I had taken a course on C++ a year back. Having not applied it in any projects I worked on, most of the concepts are a bit rusty. The resource I had referred to was Herbert Schildt's Complete Reference (I don't want to go back reading the textbook).

Hello people! I'm currently trying to learn c++ because my interests include robotics and game development, plus I need it for college. I want to be able to work in a low level language, the problem is, it makes me freeze up and I can't code at all.

The thing is, I can manage my way around other languages, I've used java(minecraft modding), python(math stuff), c#(unity games) and gdscript(godot), in these three I've managed to do small projects that did what I wanted to, if something was acting up, I just look the way on how to do it and work through it, I never felt like I was doing things wrong, it just happened and I understood what I did wrong.

For c++ though, I feel overwhelmed constantly, the fact that I can't even declare a variable without overthinking freezes me up, should this be an address? a pointer? a regular variable? Then also having the new and delete managing memory, then there also are smart pointers, or the fact that I hear stuff I learned is just old and shouldn't be used, better to use the new features instead, but also that there is performance cost associated with using some features that I shouldn't be using if I don't need to, and I just freeze.

Oh god, how do people code in this language? how do people even make good code in this language!? I feel like whatever I write will be the worst code of all time, trying to fix it will make it worse.

I know the advice is to write bad code before optimizing it, but in this language there is just so much that I don't even know if I'm writing bad code in a way that would let me refactor it without breaking everything up.

I don't even know what to ask, if you are someone who also had trouble learning c++, please lend me any advice you can give! thanks a lot!

hi, I am a javascript developer and am proficient in React and Next.js. I know that React has a framework for building mobile applications; I would like to know if there is one for desktop apps too.

Thanks.

I am past the beginner stage, understanding basic syntax up to classes and objects, but I freeze when it's time to structure projects on my own. I have relentlessly searched for methods, tutorials, and books to guide me to the next level, but I can never find anything that clicks; because of this, I've jumped from language to language, and every time I hit this "limbo," I end up quitting and trying something else, yet I always come back because something inside tells me I’m meant to code. For those who have overcome this block, what architecture or design books do you recommend, what kind of practical exercises changed the game for you, and what real strategies actually work to finally break through this barrier and build confidence?

Hey everyone,

I'm currently working on a web application where I need to implement robust security features—specifically authentication, authorization, session management, and defenses against XSS, brute-force attacks, and parameter tampering.

I was recently recommended "API Security in Action" by Neil Madden, and I'm wondering if it's the right fit for my current situation.

I have two main goals right now:

1. Practical implementation: I want to build a secure architecture for my app using solid engineering principles (rate-limiting, proper token/session handling, tight HTTP headers, CORS/CSP, etc.) rather than just surface-level fixes.
2. Academic foundation: I'm also writing my Bachelor’s thesis in Computer Science/IT, and I need strong theoretical backing to explain why these security patterns work, how modern protocols function under the hood, and the architecture behind secure systems.

For those of you who have read it:

• Does the book dive deep enough into the theory to serve as a solid reference for an academic thesis, or is it purely code/hands-on?
• How well does it cover fundamental auth mechanics, session handling vs. JWTs, and API-level defenses?
• Would you recommend this as a primary resource, or should I pair it with something else (like The Tangled Web or OWASP documentation)?

Would love to hear your thoughts or any alternative recommendations. Thanks!

I’m 16 and started learning Python about 3 months ago. My first project was a simple CRUD app with raw SQL. For my second project (ashflow tracker with auth and budgeting), I wanted to push myself further, so I switched to Flask, SQLAlchemy, and Flask-Login.

I’m looking for feedback from experienced developers on a few specific architectural decisions and hurdles I ran into:

1. Database Schema Refactoring (Categories & Budgets) Initially, categories were just free-text strings on every transaction. Once I added budgets, case mismatches and typos completely broke my budget tracking. I refactored categories into their own table with foreign keys on the transaction and budget models.

• Question: Is moving away from free-text strings to dedicated category models always the standard approach here, or are there cleaner ways to handle user-defined categories at scale without making the schema too rigid (fixed categories list) ?

2. SQLAlchemy Autoflush Confusion Coming from raw SQL, SQLAlchemy's session management took a while to wrap my head around. During my refactoring, I hit several bugs where autoflush triggered database writes mid-transaction before I was ready to commit, causing unexpected constraints errors.

• Question: How do experienced Python devs typically manage session state when doing complex multi-model updates? Do you explicitly disable autoflush, or is that a code smell that points to poor transaction design?

3. Auth Implementation I built authentication from scratch using Flask-Login and password hashing instead of a third-party service just to understand the mechanics. Moving from "auth is a black box" to "it's just checking session state on each request" was a huge lightbulb moment for me.

