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Coding Is Hard

duttakapil.com

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Re: Coding Is Hard

#31

Post by jdefr89 »

yura wrote: post #21

In my experience it’s not supposed to be that hard, unless you’re working at the cutting edge or on really hard problems. But from what you’ve written it seems like you’re struggling with basic stuff. Maybe you’re still lacking fundamentals? Seems like your strategy so far has been to grind tutorials and crash courses. They will make you feel like you’re learning a lot in a short time but in the end you’ll still not…

The author says he struggled with concepts that are “easy” or supposed to be. In my experience of coding since 6th grade and having been in the industry for quite some time, it’s difficult to say something is supposed to be “easy” or “hard”. The author doesn’t give many concrete examples so it’s possible he is just assuming certain things should be super easy… A lot of programmers I meet love to claim they don’t struggle with basics, then I ask them to write be a simple bubble sort or binary search from scratch and 90% cannot do it. They could only do it when they could reference or look it up. Everything thing seems “easy” after you learn it. There’s this romanticized super genius idea everyone thinks they need to live up to but that portrayal is simply fake. No one’s grasps things instantly.. I am a researcher at MIT. I work with arguably some of “smartest” people on the planet, and even they struggle with basic concepts from time to time, as does everyone. There is simply too much information for any single human to know it all, and learn new things instantly. It doesn’t happen…. Most things that should be “simple” or “easy” always end up requiring significant effort because we don’t truly know how to do something until it’s actually down. Forgive my spelling and grammar errors. I am typing on a phone and my hands are just too big to do it quickly.

Re: Coding Is Hard

#32

Post by AussieWog93 »

If you're still bad at coding after 10 years, give up.

There are dozens of other things you might be great at, and every minute you're spent flogging the dead horse of becoming a coding genius, you're missing out on the opportunity to practice something you're really talented at.

Re: Coding Is Hard

#33

Post by dkjaudyeqooe »

narinxas wrote: post #29
dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luxury! I didn't have the benefit of a computer when I learned to program.

one man's luxury... how did you learn to program computers without computers around?

I kept on re-reading the RSTS/E BASIC PLUS language manual until it made sense. I remember DIM statements being the hardest thing to figure out.

Re: Coding Is Hard

#34

Post by jdefr89 »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #32

If you're still bad at coding after 10 years, give up. There are dozens of other things you might be great at, and every minute you're spent flogging the dead horse of becoming a coding genius, you're missing out on the opportunity to practice something you're really talented at.

He probably isn’t that bad. He just has imposter syndrome most likely… He is assuming people sit down and write things like web browsers in a single, linear sitting. You don’t write any nontrivial software easily if you’re doing something new. The decisions you need to make when developing real software or systems are numerous. Having been in the industry for a very long time and having worked with arguably some of the smartest people in the world, no one lives up the the romanticized “super cider genius” that solves all problems effortlessly in their first go. I am currently a researcher at MIT. I work with some of the most brilliant people out there and you’d be surprised what “simple” things or concepts they struggle with… Everything is simple when you know the answer, but try devising the answer to a truly original problem that hasn’t been breached yet and see how far you get. Even simple sorting algorithms, and basic data structures, were the product of research that took a long time. People didn’t just sit down one night and invent the quick sort in one go….

Re: Coding Is Hard

#36

Post by david-gpu »

theLiminator wrote: post #26
david-gpu wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A variable is a box where you can store a certain type of an object. For example, you can have a box with the right size and shape to store toy cars. At one point the variable (box) may contain a red toy car, and at another point it may contain a blue toy car. If you try to put a banana in there it won't fit because it has the wrong shape for that. We say that the type of the variable (the box) doesn't match the obje…

That analogy is heavily stretched with dynamically typed languages, you could say that it's a box that can hold anything, but then the value of the analogy falls apart.

As you point out, all it takes to describe dynamically typed languages is describing a variable as a box that can contain an object. It can contain a fish now and a truck later. What is the problem? Assignments, l-values and such work just fine as far as I can tell.

The analogy works because it's not far removed from what is actually happening in memory. And while laypeople don't know what computer memory is, they have a good intuition about boxes.

Re: Coding Is Hard

#37

Post by jdefr89 »

famahar wrote: post #12

I have a lot of respect for self learners. Don't think I would have learned to code if I didn't feel the financial and academic pressure from learning it in University. I still remember my intro course being so mind numbingly difficult coming from an arts background. Simple if else code block assignment that I could complete in 1 minute now took me a whole weekend to initially do 10 years ago.

When it comes to programming we are all self learners because no one teaches you how to write the software you might want to write… Getting taught merely means getting exposed to. The real teaching of something happens when you do it on your own… Taught my self to code in 6th grade and was able to drop out of college to work.. Started and sold my own company. I have to say the CS/CE curriculum is severely lacking and in all honesty not many benefit from it. Someone coming out of school with a bachelors doesn’t seem to be able to translate their “learned” skills into real working knowledge. That can only happen when you actually do what you want to do. Grab a bunch of CS and grads and ask them to write a simple FizzBuzz and you will be astonished at how many barely know where to start. It’s quite sad. Ironically I am now a researcher at MIT… I am in academia and didn’t even finish my degree…

Re: Coding Is Hard

#38

Post by [deleted] »

Manfred wrote: post #13

One of my students in a summer school class about programming just couldn't get their head around what a variable was. These concepts are very hard to teach when you are very familiar with them and they come natural to you.

[deleted]

Re: Coding Is Hard

#39

Post by Garvi »

The method that worked for me was working on actual projects. Build something useful for yourself. And just search the web and ask chatbots and keep hammering on it until it's done, one problem at a time. Maybe forgetting the bigger picture and focusing on small bite sized problems would work for you too.

And when you're done, start working on your next project and you will notice you can reuse some of the knowledge you already have. Make sure every new project challenges you.

Re: Coding Is Hard

#40

Post by djaouen »

I don’t mean to be insulting, but have you considered the possibility that you are too stupid to learn programming? For example, I could never be a doctor because I myself am too stupid at chemistry. Sometimes it’s better to take the path of least resistance. :)
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