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Does everyone struggle to learn code?

Hazelnut

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It's very hard. I'm at code bootcamp and it is a serious challenge. Everyone in my group has struggled at some point. But we worked through it.
 
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AustinS28

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Of course few companies/products require OO code.

I like to think as imperative as automatic transmission car and oo as manual transmission.

Does it matter to your delivery business if your unable to drive manual?

I would strongly argue OOP will make a developer/development teams's life/lives a lot easier.

Let's take an example.

I have 100 tables in my database.

Every single table shares one trait - a created, and updated time stamp, they are universal between all models.

Creating a base class on my backend that all of my models inherit from will save me from writing the code to add the created and updated time stamp 100 times. I only have to write it once.

Practices like this ensure a few things.

1. If there is a bug, I can look in one spot to fix it.
2. I'm not duplicating code, which means less work for me.
3. Readability is easier when breaking things out into separate classes, which means again, easier debugging, and easier to have someone else work on the code with you.
4. Easily scalable. Abstracting out logic means faster turn around on features. Say I have to make a bunch of API calls to different resources to fetch data. If I can write the logic to make the calls, and store the returned data, and have the classes with the different calls inherit from this class so that you just need to give it an endpoint and it does the work for you - it's much better than writing the methods to call and store the data every single time you have a new source.
 

Games247

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I'm learning JavaScript on Codecademy, and so far I've been understanding most of it. However, I'm currently completely lost on an Advanced Objects project.

Does everyone struggle to learn code? I feel really dumb right now, and not sure if I should just look up the solution and skip ahead.
I think three months of daily effort is the time frame to feel like your not drowning any time you code.
 

Jadpapi

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i got html, and CSS quick , and when i got to javascript, i realized how hard programming it so i stopped for a week, but my obsession won't stop me from thinking about it, so i asked my friend who is a programmer what is the best way to learn? he gave me a simple project to do, i got down the html, and css part fast, and when i got to the functions,a dn java script i googled the problem for 4 hours, and found answer, and i finished the project, and he liked my code structure , and will send me more small projects to build for $$. just do projects,and you will learn along the way.
 
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backslash

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I'm learning JavaScript on Codecademy, and so far I've been understanding most of it. However, I'm currently completely lost on an Advanced Objects project.

Does everyone struggle to learn code? I feel really dumb right now, and not sure if I should just look up the solution and skip ahead.
Yes we all struggled. Just like you once struggled with basic maths or a foreign language. Coding is like a mix of those two.
The good thing is that the building blocks are similar across most programming languages. Variables, functions, operators and so on. After 13 years as a developer the tactic of try, read and fail and master one concept at a time is still how I learn new things. Solve real problems is always more inspiring :)
 

babyballer

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I'm learning JavaScript on Codecademy, and so far I've been understanding most of it. However, I'm currently completely lost on an Advanced Objects project.

Does everyone struggle to learn code? I feel really dumb right now, and not sure if I should just look up the solution and skip ahead.

I have been programming since I was 7 years old. What I do find is that most people either get it or don't. If you don't have the innate talent for it, then your time is best served with working with what you have.
 

OzzieMan

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I'm learning JavaScript on Codecademy, and so far I've been understanding most of it. However, I'm currently completely lost on an Advanced Objects project.

Does everyone struggle to learn code? I feel really dumb right now, and not sure if I should just look up the solution and skip ahead.

I know how you feel about the struggle.

I have gone through a dozen different Javascript on Udemy and elsewhere, the basics are always fine... but as concepts get more complex, it starts giving me brain-fog!

Up until i came across "Practical Javascript" course by Gordon! It's easily the BEST course out there specially if you're new to programming. Gordon is a teacher first and a programmer later. The way he teaches Javascript is simply refreshing, unconventional and brilliantly simple :)

Do check it out here: Practical JavaScript
 
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csalvato

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Yes, it's hard. Mostly because we aren't wired to learn math and engineering the way we are wired to learn things like language.

