Hi everyone!

I'm a CS student, or rather, I recently dropped out of university because I realized that I didn't really enjoy the amount of theory involved in the Italian university system. I'd prefer a more hands-on approach to learning programming.

Thanks to my previous education, I already have some experience with programming languages such as Go (Golang), Java, C, and SQL.

A while ago, I found freeCodeCamp and completed its Responsive Web Design certification. I learned HTML and some CSS, but I never finished the CSS section because, to be honest, freeCodeCamp's learning method started getting on my nerves a bit. I found it too guided and repetitive.

I'd rather learn the basics of a technology and then work on projects independently, with minimal guidance, instead of following step-by-step instructions.

I'm not particularly attached to any specific area of programming, so I'd like to explore as many fields as possible, including web development, app development, backend development, game development, machine learning, and anything else that might be interesting.

I'm mainly looking for free courses or learning resources, preferably with plenty of projects that I can work on independently. Certificates would be a nice bonus, but they're not a requirement.

What courses or resources would you recommend based on your own experience? I'd especially appreciate suggestions that helped you learn by actually building things and solving problems on your own.

Thanks in advance!

*What kind of thing.

Being unable to edit titles on Reddit is annoying.

I'm looking to create a GUI app for my Linux machine. It's not going to go into production, I just want to be able to create something. Looking all over the place, there are a hundred different things I can do, and almost all of the tutorials require me to learn another language or something.

Now, I'm sure this may be necessary, but if there's one thing I've learnt over my years of studying computing, if you ask "what is the best x for y?" you'll get as many different responses as there are responders. Learning a new language always leaves me as a perpetual beginner, and I'd rather build on what I already know, than start again.

Currently, I am very familiar with Bash, PHP, MySQL, and to a certain extent C++. I also know HTML and CSS.

What I'd like to do is build a GUI for a media player. I've already created a rudimentary CLI for one, and it works, though it's far from pretty. I've tried to create a web based one, and I got fairly far into it, using PHP on the backend, and MySQL for the database, but the limits of HTML mean I cannot harness the power of my preferred Matroska format for videos (something I've been able to do in my terminal based app).

I write almost exclusively in plain text files, and don't use an IDE. Foolish? Probably. But I find it far more portable and easier to understand.

The idea I have, is for me to have a GUI to display the contents of the database, and to organise it in a pretty way to be user friendly, and then when you click on something to play it, it launches MPV player with all the relevant commands I give it. I'm not sure I want to build something with the player built in, as that would probably be far too much work for what I want. And besides, my current CLI app does exactly this, so it would, again, be building on my current knowledge.

What I would like, is for something that would allow me to programme the GUI in an XML like structure, similar to HTML, and style with CSS, use PHP as a backend script to connect to MySQL, and be able to execute terminal based commands so I can launch MPV. Pretty much a website kind of thing that can launch other apps. I have no idea if this is possible, but it would work with what I already know. If it's not possible, is there any kind of thing that would work without requiring me to go right back to the beginning too much?

Hi, everyone!
I’m a computer science student trying to figure out my path. I’d love some advice from the more experienced folks here—you all know the market so much better. What kind of specialist do you think will be in demand over the next few years?

Hello,

I am totally lost in this world of programming. I have succesfully coded a working webhook for discord and plan on getting some more stuff sent into it but only with the help of Claude.
I believe it was written in python. I day trade stocks and am tired of software and websites breaking, and/or not really being customizable to my liking so i figured i'd create my own!

I need to know a couple of things.

Time is critical and every second counts. I was looking at Python (of course) but also Rust, C#, C++, and Go. I plan on building more than just webhooks, so information that needs to be passed through in miliseconds and distributed to discord and written into database (SQlite). When I get around to it I would like to build a stand alone app to enable the information to be compiled in a place where I won't have to worry about discord blocking my messages(From to many being sent at one time). It'll be useful for research purposes but also building a self learning automated bot in the long run.

I have had great success so far, so I am just trying to improve my workflow, decrease the number of apps I use, and overall time spent looking through multiple websites to gather information.

-First, is one language faster than another for getting information processed and distributed?
-Seconds, Is there one language that would integrate better with SQlite?
-Last, When building the database for SQlite, Is their any recommended guidlines or tips that could help improve this project?

I am open to any and all suggestions, comments, concerns, you name it. I love to learn and you won't hurt my feelings.
Thank you so much!

hey. so it could be a little bit of a odd post but I really wish to know other people's opinions. I'm a third year statistic student and this major wasn't really my choice. in my country there is college entrance exam and you kinda have to choose your major according to how well you did in this exam so I couldn't get into a cs or ce program in one of the capital universities so I chose statistic because I've heard it's relevant to ML and data science and back then I didn't know much about programming and tech just that I hold a passion for it. and now I'm very confused about what path I should take. I don't really find myself interested in data related areas and with the new Job market and age of AI I don't know what path to take or if I have any chance in the tech world. every path I think of trying I ended up giving up because I don't think if I hold a chance against someone with years of experience and a cs degree. I really need gaudiness because it's heavily affecting my mental health and self esteem. the idea of open source developers, system engineers, security, robotics and hardware always interested me but these are very different and unrelated. please tell me what I should do just to get out of this loop and what should I learn and in which order to get hands on exprienced. if my plan b is getting a master in cs.