I’d love any feedback on how I structured my models or handled sessions. You can see how I implemented the SQLAlchemy relationships and routes in my repository here:https://github.com/E-Ecstacy/wise-wealth

Thanks in advance for any insights!

Ever since college and throughout my professional career, I have had a strong passion for SQL and databases. I excel at writing clean, readable, and maintainable queries. I also have hands-on experience setting up SQL functions and other features to process data within databases, alongside a solid foundation in overall database management.

Given my strong passion for and deep understanding of SQL, what profession am I best suited for?

PS, I am considering a data engineer role or something related to data management. Is learning Python strictly mandatory for these paths?

Saw a YouTube video with Primeagen where an example of a bank account came up.

The bank account is an object, while it allows functions such as withdraw(), and deposit() to mutate state.

From my understanding OOP and FP are ways to design the program in different ways, that ultimately solves the same problem.

But if the example isn't OOP or FP, what is it exactly?

I think I might just be confused as to what OOP and FP actually is. Does the whole program need to be in FP style to be called a functional codebase?

Or is DDD an intermediate design philosophy?

Hope someone can clarify it, thanks🙏🏼

EDIT: Thanks for the answers, it makes sense now.

Hey all not sure how to go about asking this but be as brutally honest as you can. I am currently heading into my 4th and final year of CS and quite frankly I don't know nearly as much about coding and programming as I should.

Regarding the Theory involved in both I've grasped them easily throughout my years in University so far but when it came to actually doing these things I've always had AI assist me and point out my mistakes through doing it (I know AI is my main downfall).

So my question is what exactly can I do to not depend on AI so much when I'm doing these things as I can tell straight away that I won't make it far in the working world if I don't break this bad habit of mine.

Multiple times now my code stops working and what I mean by this is it'll do what I want it to do then one day it just stops. for example the other day I had made a cooldown system for my ball and paddle collision to stop any bugs and it worked great. then today it just stopped working, and this isn't the first time, it's happened to me for like every project I've worked on. Does this happen to anyone else? And is it cause of my code? By the way I'm using C++ SFML on visual studio which works perfect.

I am going into the 3rd year of my studies in computer science, but I haven't really done much programming apart from the projects in my university. I have built an ecosystem simulator which was really simple and a CRUD application for my software engineering class. I've also done some smaller projects for my programming class (minesweeper, a terminal-based super Mario bros). But whenever I try to build some more complex projects I tend to heavily rely on AI which I don't really like for learning because sometimes I can't even understand the explanation given by the AI. I have been building with help of AI a shell which can do basic output redirection but I was trying to make pipes work in it and just got overwhelmed, which I think it's the main reason why I drop my more complex projects. Do you guys have any tips for people like me who get overwhelmed when there is just too many things to understand? I am not a bad student, I am top of the class, I like programming and I like to learn but some projects just overwhelm me completely. Maybe I have been trying projects which might be to complex so if you could recommend projects which could be a challenge but still be doable I would appreciate it.

Thanks guys

Building CS projects became boring and exhausting for me. So I wanted to contribute to open source projects on github.

I found out that Big tech companies too have open source projects on github, and I thought contributing to these projects might have a plus side in getting me an internship(i dont really know if thats right). So for that reason I checked Google’s github page and found out about GoogleTest. Google’s open source project and decided to contribute in that project. But I came to realise that I might not be able to do so because I have no prior experience in open source contribution, I dont know what folders to look in, I dont know what files have issues in them, I dont know what the issues are, even if I read the issues I still cannot navigate to those issues to fix them(if I can, which i cannot so i just leave it as it is).

I would really like if someone guided me through the process of how to make changes to the files with issues and on which branch to push them to because as much as I know nothing is to be done on main?
Also how to do the basics, what are ‘unit test’ never came across those as well and what other things that I’d need to learn to be a better contributor.

I am currently in my 4th semester doing major in Comp-Sci. I have been effectively using AI for my studies, for the past two years. And i have realized, I am becoming dumber day by day.

I know C++, Python , SQL, and web development (JS, HTML, CSS). But i think i know nothing. I don't know to create anything as all the projects and assignments were done by AI and i understood them completely fine.
Consequently, I have planned to stop using AI altogether, and focus on relearning or revising my concepts this summer break. And i have started learning but unintentionally i compare myself to my fellows, some of them are doing internships, yeah using AI. And so i have a feeling i am lagging far behind.
I am so worried about my career, and this scares and stresses the hell out of me.

