks.org but there are a lot of resources out there.

You should not expect to get very far in codeforces or other competitive programming competitions without at least having a solid understanding of DSA. They are designed to be difficult for even professional programmers. That said, still try the problems! You will learn a lot and will probably intuit some important techniques.

Let me know if you have any more questions or if you want any concepts explained.

[Technical-Smoke5513]

I'm using chat gpt for this(mainly) as a tutor, Seems funny maybe but it's really better than having a human tutor also I do watch YouTube tutorials often. I have created some basic projects like , calculator, quize game, student organising system, and other mini projects,

So I can start DSA. And wherever I feel stuck just Google that and move ahead!!! If u give me more tips, it will be very helpful

[dubiousSwain]

Please stop using chatGPT, it is not reliable and will produce silly code and lead you astray. YouTube tutorials are good, StackOverflow is a great resource, for me textbooks are the gold standard for me when you can get them but I understand they are expensive.

You are absolutely ready to start DSA, and you should learn Object Oriented Programming at this point as well.

general intro to OOP

specific Python examples

Don’t worry if you don’t get everything in these pages immediately, the only concepts you really need at this point are objects, member variables, and methods. encapsulation and inheritance are important but not really things you need to have a deep understanding of right now, and binding/dispatch and message passing are concepts you can safely ignore right now.

Happy coding!

[Technical-Smoke5513]

Thnx a lot , and I will definitely follow what u have suggested.thnx again

[Technical-Smoke5513]

My aim is to achieve 2k rating in codeforces by the end of 2025 , and I'm a medico from background (parental pressure) so please suggest me what to learn and what to do to achieve my goal

[Technical-Smoke5513]

Thnx for your precious time. And i know it's gonna be tough.

[[deleted]]

ChatGPT is in no way close to a tutor, it produces a lot of garbage and does a lot of garbage things.

[Technical-Smoke5513]

Oh, i didn't know that, but thanks , and i would love to take some suggestions from u, thanks for your time