It's a difficult process of purposefully hitting a wall, taking a break, and going back to the wall again (and realizing the wall isn't there anymore).

Everyone learning coding needs to read this book, even if they are not struggling:


This will be a very rewarding exercise for anyone learning, though.
 

ZF Lee

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Yes, it's hard. Mostly because we aren't wired to learn math and engineering the way we are wired to learn things like language.

It's a difficult process of purposefully hitting a wall, taking a break, and going back to the wall again (and realizing the wall isn't there anymore).

Everyone learning coding needs to read this book, even if they are not struggling:


This will be a very rewarding exercise for anyone learning, though.
I haven't finished the whole book, but one takeaway I liked was about getting tons of feedback, and considering the various elements of the equations or functions every step of learning process.

Very relevant with my Forecasting unit in college, where I'm learning R.
It was great to have tutorial sessions full of playing around with sample datasets and forecast method codes. I also used Datacamps' daily practices (works like flashcards) to drill down the fundamental bits.

We had two coding projects throughout the semester, where we would take a data set from some online source, run it through some forecast models, and write up some policy recommendations.

As the weeks when by, we would learn various concepts like training-test sets, cross-validation, exponential methods, and our lecturer and tutors would point out lots of deficiencies in our code or report approaches, from the general consultation sessions.

Very very vigorous, but I found it nice that I could learn new things every week.
 

Jacob_Losco

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Does everyone struggle to learn code? I feel really dumb right now, and not sure if I should just look up the solution and skip ahead.
Honestly, feeling dumb is a part of it. Learning code is really a process of trial by fire, learning what works and what does not. Codecademy is a great place to learn, but if your goal is web development, "The Odin Project" is a great free website for learning the ins and outs of web dev.
Don't let your struggle make you feel inadequate. EVERYONE feels it.
 
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ravenspear

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:rofl: @Tourmaline @Ubu_roi - Agreed PHP is a f'ing nightmare. I am learning it in combo with Jquery for a month now, and it feels like I am running in deep water.

Can you recommend an alternative more efficient route, other than PHP, for full-stack development?
PHP is actually decently easy to learn, but it is one of the less robust languages imo. It was sort of hacked together over many years rather than designed under a set of clear organizing principles.
 

Brewmacker

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PHP is actually decently easy to learn, but it is one of the less robust languages imo. It was sort of hacked together over many years rather than designed under a set of clear organizing principles.

What would you recommend instead of? Javascript?
 
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MattL

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What would you recommend instead of? Javascript?

Would I be wrong in assuming that each programming language has its use, and that asking questions such as the one above might not be the most productive question to ask?

Programming languages are just tools used to get something done.

Why not visualize what you want to accomplish, then work your way back from there?
 

ravenspear

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If you don't have the innate talent for it, then your time is best served with working with what you have.
Sorry but that's bullshit (at least for most people if you are reasonably intelligent). Get into the growth mindset and limitations like that fall away.
 

ravenspear

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What would you recommend instead of? Javascript?
If you are working in web dev then you need javascript since that is the only language on the front end. You also need at least one back end language. That could be PHP, or another one. Some other backend choices would be Java, Ruby, .NET, etc. You can also use javascript on the backend with nodejs, but there is a bit more configuration involved to do that than some of the others.
 
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0dysseus

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It takes a lot of patience. Learning to code will be one of the most frustrating experiences of your life, but it might be very rewarding when you overcome it.

Give it time, you'll get there.
 

100ToOne

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Dude, learning to code teaches you business skills lol, one of them is patience for long periods of time.

Just started learning wordpress dev. a week ago, and I got stuck using gulp watch.

18 hours of trying to fix it with no success. Nothing whatsoever. I was about to quit using a computer for life at that point.

Went back to the video, I had put the gulpfile.js in the wrong directory. Took me 30 seconds to fix it.

That's not even code syntax problems lol, so keep going and have patience of a dead man.

Oh and it kind of reminded me of Maths. For me Maths had one equation to pass the exams with high marks.

