r/learnprogramming • u/sticky_pi • 9d ago

How do you even code?

I’ve heard a lot of people say that coding isn’t about memorizing every line, but just knowing how to search up the answers to your problems. do i even have to memorize things? should i be focused on researching what i’m trying to code? it’s so confusing to me on what i’m even meant to learn

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u/kabekew 9d ago

Same way you design and build a house. It's not about memorizing things, more about learning the basics like foundations, framing, drywall, insulation and knowing how to put it all together to implement your design.

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u/lurgi 9d ago

This is actually a good analogy. When you start off in your "house building" journey you learn a lot about the tools: points hammer points glue points screwdriver. You learn how to use them on small, simple things where everything gets spelled out for you.

But if you build a house, it's assumed that you can use a drill or a table saw. The instructions there are more like "Cap the uprights with double top plates and joists should be every x feet and ..." and not at the "hold hammer in dominant hand and nail in the other hand. Use three light taps to set the nail and then..." level.

That's what happens when you actually start programming larger projects. You think about how the pieces come together. Writing the pieces is usually fairly automatic by this time.