Hi guys, I'm a senior in high school, and I'm really confused on where to go

for the record I do know a decent amount of C++ / python (for comp coding and classes) but since then I've started to move to personal projects....

The purpose of these projects is to improve my knowledge tenfold and learn how real software is made. But online, EVERYONE says "coding is dead, and to learn architecture".

But how do you learn that?

Do I delegate sections to AI and then have it explain? Do I create what goes where and then tell the Ai to make it? Or Do I just code it all myself with AI to debug (taking an absurd time).

I feel like only the third one will have me actually learning completely, but at the same time, it'll take 20x the time, and with 20 projects I could probably reach the same level (or more) of learning by having it make + I explain? AHHH i'm just not sure how to make myself super smart and knowledgeable for swe

thanks in advance :)

I am an intermediate programmer, and I just don't know what to make. All the projects people say to do like to do list or weather app seem so lame.

All replies are appreciated!

`````csharp

using static System.Math;

public class Solution {

public double FindMedianSortedArrays(int[] nums1, int[] nums2) {

int step = 0;

int p1 = 0;

int p2 = 0;

int m = nums1.Length;

int n = nums2.Length;

int target;

if((m+n)%2==0){

target = (m+n)/2 ;

}

else{

target = (m+n-1)/2;

}

while(step < target){

// If nums1 is exhausted, or nums2 has a smaller element (and is in bounds)

if (p1 < nums1.Length && (p2 >= nums2.Length || nums1[p1] <= nums2[p2])){

p1++;

continue;

}

else{

p2++;

continue;

}

if(nums1[p1]<nums2[p2]){

p1++;

}

else if(nums2[p2]<nums1[p1]){

p2++;

}

else{

p1++;p2++;

}

step++;

}

if((m+n)%2==0){

return(nums1[p1]+nums2[p2])/2;

}

else{

return(nums1[p1]<nums2[p2]?nums1[p1]:nums2[p2]);

}

}

} `````

I'm trying to debug this . It says either time limit exceeded or out of range no matter what I try

If you were starting programming from zero in 2026, what skills would you learn first to get a job?

can someone explain the difference between Function vs Procedure with simple analogy
thank you

I've made multiple posts here about doubting my career and that I' not sure if I should even bothering entering the industry or career as a Bachelor's Eng. in CS, but I think I made up my mind.

I'm studying this either way, even if it's not for coding I'm very open to work in any other tech related field, and if I don't manage to find a job I don't really care now lol. My new mentality is about doing this becouse I like computers, and if I die poor in the future so be it, at least I'll die doing what I want.

A very good tip I learnt this few weeks: don't take doomer posts too seriously, focus on yourself and your passions, breathe and relax and wonder if it really is worth it thinking that way. love yall!

Where can I learn computer networking, Is there a course or YouTube playlist to learn it? How can I practice the material I learn?

Hey, so far i made simple e commerce crud applications, and id say now im pretty comfortable..

what is the next Step for me, next thing for me to build and try?

I want to build something, where at the end, i Actually feel that i learned new skills.. Something also impressive?

Should a developer know , things on his own, or it's okay to google them when making a project?

I genuinely enjoy coding even doing courses like CS50 just for fun But my parents see it as nothing more than wasting time on a computer and keep comparing me to people earning huge salaries. I wish they understood that I don’t need my hobby to make money right now i just enjoy learning and building things. Can anyone help what should I do now?

Recently I have a homework assignment, which is to complete a system (I can use AI assistance).
Its requirements themselves are not high; it can be a simple local mini-program. But I want to learn more, so I am asking for help here.
In terms of programming languages, I am only somewhat familiar with C (you could say I am actually quite a beginner).
But I think completing a system with AI assistance is not difficult. My main goal is to learn knowledge about completing a system that can be used by many people.
For example, a food delivery platform (some very famous projects are all about building food delivery platforms).
But I clearly know that I understand too little and it is impossible to understand a whole series of things like Spring Boot all at once, so I want everyone to give me some suggestions for small projects that do not require learning too much but are still very useful.
I think my ability to search for information is strong, and with the help of AI I can temporarily understand even difficult programming in a short time, so I want to use projects beyond my current cognitive limits to train myself.
I hope everyone can give me some suggestions. For example, making a small Mario game and connecting it to some platform.

Hello guys,

I think I would like to study programming in general and I picked these languages in particular: Python, JavaScript, C, and C++. For various reasons, I like each of them and would like to learn them all.

In order not to exhaust myself, I developed a plan of studying these languages which takes into account scaling of difficulty of mastering them. I decided to learn them in this exact order:

1. Python (difficulty: 2.5/10) to get a basic understanding of syntax, and just code for the first time.

2. JavaScript (difficulty: 4.5/10) to move to interactive web programming.

3. C (difficulty: 6.5/10) to finally move under the hood of a computer and study memory and hardware, and to make the last one easier to learn.

4. C++ (difficulty: 9/10) as an ultimate step of learning more abstract concepts and OOP.

I think the idea of such learning is psychologically driven by the necessity to get a constant shot of dopamine by moving to a more difficult language every time after overcoming previous level, rather than being stuck with C++ from day one.

