When learning to program via an online programming course of our book, is it important for you to type in all the examples and to actually go through and finish the coding exercises or challenges that are in that book or video course? Let's talk about that today.
Today, we're talking about going through a book or an online programming course. Is it worthwhile, is it vital in fact for you to type in all the code?
Type in the code as you see it in the book or video course but also go through the programming exercises and challenges because let's face it, it's quite easy to skip ahead. And it's probably a want to skip ahead. You're probably looking to finish that video course or book as quickly as possible. I think it's vital that you type in all the code in the book or video course. Type it in as you see it in the book or as the video is being shown to you. Type along with that code.
So, in other words, don't just attempt the coding exercises, which we'll talk about shortly, all the codes you see in that book or video course, my opinion, you should be typing that in yourself just to make sure that you really understand the material because that's what you'll find with programming, you learn by doing. We all learn obviously to a certain degree by reading the screen and looking at a book or watching a video but until you start coding and immersing yourself in code, you're not going to really become a great programmer or a good programmer who really understands the material.
If you're struggling with programming, it may well be because you're skipping ahead or you're not actually typing in all the code or you're assuming that you understand a particular thing, and you may find, in my opinion, you'll usually find, if you start typing in code where you previously haven't been doing that, it'll become a lot more, a lot easier for you to understand. So, certainly do that.
In terms of coding exercises or challenges, these are little exercises for you to typically type in and solve that are usually in most programming books and certainly in a lot of online video courses. The idea of that is to help you solidify what you've learnt. You do that by actually solving a particular problem. That's another great way to really understand the concepts that have been taught in that previous section or up until that stage of the book or the video course.
I think it's essential for you to at least attempt those coding exercises or challenges. And the reason why is firstly as I said 'cause you're immersing yourself in code. The more coding you do, the better at programming you're going to be. Basically the more the understanding will seep into your consciousness because you're actually doing it, you're actually coding. That's really important.
Secondly, just the process of going through that is going to make you a more productive programmer because you're actually having to think, you're actually having to formulate and come up with solutions and of course that's what you're gonna be doing when you're a full-time programmer. You're gonna be doing that for a living basically each day. So, I think it's essential.
Don't get too discouraged if you don't finish a coding exercise or challenge but certainly attempt it. And if you don't finish it or you can't finish it or you feel it's completely out of your depth, that's probably a sign for you to go back and review the previous material perhaps in that section of the e-book or of the physical book or the online programming course. Go back and review those concepts, rewatch the videos, reread, et cetera, and then maybe attempt it again.
Even if you can't get part of the coding exercise complete, that's going to be a good thing that will steadily improve your skills because again you're thinking of this, you're trying to formulate solutions to problems, and that's what programmers do.
In general, my advice is to type in everything that you see in a book, a book about programming, or a video course. Type it in as you see the information and certainly go through and try and complete all the coding exercises and challenges. All right. So, I hope that helped. If you've got any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you.
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