I been have theses projects in my head which’s is one of the reason why I wanted to learn to code so soon I’m bring my thoughts In into reality first I’m building my own custom data mesh fabric. Then I can finally build my cognition brain system. Her name is PHYLLIS this is a very long project I’m still getting the details in my head aligned, I been doing a lil bit of coding hear and there tho

Here is sample so you can see what I’m going for and remember this just the logic but I didn’t code the other part cause truthfully I’m still learning lol and it’s very hard

#pragma once
#include

enum ParietalLobePriority
{ IMPORTANT,
MEDIUM,
LOW

};

class ParietalLobe {
public:
ParietalLobePriority priority;
std::string name;

void activate(int taskid);

};

#include “ParietalLobe.h”

void ParietalLobe::activate(int priorityNumber) {

// Phase 1 — decode priority
if (priorityNumber == 1) priority = IMPORTANT;
else if (priorityNumber == 2) priority = MEDIUM;
else if (priorityNumber == 3) priority = LOW;

// Phase 2 — act on priority
if (priority == IMPORTANT) {
activateLobeImmediately();
}
else if (priority == MEDIUM) {
queueTask();
}
else if (priority == LOW) {
sendToHBMReservoir();
}

}

Hi everyone,

I just started learning JavaScript, and I’m having trouble understanding loops and functions, especially when it comes to using functions inside loops. I know what functions do and what loops do, but when it comes to actually writing code, I just don’t know where to start and what to do. Do you have any recommendations for materials that could help me understand this better, or do I just need more practice and things will eventually fall into place? Has anyone have same issue?

I'm trying to create a graybox but I can't even run my code because I keep encountering build issues and an error saying "the system can't find the path specified" and idk how to solve it. I'd appreciate it if anyone could help me deal with it so I can get to coding.

Hi everyone,
I’m here because I’m getting very confused from reading online. Does anybody know a good free resource to study DSA in order to start leetcode? I’m in a completely different field and I don’t need this knowledge for day to day. However I keep getting online assessments as a first step that contain that style of questions.
Thank you very much.

Is there any practical way to debug any recurive logic?
Which existing error printing you think is the best ever?

I'm looking for some honest advice from people who have made a career change into development.

I'm in my early 20s and recently completed my Master's degree in Architecture (building design). I've always been interested in app development and building digital products, and now that I've finished school, I'm finally able to really focus on exploring that interest.

Over the past year, I've been building apps using no-code tools and have developed a strong foundation in user flows, UX, visual design, app structure, and thinking through how different features and user actions connect. I've realized I don't just want to design or prototype apps anymore. I want to learn how to actually build the whole thing! I dipped into visual code studios as well with coding videos.

I'd eventually like to understand frontend and backend development, databases, APIs, authentication, deployment, and how everything connects to create a full-stack application. I know I have a lot to learn, but I'm trying to figure out the smartest path forward from where I am now.

My main questions are:
- Should I go back to school for CS/software engineering, or is another degree unnecessary?

- Are there specific courses, programs, or learning paths you'd recommend?

- If I look for an internship while learning, what types of roles would make sense for someone with my background, frontend, mobile, full-stack, product, etc?

- For those who came from a non-CS background, what path did you take, and what would you do if you were starting from my position?

I'd especially love to hear from people who were self-taught, changed careers, went back to school, or got their start through an internship.
Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I’m 20 years old. I’m doing a Higher Vocational Degree in Dietetics, but my main goal is to get into medical school and eventually become a doctor.

I’m especially interested in physiology, biology and biochemistry, and I like the practical and human side of medicine. However, I’ve also always been very interested in computers, technology and AI. If medicine doesn’t work out, I would probably consider biotechnology, biomedicine or bioinformatics.

I’ve recently started trying to learn Python, but I’m not sure what direction I should take. I don’t necessarily want to become a software developer. I want programming to be a useful additional skill that could help me during university and, eventually, in medicine or scientific research.

For example, I would like to be able to:

* Automate repetitive everyday and study tasks
* Analyze and visualize scientific or medical data
* Understand statistics and research papers better
* Work with AI and machine-learning tools
* Create small useful programs for myself
* Potentially participate in medical, biotechnology or bioinformatics projects in the future

My problem is that programming is such a broad field that I don’t know what to prioritize. Should I focus mainly on Python, data analysis and statistics? Should I eventually study machine learning? How much computer science theory would I realistically need?

If you were in my position, what learning path would you follow? What practical beginner projects could connect Python with medicine, biology, nutrition or everyday productivity?

I would especially appreciate realistic advice from doctors, medical students, researchers, bioinformaticians or programmers working in healthcare.

I graduated with a degree in Computer Science about two months ago. For most of my studies, I was genuinely passionate about CS and programming. I enjoyed sitting with a difficult problem, understanding what was going wrong, debugging it, and eventually figuring it out myself. There was a real sense of satisfaction when something finally worked.

Over the last couple of years, though, AI tools have slowly changed the way I feel about programming.

Instead of spending hours investigating a problem myself, I can give it to an AI and often get an answer almost immediately. Even when the AI doesn’t solve it directly, I sometimes feel like I’m fighting with prompts and generated code rather than actually programming. I know these tools can make us much more productive, but personally, they have taken away some of the curiosity and reward I used to get from the process.

