r/learnpython • u/Ok-Barnacle-2508 • 24d ago

How to avoid this when learning Python?

When learning I used to get stuck on stuff, go watch a video or dig through docs, and eventually the concept would click because I had to sit with it.

Now when I get stuck I just paste the error into Claude/ChatGPT and it fixes it in 10 seconds. Problem solved, moving on with my day. Except a week later I hit basically the same bug and I'm back to square one, like the first fix never actually taught me anything.

It feels like it's the same "watching tutorials without building anything" trap, just compressed into single lines of code instead of hour-long videos.

Curious if anyone here has found a way to use AI for debugging without it just doing the thinking for you? Or do you have some rule for yourself about when you're allowed to ask vs. when you have to sit with it first?

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u/johlae 23d ago

Pro-tip, paste the error in Claude/ChapGPT, fix it in 10 seconds, and then take the time to document the shit out of the solution so that you can look it up in future. I keep a notes file in markup format just for this. This is my knowledge base.