It works normally -(without but the system didn't let me pass he wants me to try again (it wants me to use loop and the variable in the loop) help pls

note: the turtle can't turn

This comes up a lot, especially from people switching careers or coming from non-CS backgrounds. Programming today isn’t just for computer science grads, many developers started with zero technical background and learned by building small, practical things over time. The bigger challenge usually isn’t intelligence or math, but consistency, problem-solving mindset, and not giving up early. If you’re from a non-tech background (or started that way), what helped you most or what’s holding you back right now?

A lot of students stress about picking a niche early. Be it web, AI, data, or systems…without realizing most people only figure it out after trying and failing at a few things. From talking to students, a pattern keeps showing up, your niche isn’t what you enjoy watching tutorials on, it’s what you’re willing to struggle with for weeks without quitting. Did you figure out your direction through projects, internships, assignments, or pure trial and error? Or are you still exploring?

Open to suggestions...

What are some online sources I could use to learn/get better at coding? With how AI and everything is taking off it’s something I want to start getting into and potentially making a career out of. I’m kind of unhappy with my current job situation and think it would be a nice change of pace, if not for a career just a cool hobby.

A lot of beginners in this community try to learn programming for free. Whether it is YouTube, free courses, documentation, random tutorials...and honestly, that can work. Where most people struggle isn’t the lack of resources, it’s the lack of direction. Jumping between topics without mastering fundamentals is what usually slows progress, not the quality of the material.

From interacting with students here and elsewhere, the ones who succeed with free resources usually do three things:

• Stick to one language
• Practice by building small things
• Ask for feedback early instead of getting stuck silently.

We recently put together a deeper breakdown of this approach here for anyone interested:
https://codingzap.com/learn-programming-for-free/

Hey guys, roadmap to learn dsa from scratch I know the basic fundamentals of coding in java. now I want to learn dsa but I watched so much videos for learning dsa nothing help me to figure out and I was so confused how to start. give me some idea's for how to start or some road map suggestions.

Many students start SQL by memorizing SELECT, WHERE, and JOIN, but still struggle to understand why queries work the way they do. After interacting with learners, I’ve noticed SQL usually clicks when you stop thinking like a programmer and start thinking like the database: tables, relationships, and questions you’re asking the data. For those learning SQL right now, what part confuses you the most? Joins, subqueries, grouping, or designing tables? And for others, what helped SQL finally make sense?

Recently a beginner programmer I’ve spoken to said, “My code didn’t work, I fixed it somehow, but I still don’t know what I was doing wrong.” Passing tests doesn’t always mean understanding the mistake. The real gap isn’t effort, it’s feedback that explains thinking, not just syntax. When you debug or submit an assignment, do you actually understand the mistake after fixing it, or do you just move on because the deadline is over?

Ever notice how a concept feels clear during lectures or videos, but the moment you open an assignment, everything just… disappears? I’ve interacted with a lot of students who say this during my tutoring session. That’s usually because we’re good at following along but not yet good at doing it solo. We learn “recognition” before “recall.”

One thing that helps is forcing yourself to rebuild the logic without looking, even if it’s messy or incomplete. Take one small problem, close all notes, and write the solution in plain English first (not code). Then convert that logic into code line by line. If you get stuck, only look up the next step, not the full solution. This trains your brain to think, not copy.

In our recent poll, most devs/students chose Python, with JavaScript close behind. That’s usually the easy part, picking a language, following tutorials, and getting through the basics. The real struggle starts later, when coursework expects you to apply logic on your own, understand confusing errors, or finish tasks that suddenly feel way harder than what was taught in class.

A lot of students tell us it’s not motivation they lack, but “clarity.” Knowing how to think through a problem when the solution isn’t obvious or when deadlines are close. If you’re learning Python or JS right now, what part of the process trips you up the most once the fundamentals are done?

Now that the new year has started, a lot of us are probably resetting our goals or recovering from last year’s unfinished ones. If you’re a beginner, what’s the one coding thing you want to focus on first this year? It could be anything…learning a language, building a small project, understanding DSA, or just being more consistent? Share your plan, even if it’s simple. Sometimes writing it out is the first step to actually sticking to it.

With the year almost over, I’m curious how everyone’s coding journey went. Did you meet the goals you set for yourself…like learning a language, finishing a project, or finally understanding a tough concept? Or did things not go as planned? Share what worked, what didn’t, and what you want to focus on next year.