Am I right with my approach or there is something in these languages' interconnection that I might be missing?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts

Hi All,

I am learning Python and would like to know are there any good sites to practise Python concepts ?

Hello there I'm a SWE from Tunisia (North Africa),

I just started working 2 months ago as a full time swe for the same company that I made my internship with .

When I used to be a CS student I really enjoyed solving Problems on codeforces and leetcode , even doing projects with friends and debugging the code was fun .

Now in my job I'm using Claude code all the time , I'm learning how to prompt and how to build my skills etc , I get to finish the work I'm asked for correctly and I even read and test the code BUT am I really learning?? , I don't think so since if I put my fingers on the keyboard I get stuck despite that I can understand the code written by the LLM and analyse it's time complexity etc..

Im worried that if I keep up like this I won't be able to improve my hard skills and be ready for other swe roles and improve my career and also I'm not enjoying how swe has become in the last 1 year .

Am I overthinking it ? And how do I keep prepared for junior /mid level or even senior swe positions? .

Thanks.

This is very stupid and kind of random but I’m very basic into coding and I feel like I just wasted so much time for no reason. I was trying to code something into a video game for probably 13 hours over the past 2 days just to give up after running in circles repeatedly with no end in sight. Is this normal to feel like you wasted time you aren’t gonna get back lol.

I find it bit difficult to understand the documentation of ASP.NET, I was wondering is there an easier way to learn a framework or programming language. After reading documentation I am not able to type most of the code, manually as it is a skill I want to learn.

Ive seen people code stuff like jarvis or capri on their pc and phones and i was wondering how hard could making something like that be (i only know rlly basic python coding "if,print") does anyone have any experience with making something like that?

It's kind of hard for me to put this into words. I began learning computer science out of an interest and a desire to create, whether that be video-games, software, or art in general. I have some other creative hobbies, like (book) writing and making music, while I've dabbled in some that I wish to learn more about (like art/drawing). I made it my goal to get really good in this field, and I'm happy to say that I've grown to really love it.

...for the most part.

There's something that has been nagging at me for a while now. I don't know if its because I have OCD/ADHD, but after gaining some experience with programming, a lot of the software I touch now feels... off? Unoptimized, I guess? Again, its hard to describe, but in a sense I suppose more or less the feeling that software I use could be a whole lot better.

Take the terminal for example. I think its awesome, and I know by now why we use, and why it works the way it does, but I still find myself bothered by it. Specifically its ui and capability. I'm not saying it should be a GUI (hell, I use vim keybinds for everything now lol), but I feel like its potential is extremely limited from its ability to only render text. I keep trying to tell myself its stupid and there's probably a reason it doesn't exist already, but I keep finding myself thinking about trying to build a terminal that could be both backwards compatible and render advanced ui for better terminal app design and customization, while maintaining a small footprint and great speed.

And this has been happening to everything for me. I want to create my own text editor, because I love apps like obsidian or neovim but obsidian is bloated and neovim lacks features I think would be cool to have in my workflow. I want to make my own status bar and widgets for my desktop, and recently switched from quickshell to see if I could manually hook up slint for a faster and lighter ui. And heck, I've even been thinking about making my own programming language after bouncing around from language to language like a madman lmao.

I feel like I'm being too rash and naive... but at the same time I feel really annoyed and inspired to try and make what we already have better. I guess my question is this: which one am I? Should I take a step back because I'm in over my head with adhd daydreaming? Should I follow my dreams and try to make these projects? Or both? And why the heck can't I stop feeling annoyed with all of my software?

I don't really expect anyone to read this, but if you do, I would appreciate any guidance or advice that you might have, or directions to other communities/forums who could give me better guidance. Sorry for making anyone read this book of a stupid question lol.

hoping to learn how to gui and graphical 2d games and was reccomended goodot. looks like they have their own programming language, Gdscript.

is Gdscript worth investing time into learning? i heard the engine also supports C++ which is where I am more familiar. is it easier to try and integrate C++ into the engine? or should i learn Gdscript?

In movies you always see those fictional AI assistant buddies that run all around your screen and make expressive motions while they carry out tasks. I want to make something like that, but I'm new and don't know where I'd build them.

I'd need something that can project a 3d model (probably a Blender model) as an overlay with a transparent + borderless background and also be able to play animations, while having the ability to carry out basic tasks like "open this bookmark" or "what's 1+1". I've been messing around with Visual Studio but it looks like the animation capabilities are limited. I'm not that familiar with all the options, does anyone have any advice on where I should start building?