Do every god damn question you can find in the textbook and pastpapers until one moment everything becomes clear. I don't know when exactly, but I know I've already done at least 300 questions.
 

dauntless

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I am a C# programmer for VR/AR applications. I started coding with Java in college and I was never the brightest kid during my entire academic career. So, to keep things realistic... programming is no cakewalk, you need to learn (and understand in depth) what are variables, methods, functions, properties...etc.., and put newly learned knowledge into practice. It does not matter if the practice exercise is boring or uninteresting (you need to have a true interest in programming to avoid lack of interest), and then you keep practicing and applying new knowledge, every.single.time.
The most important skills programmers have are analytical thinking and problem solving skills. You should be comfortable with wanting to find a solution to a problem, and even if your implied solution doesn’t fix the problem or crates the idea...you go back to the drawing board and design another solution.
I think the biggest reason why people consider programming to be difficult is because they think they have to be poking at their keyboards non stop and writing lines of code seamlessly. No, programmers spend 98% of their time researching about code and 2% typing(or copy/pasting) it.
Understanding code is like reading the blueprint of a home, you cannot start building a home if you cannot understand a blueprint and it’s foundation.
I suggest you get into theory, and start with Java or Python. Once you are comfortable with any of these, coding in any other language should come naturally to you. Only the syntaxes are different.
 
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MaciekWado

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This so much. My best friend from like 1st grade. He was this gifted guy and a few others. Literally slept through classes and destroyed everyone. There is a certain genetic gift that makes people good at this type of stuff naturally. Logic, Physic, Math. Anyone can do it, but if you ain’t gifted like these people, you gotta compensate hard with struggle and time.

It is better to bet on your strengths. My friend I was talking about is not an entrepreneur, but a software engineer. Life is easy for him because he bet on his strengths.

Not gonna lie, find something you are good at. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Don't try to make a weakness a strength.
And how you measure this giftedness? I'm for example person who cannot retain knowledge from lecture. But if I read something I can pick it up fairly quickly. So basically I also slept trough my classes and was in top 3 students. Many seeing it told it is unfair yet I think many things come to me easy because I was interesting and constantly read new topics. "Logic, Physic, Math," I think most of it is due to your experience, some people if they parents think logically mirror this from younger years and as it is related to Physic and math automatically they are picking it quicker. It's like programming languages when you learn the first one next comes easier.
 

MaciekWado

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There are 2 types of brains, in a nutshell - brains that make "deep connections" and brains that make "wide connections."

People who are capable of making "deep connections" generally find coding very easy and can more easily master technical work. I belong in this category (the most extreme example are people with some autism spectrum disorder, a condition I don't have, thankfully).

People who are capable of making "wide connections" develop a variety of interests and talents and are more sociable, but not as skilled at doing "deep work." You might belong in this category if coding doesn't come to you naturally.

If coding is difficult for you, consider doing some more socially engaging work as part of your business. It doesn't matter how your brain is structured, there are suitable businesses for both groups.

like how some people are naturally better at math...there's nothing you can do about it. Innate talent is real - it means some people improve or learn certain subjects much more quickly than others. (Though I agree "passion is bullshit")

"There are 2 types of brains, in a nutshell - brains that make "deep connections" and brains that make "wide connections."" sorry but this smell little pseudoscience. Do you have any papers for this? In the learning process, you can easily and 99% of people do deep connection(understanding deeply for example how they breath) and then wide conn. breathing giving me oxygen to my brain.

"Innate talent is real" years of scientific conflict and disputes and this comes from brainiacs people probably more specialized and experienced in this topic than you and me and cannot find 100% evidence and you based on your anecdotal evidence can? common.
It all depends on how people learn, you can lecture me about code years and I will grab more by 1 hour reading than years of listening.
 

Kraelog

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Java Developer working at big blue atm. I took a full-time course of 6 months to learn Java 8 & get my OCA.
The first two months I felt my brain exploding and I couldn't figure out wtf I was doing.
Month 3 & 4 the fog slowly lifted and I began to see the why instead of just the how of code.
Month 5 & 6, I can visualize a basic architecture and build the application with the correct patterns.