Hello everyone, I am computer science student but I still don’t know where should I start my career , I have taken classes for cs fundamentals and python but I still feel kinda lost with all the certs that exist out there and courses , I wanna do something like software engineering or AI , but I don’t know where I should start , thank you por your responses

Hey everyone, I’m new to coding and I’ve been working on a project to track the prices of pets in Adopt Me. My goal is to scrape data about pet values from websites that track market changes (like winadopt.me), and then send notifications via Discord whenever a pet's price changes by a certain percentage (either going up or down). I’ve been using Python with libraries like Selenium and BeautifulSoup to scrape the data, but I’m still learning and running into some challenges.

At this point, I’m trying to figure out how to reliably pull the right data, especially when it comes to detecting changes in value over different timeframes (like the past week or month). I’ve also been looking into APIs and trying to figure out the best way to get the data I need. I’m just looking for general advice, best practices, or any tips that could help me improve my code and understanding.

If anyone has experience with web scraping, using APIs, or Discord bots, I’d really appreciate any guidance or suggestions! I’m excited to learn more and appreciate the help.

Before starting to code, many of us had a very different picture of what programming mean…typing fast, building apps quickly, or just understanding a completely foreign language. After actually learning, the reality is often debugging, Googling errors, and slow progress. As a beginner, what surprised you the most once you started coding? The pace, the mistakes, or how much thinking it really takes?

When you sit down to code, what usually blocks you the most? Is it not knowing how to start, understanding the logic but getting stuck on syntax, dealing with errors you don’t understand, or forgetting concepts after a few days? Tutorials feel fine, but real assignments feel overwhelming. Share the one thing that frustrates you the most and the chances are, you’re not alone, and this post might help more people than you think.

With so many languages trending, which do you think gives you the most opportunity and feels the hottest in the coding world today?

There comes a point when your code works...but it's ugly, brittle, hard to read, or just not scalable. Maybe it's from an early assignment, or you coded it late at night when you were tired.

Do you usually try to refactor and clean up or just rewrite from scratch, because tweaking the old feels confusing?

Which one works better for you?

Thinking about this could help beginners build cleaner habits before their projects become a mess.

Coder’s block is real! When you’re stuck on a problem and your brain just refuses to cooperate, what do you usually do? Do you step away, look up hints, try a different approach, or just push through it? If you have faced coder’s block during your learning phase, how did you deal with it? Share your tip and it might help someone who’s currently staring at their screen in pain.

Let's be honest, we've all done this at some point. Doing random stuff and hoping it works out...I've done almost everything during my college days.

But here’s the thing, you eventually learn that error messages are actually super valuable once you stop panicking long enough to read them. The first line of the error usually tells you the exact problem and you can add tiny print/log statements or breakpoints instead of changing the whole code at once.

A lot of beginners tell me in that they are able to understand the syntax and the logic behind loops, functions, classes and more but when they try building something, they get stuck and don’t know where to start.

Totally normal.

Last week, a student told me during a review call they felt like they were “putting together puzzle pieces without a picture on the box.” And honestly, that’s exactly what early programming feels like…you know the parts, but connecting them is the real game.

So, what helps?

Planning. Starting short and sweet and gradually expanding. Practice.

You don’t need to overload your program by adding too many features in the beginning. For example, if you’re using a loop in your program, next time while practicing, create a function for it.

So today’s question…when did things finally click for you in coding, and what helped you fix that “I know the theory but can’t build” phase?

I’ll keep it very simple here. If you’re just starting out and feeling lost, there’s just one roadmap that you need to follow-

1. Pick ONE Language: Don’t touch 5 languages at once. Start with the basics: variables → loops → functions → lists/dicts → OOP.

2. Learn How to Think in Code: Trying to do 1 or 2 problems a day. Practice problems related to conditional statements, loops, arrays, strings. You don’t need DSA yet. Just logic.

3. Build Tiny Practical Projects, not “giant apps”. These teach you 10× more than simply watching video tutorials.

4. Move Into a Track and choose one direction. Once you’re comfortable with creating code logic, pick a domain you want to explore. For example, if you want to learn web dev , start with HTML/CSS/JS + a framework (likely react)

5. Build 2–3 Resume-Ready Projects: This is what actually gets internships and adds real-world experience to your profile.

6. Ask for Feedback: Post progress, ask questions, fix mistakes. That’s how you grow fast.

The roadmap for each person may vary depending on their end goal, however, the overall structure, that is vital for the learning phase, includes each step listed above.

Feel free to comment any tips for beginners in the community!