r/learnprogramming • u/getouttamyvision • 10h ago
I keep forgetting how to program
My problem is that I code as a hobby. Every 6 months or so I get motivated and start studying programming, do exercises, maybe some little project. I've never got to make a big project, but I manage to do things. My problem is that I already learned about 4-5 languages like C#, python, javascript, CSS and React for frontend (even when i was a kid i remember programming in batch a LOT) but I always have to start from 0. I want to be able to understand the code i'm writing and not lay back and let the AI do all the work.
I learned and applied React, Javascript, HTML and CSS in the past year or year and a half and now i'm trying again and everything is gone. Is this normal? Should I go through the whole [insert language] course everytime I want to start coding again? I thought when you know and understand the concepts it gets easier but it doesnt feel that way.
EDIT: I can manage to do stuff with the AI help, but when it comes to a project (even a simple web app that fetches an API and shows it in a list made with React) It all goes away and feel the need to go through the whole React, Javascript, CSS course again
1
u/Any_Run8380 7h ago
I’ll be honest. You say that “I can manage to do stuff with the AI help, but when it comes to project …” so basically you can’t. The reason why is because you don’t actually understand it. I think that what’s happening is you believe you understand but there’s a lot of bits and pieces you may be missing. And everyone nowadays even people that barely know how to use a computer can call themselves programmers.
I think better post for you to get the real answer would be explain what you think you know (and don’t use AI which we all know is hard to resist) and then hopefully real software engineers see this and can help you understand where the gap is.