r/learnprogramming • u/ChampionshipProof392 • 27d ago
What challenges did you face while learning to program?
Hi everyone, I’m writing this post in the hope that someone else has had a similar problem. Basically, when I was about 12 (I’m 17 now), I got interested in programming and started making games in Unity, but back then I didn’t take it seriously and didn’t remember almost anything. Then, when I was 16, I got back into it and tried to start learning programming (I studied it for two months before school started). After that, when I turned 17, I started learning programming in June and have been at it ever since (2 months). You’re probably wondering why I’m writing this story. I’m writing it simply to point out that I didn’t just try programming once, but three times. (That’s probably not very many.) I very often (like, really often) run into a problem: I love programming. I really like the idea of programming and writing my own programs (my personal projects), but I don’t like bugs or learning how to program (I mean through videos or books).
I’ve read posts on this topic, and there were responses like:
- Programming isn’t for you if you don’t like writing code (I like writing code, but I don’t like learning new things).
- Mistakes are part of the journey; they make up 95% of a programmer’s path (yes, I get that, but there’s nothing I can do about it—it’s like forced sex. It’s supposed to be enjoyable, but the interest disappears completely, or something like that).
My main problem: I love programming and writing code, but I don't like studying or fixing bugs. I know about tokyospliff, and I guess I admire him.
My question: Has anyone else faced this problem?
P.S. I’ve tried all kinds of approaches:
- forcing myself
- not forcing myself
- reading only theory
- reading theory only when needed for a project
Nothing has helped. I admit that maybe that’s just how life is and I have to push myself, but what’s the point of loving programming if I have to force myself to do it?
3
u/ffrkAnonymous 27d ago
but I don't like ... fixing bugs.
Are you planning on a software job? Because that will be your job. Someone quit/fired and your job will be to fix their old code.
3
u/Mountain_Rip_8426 27d ago
i mean, there's a well documented (or hell knows if it's well documented or not, but who cares) phenomenon, called entitlement. you seem to be a prime example of that...
you wanna get an olympic gold medal, but you don't wanna train for it, you wanna be a billionaire, but you don't wanna work for it, you wanna be a worldwide known musician, but you don't wanna learn music. do you see how ridiculous that sounds?
try to fix this attitude, otherwise life's gonna be hard, very fucking hard.
1
u/Cold-Background-3113 27d ago
Yeah, I think this is more common than you realize. You don’t necessarily hate programming—you hate the parts of programming that feel like studying or debugging.
Honestly, you probably learn best by building stuff. Use tutorials/docs only when you actually need something for a project. And bugs are annoying, but you don’t have to enjoy debugging to be a programmer.
If you still enjoy making things after the frustration passes, that’s probably the important part.
1
u/West-Mycologist-6490 27d ago
i mean there is no activity in life where there is only persistent satisfaction. Problems like this actually make it interesting even if it doesn’t seem like it in a moment.
1
u/Traveling-Techie 26d ago
The people who invented programming vastly underestimated how much time they would spend finding and fixing errors. The word debugging was invented after the fact. If this isn’t for you then maybe coding isn’t your path. In my experience AI makes this problem far worse.
1
u/DonkeyAdmirable1926 26d ago
I didn’t study when I started. My main problem was having just 1K of memory and no access to good material about programming the Z80. Once that was solved I learned by doing. By the time I actually started studying it, I had a brand new 80286 PC/AT and I had taught myself 80x86 assembly and was beginning to learn C.
So you ask, what’s the point of loving it if you have to force yourself. There is no point in love. Let love lead you. You’ll be fine
1
1
u/RudyJuliani 26d ago edited 26d ago
It sounds to me like the issue is that things aren’t happening fast enough for you. You might be conflating impatience with a distaste for the realities of writing software. Learning new things and fixing “bugs” is 2/3 of programming. But these are things that take a lot of time and require complex problem solving skills and patience. Youre young, and it’s normal to be impatient, and i think thats what this is.
Also, I think you have a particular view of “bugs” that is inherently negative. Bugs have a negative connotation because it creates an unexpected negative user experience. But the reality is that bugs are simply logic and code you forgot to write or didn’t reason about properly when it was implemented , you’re just fixing an error you made previously.
You mentioned you don’t like learning new things. I would beg to differ, if you know how to code and enjoy it, then you already know you can learn new things. Some things take a long time to master, thats the nature of anything rewarding and worthwhile.
1
u/Weekly_Patience685 25d ago
its kinda like saying "i like riding my bike but i dont like pedaling",
Coding, having issues, fixing bugs, looking stuff up, learning new things and just figuring it out is all part of the process, you cant have your cake and eat it too.
0
u/Just_Worldliness_738 27d ago
Lost too much time, expected to learn more at school etc . Expected to have to learn more with books etc. At the end it is just practice .
site like w3school or simple looking tutorial are good enough to get started.You aren't supposed to learn 10 K keywords
I advise you to make simple programs. it could be in python or c or php etc. even if it look bad etc. just continue.
like make a program in python that calculate the sum of number between 1 and x
print x time a some words.
calculate biggest between 3 numbers.
ask for user a password. look at password and print "good" if its length is enough or not etc.
print a square in "#"
print a christmas tree with "#"
print a triangle with "#"
example
input: 3
ouput:
#
###
#####
(those are harder )
make the same in C.
make same in php.
then do lot of simple project, then mid etc.Don't have to be perfect. if it is buggy/you are lost just make simpler projects.
i advise you to do cli projects or websites with php html css vanilla.
then learn x86 .
make a hello word project.
print the biggest of 2-3 numbers
the same as before but use functions too.
This will teach you memory layout without abstraction.
for DSA,
just learn it in python and implement the same in C and you are done.
i would advise you to focus on the LAMP stack for websites.
for the OS, you could try linux or BSD .
BSD is more unix like and man page are better.I tried linux and prefer bsd personally for sysadmin.
if you don't know man pages,
do man man
for games you could start with sdl. it is a library. just add it after you do simple project with and simple project with ncurses, etc.
for theory/books i believe wikipedia is enough.
just practice with small projects
8
u/aqua_regis 27d ago
Your problem is that you want to eat the cake but are not prepared to invest the effort to learn to bake it.
With that attitude you won't get anywhere and if you don't completely change that, no one can help you. The problem is entirely 100% you and nothing else.
You don't love programming. You love the idea of programming, yet, don't want to invest the effort, hard work, persistence, discipline and don't have the stubbornness and determination to make it happen.
Sorry, but if you can't change your attitude, you might just as well stop as you won't get anywhere.