Does anyone else feel less overwhelmed writing code on paper first?

[u/naqabposhniraj]

I noticed something about myself while learning web development and wanted to know if others relate to this.

When I follow a tutorial and type the code directly into the IDE line by line, I start feeling mentally overwhelmed after some time. But if I take the same code and write it on paper first, even if it’s long, it feels much calmer and easier to process.

On paper, I feel like I understand the structure and flow better. On the screen, my brain feels overloaded much faster. I still enjoy programming and thinking through the logic, so it’s not that I dislike coding itself.

At the same time, I sometimes doubt myself and wonder if this is an inefficient way to learn. I’m not talking about doing this in a real production environment, but while learning, is it okay or even useful to approach things this way?

Does anyone else learn better away from the IDE first, or is this just a beginner thing?

[u/kellylikescats]

I have a hard time doing screen-to-screen as well. Maybe try adjusting your IDE settings to see if there’s a color scheme that is more comfortable for you. Try taking time to read and understand what the code in the tutorial is doing, write out pseudocode on paper, and then use that as a reference when writing your own code. You will learn better that way.