It is a radical new way of thinking for your brain, so it is perfectly normal you struggle a LOT in the beginning. Keep hammering at it, at some point you will feel the "click" and it will all start making sense.
 
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Leo Hendrix

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I think you should connect your learning to a real-world project ( whatever that interests/motivates you).

But maybe it's not a motivational issue that you are going through.

Maybe you could look into software design principles and how it all fits together. That might help you make sense of it. OOP and other programming isn't easy, I'm not a coder nor a programmer and I doubt I will become a highly skilled one, but if I can find or develop an over-arching design strategy and real-world motivation that ties everything together, I find that helps.

I
 

MaciekWado

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Everyone learning coding needs to read this book, even if they are not struggling:


This will be a very rewarding exercise for anyone learning, though.

Just read it. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend that book. It was painfully stretched. You can easily grasp essence in 3 pages, not 300.
Some reference was from websites articles not very scientific.
I was thinking that maybe because I'm not a native speaker I have a hard time understanding it but there are many similar points on Amazon. Second Even if my English output isn't best, the input isn't an issue even in most complex concepts. Programming/physic/economics.
In one sentence description, I would say the author take fairly easy concepts, complicated them, stretched, and start selling, good business though.
My two cents, when I struggle with something, feel dumb, just start to learn other topics. For example, if I stuck in some programming problems, I go to read about economy or marketing. Learning something hard, immerse myself with few explanations, sometimes reading different angle instant click appear.
A better position would be “How Not to be Wrong. The Power of Mathematical Thinking”
 

csalvato

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Just read it. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend that book. It was painfully stretched. You can easily grasp essence in 3 pages, not 300.
Some reference was from websites articles not very scientific.
I was thinking that maybe because I'm not a native speaker I have a hard time understanding it but there are many similar points on Amazon. Second Even if my English output isn't best, the input isn't an issue even in most complex concepts. Programming/physic/economics.
In one sentence description, I would say the author take fairly easy concepts, complicated them, stretched, and start selling, good business though.
My two cents, when I struggle with something, feel dumb, just start to learn other topics. For example, if I stuck in some programming problems, I go to read about economy or marketing. Learning something hard, immerse myself with few explanations, sometimes reading different angle instant click appear.
A better position would be “How Not to be Wrong. The Power of Mathematical Thinking”

Sorry it didn't help you. :(

I would say that the biggest benefit I could see someone taking from it as a non-programmer-trying-to-learn-to-code is the idea of focused + diffuse thinking.

This is a very important concept in engineering, that most people miss. The book does go into a lot of detail on it – probably more than it should – but that concept is something everyone should note and understand how/why it works.

Just my take though.
 
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MaciekWado

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Sorry it didn't help you. :(

I would say that the biggest benefit I could see someone taking from it as a non-programmer-trying-to-learn-to-code is the idea of focused + diffuse thinking.

This is a very important concept in engineering, that most people miss. The book does go into a lot of detail on it – probably more than it should – but that concept is something everyone should note and understand how/why it works.

Just my take though.
Totaly agree, but let be honest you can grab notion of it in one 10min video about how to learn.
In my opinion the concept of chunking she so badly complicated than many either understand it very shallow or be completely confused. What I'm saying if this book was created as a 3 pages article and with simple ideas I would call it masterpiece. I'm starting incorporating Feynman's trick. Powerful yet simple idea.
 

csalvato

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Totaly agree, but let be honest you can grab notion of it in one 10min video about how to learn.
In my opinion the concept of chunking she so badly complicated than many either understand it very shallow or be completely confused. What I'm saying if this book was created as a 3 pages article and with simple ideas I would call it masterpiece. I'm starting incorporating Feynman's trick. Powerful yet simple idea.

I found the full book useful, but maybe the blinkist or summary page is enough for most people. :)
 

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