Switched from copying code to writing my own and it finally clicked

Back when I started learning Python last year, I spent months just copying stuff from Stack Overflow and hoping it worked. Then for a small project at my local library in Austin, I forced myself to type every line from memory without looking at examples. After about 30 hours of that, I finally understood how loops and functions actually fit together. Has anyone else hit a wall with tutorials and found a different way that worked better?

2 comments

2 Comments

parker_bell8d ago

My first breakthrough was debugging a loop that printed numbers backward at 2am in my kitchen. Using print() to track every single variable change finally made functions click for me. Tutorials always skip that messy middle part where you actually break stuff and fix it.

noahs828d ago

Man I gotta push back a bit on that. Copying code actually helped me build a mental library of patterns before I could write anything original.