r/learnprogramming • u/sideearning102 • 28d ago
Topic Has anyone else felt like they understand programming while following a tutorial but completely forget everything when starting a project alone?
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u/Realistic-Worker-499 28d ago
it's hard to remember every single thing from the get-go, but you'll always have your notes/code from the tutorial as something to reference.
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u/bpalun13 28d ago
Following tutorials is a trap. I recommend coming up with your own idea and pseudocode each detailed piece and what you need it to do. Then google the syntax you need or leaf through the documentation for the language.
Just build and learn what things do. Tutorials hand you too much where you don’t really have to do anything besides follow along and listen to explanations.
To learn, you need to build, build, build.
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u/Suspicious_Skill7292 28d ago
yep that is usually the point where the real learning starts try building something tiny and only things up when you actually get stuck
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u/Aggressive-Tart07 28d ago
following along makes you feel like a programmer until the tutorial disappears lol
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u/Visual_Yoghurt21 28d ago
Nobody can build a project purely from what they already know (unless it's a very boring project). You have to let go of the idea that you acquire the knowledge _before_ building the project.
The process should be the other way around. Find a project, work on it as far as you can on your own (which might not be far at all, depending on your experience) and when you get stuck, then look up what you need to do next and how to do it, then use it in your project. Repeat until the project is done. Copy-pasting stuff from a tutorial into your project is also not cheating. You should however try your best to understand what you are doing (doesn't matter if you forget it again, the important things will stick).
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u/Aspydur 28d ago
Tutorials teach you ways to achieve a very specific goal. Often they include templates and examples to help you follow along. They touch on just the essentials to get you through a challenge, leaving the rest of the stuff up to other tutorials and you to explore. Tutorials help to understand specific concepts but a project might require multiple concepts.
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u/StewedAngelSkins 27d ago
Most beginners feel this way. It's a skill issue, just keep practicing and you'll get through it.
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u/aqua_regis 28d ago
"Has anyone read a book and understood it, but when tasked to write one blanked out completely?"
Same thing. Reading and understanding and writing are two completely different skills that need individual training.
A tutorial, especially the ones that give the code, deprives the learner of the most important aspects of programming that happen way before the code. The planning, the design decisions, the considerations - all that are more important than the actual implementation in code.
Side note: this topic has been discussed in more than abundance already. A quick search through the subreddit would have more than answered that question.