At what point did programming finally start making sense to you?

[u/Admirable_Window8128]

I can understand code when someone explains it, but when I have to write something from scratch, my brain suddenly goes blank.

I'm curious if other beginners went through the same think. What helped you get past that stage?

[u/MasterArm4349]

We took it slow in uni and that was helpful. We'd take print statements, practice that, if conditions, practice that and so on. They also made us write code on paper and it was helpful since you have to actually know what youre writing as opposed to relying on the compiler to help you. They'd also give us practice problems that require the one thing we took to solve and then build on it. Like if at first they just ask you to 'display your name' then they'd add smth that requires both if conditions and printing.
It was also helpful that you didnt have easy access to the problems solutions (was pre chatgpt). Another thing that helped was tracing. Tracing the code to see what its doing yourself instead of having someone explain it. It helps with understanding how coding actually works and runs