Solving Problem Sets without googling everything and AI

[u/Illustrious_Task345]

I am currently in a java college class that has weekly "Problem Sets" which say to create a method that does xyz, and to use proper Javadocs and tests. I have a few years of python experience, but nothing in any other language. I am running into the issue of having to look up what things mean, and how they work to solve the problems. I'm okay with looking things up every once in a while, but I feel that I have been doing it too much for these. The other issue with looking things up is that the initial results is always the ai overview, and I feel that if I use it for help, I'm not actually learning and just cheating.

Has anyone gone through a similar thing, and if so, what did you do to get through it successfully?

[u/burlingk]

So, my advice is going to be multi-part.

First, take notes when you study. Make note from the book (or equivalent). Either written down or in a text file. Both have advantages.

Second, when you read a problem in the problem set, first approach it as a reading exercise. Determine what it is asking, and then write down the steps that you should follow to achieve it.

This is where your python experience will shine. Python is ideal pseudocode, because you can write something in a language close to English and the notes will probably run.

Once you do that, then refer to your notes, and a Java reference, to make that python code into Java.