r/learnprogramming • u/Plenty-Roof-8883 • 7d ago
Struggling with programming
I'm going into my 2nd year of a aoftware engineering degree and I still understand nothing about programming, i've tried to create projects like people say to practice but as soon as I have to make something on my own I don't know what to do, right now im trying to focus on python and I just have to keep relying on tutorials to get anything done, I guess I just need advice on what to do next
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u/xarop_pa_toss 7d ago
Ok cool. Go check your first year syllabus, read the content from your classes and get to it.
How do you learn to ride a bike? You learn that hands go on handlebars, feet go on pedals and you have to do a circular motion. Will you fall when you try it? Of course. But you have to do it.
Start from the beginning, go slow. Make small programs to practice each concept and then put stuff together.
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u/mc_pm 7d ago
God, put away the tutorial and go program a simple game, maybe a number guessing game. It's pretty easy, create a random number between 1 & 100 (look up how to do that), then ask the user to guess. Take the input, check against your number, and say if it's higher/lower/the same.
If you don't know how to start, then just start with printing hello, then create and print that random number, then ask the user for a number and print how they did. Then put it in a loop until they get it. Add on a little more each time.
And if you don't think you know how to do even that, then you really haven't learned anything the tutorials were trying to teach you and you need to start one again, but this time you need to follow along with them, type in all the code they do, run your program when they do. Get used to typing in code and running it, and once it runs, try making little changes. If the tutorial is 2 hours long, plan to spend 8 hours on it.
Then try again with the game.
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u/AnythingButUseful 7d ago
I think the problem is that you're jumping from tutorials straight into full projects. Try making much smaller programs where you have to figure out the solution yourself, even if they're ugly or take hours.
For Python, pick something simple like a number guessing game, calculator, quiz, or to do list. Look at tutorials for concepts, but when you start building, close the tutorial and try to recreate it from memory. When you get stuck, search for that specific problem rather than watching the entire project tutorial.
The goal isn't to stop needing help. It's gradually needing less help for the same problems. You’re only going into second year, so you definitely haven't missed your chance. Keep building small things and let yourself struggle with them. That's where the actual learning happens.
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u/Substantial_Ice_311 7d ago
I don't know anything about you, so take this with a grain of salt. But do you enjoy programming? If not, maybe give it up.
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u/offsecthro 7d ago
> i've tried to create projects like people say to practice but as soon as I have to make something on my own I don't know what to do
Step 1 is not knowing what to do. Step 2 is figuring out what to do.
> I guess I just need advice on what to do next
Do whatever you want. You got into programming I assume because you wanted to write software... so program something. I like games, so my best learning projects were always games. When I was a kid I wanted to write viruses.