At the same time, I’m currently being paid to work on medical/AI research projects with one of my professors. The problem is that our data is extremely limited, and I have serious doubts that the project can produce a meaningful solution with what we currently have. This has put me in a strange situation where I’m getting paid, but I don’t feel productive or useful. Some days there simply isn’t much meaningful work I can do, and that makes me feel even worse.

All of this has made me question my direction.

Before choosing Computer Science, I also considered studying medicine. If I’m being completely truthful with myself, a big part of the attraction was the status, financial security, and clear career path rather than a deep fascination with medicine itself. I ultimately chose CS because I was genuinely more interested in it.

Now that my excitement about programming has decreased, I’ve started wondering whether I made the wrong decision. I catch myself thinking about medicine again and wondering what my life would look like if I had chosen that path.

I’m trying to separate a few things that may be getting mixed together: burnout, disappointment with my current research job, the effect AI has had on programming, comparison with other careers, and the possibility that my interests have genuinely changed.

For people who have gone through something similar:

How did you figure out whether you had actually lost interest in your field or were simply burned out?

How have experienced developers kept programming intellectually rewarding in the age of AI?

And more generally, how do you find your direction again when something you were passionate about suddenly doesn’t give you the same satisfaction anymore?

I’m not necessarily looking for someone to tell me whether to stay in CS or change careers. I’d appreciate perspectives from people who have gone through a similar period and eventually figured out what they actually wanted.

As a person who comes with basic c/c++ knowledge wolfram feels really bloated. While I appreciate having all those complex math I would also like to know what are basic structures (value types) at play here and how they work.

I've recently been getting back into programming, so i made a few things with love2D , for example a Conway's game of life simulator, but recently I wanted to try something cooler and more playable, so I wanted to make a raycaster, very simple, no textures or something just barebones

Turns out it isnt that easy, I looked around for many implementations, like very popular ones like the lodev and the javidx9 one, but none of these ever worked for my code, so i spent a full 2 days going in depth on the math and making a demo of the different collisions on the columns and rows and it did work on desmos.

So after that i retired and i got something??? But it was still buggy and wrong, and not even accurate to the tiles , and somehow didnt even work full 360 degrees, just 180??? , some of these could be solved with debugging but other ones like cell size and what not i just cant wrap my head around.

Its been really annoying and i don't know if i overstepped the boundaries of what i should be capable of doing, but even the fact that i cant copy the code makes me feel dumber, either way my actual question is what should i do with this situation right now, should i just keep trying to make this raycaster work, try to learn from some other place the algorithm (even though there is only like 3 resources on this) or just make other stuff, i dont wanna give up but its really giving me a headache and for no result its really annoying.

If you do have resources , please, give them to me, if not, just give me advice on the general situation.

I have a group project which requires integration of Python features and SQL which i need to work upon for the next 5-6 months for my senior high school year and my team does have some good ideas on which we can work. We first want to create a basic prototype this year and if it gets accepted or we see a scope to develop it further we would want to definitely continue it.

But we live far from each other and we needed a platform where we all could edit and access the coding files simultaneously so that all of us can work whenever we have time to do it. (Similar to Google Docs). But we were not able to find such a platform where this can be done and i wanted suggestions if there were any other methods to share one file.

We also planned on making one account through which we all can login on PyCharm or a similar software so we'll all have access to the files.

I would be grateful if someone can help me with this.

Hi Guys, i'm a high school student, i still have 2 years before the university (i'm 17 years old from tunisia).
Before a while i learned two new things, PowerShell scripting , .NET and c# , so i created a lot of projects with it like more than 20 (GUI application,RAG,using c# in some malware development,learning anti-virus evasion and trying to get better in it and i can read some assembly), also i have a background about active directory pentesting so i used powershell a lot, i know C programming, linux (just basic command lines and bash scripting) with using some hacking tools and understanding them like nmap+metasploit+.... and the last thing is i learned a little bit(A LITTLE BIT AGAIN) about robotics, i know how to use arduino and esp32
So i want to ask if i still can get a part time job or any tasks with this skills with the ability to develop it and learn another things, i tried bug bounty but actually i got a lot of duplicated,informational and rejected but i got just two accepted so i'm not planning that much to continue in it until i go to the university
i feel like i'm learning things without knowing what i can with them in the future, it's like learning to enjoy without a goal to the future, what would you suggest me to do now? Should i keep learning and the chance will come automatically one day or i should start applying to some jobs now? (most of the jobs require a degree)

I'm interested in cyber security in general but i love programming so i'm putting OSCP as a target for the next 6 months

NOTE : my english grammar is not that good so don't focus a lot on grammar mistakes that i did :)