r/learnprogramming • • Oct 31 '24

Help Help me prove a professor wrong

274 Upvotes

So in a very very basic programming introduction course we had this question:

``` How many iterations in the algorithm?

x = 7 do: x = x - 2 while x > 4 ```

Original question for reference: https://imgur.com/a/AXE7XJP

So apparently the professor thinks it's just one iteration and the other one 'doesn't count'.

I really need some trusted book or source on how to count the iterations of a loop to convince him. But I couldn't find any. Thank in advance.

r/learnprogramming • • Sep 17 '20

Help Is a career change to code at 39 realistic?

780 Upvotes

Hi everyone. I am a professional video editor with some motion graphics skills that has been hit pretty hard by the pandemic. The future overall instability of society(climate change, growing income inequality and etc) has really got me thinking I should consider a career change because under good economic times working in film/advertising is incredibly competitive, and during bad times it's pretty much dead for anyone but the people at the very top.

I keep hearing all these stories of people making the switch to a career in web or even software design, but I wonder how realistic it really is. For those that succeeded in doing so it seems they come from a science related field. I also just wonder for how many that make it, how many failed. Let me know the hard truth everyone! Please no platitudes or cliches that I can do anything I want in life. It's that kind of mentality that drove me to make previous poor life choices and would like to not repeat that. Thanks!

r/learnprogramming • • Feb 15 '22

Help should I quit programming if I'm bad at javascript?

312 Upvotes

javascript is said to be the easy one for beginners to learn but I can't even solve one problem, do I quit or do I try to learn it another way?

r/learnprogramming • • Aug 12 '23

Help 25M trying to fix my life through coding

351 Upvotes

25M, depressed and in debt with no direction in life.

I'm not looking for sympathy or validation here but I'm really struggling to find a path in life. I have no one to guide me as I lost my father at 12 and people around me aren't that educated or technically well-versed.

I graduated as a CS Engineer in 2021 but half-assed my way through college and only learned the basics of the programming content provided in the course. That was my mistake but I had enough sources of income back then and I wasn't thinking long-term - I did gain experience in several fields but nothing to really to upscale with.

What I'm looking for through this post is a no BS straightforward plan to get into programming and land a job. Also general career advice that would work for me long-term.

Some things about me:

  1. I am visually creative so I think I would fit in better with front-end development.

  2. I have also created websites through WordPress and Wix before so I am aware of a few things regarding websites

Feel free to ask me anything. Hope at least one person can take out the time to help me. Even if you can't and you're reading this, I hope you have a good life.

r/learnprogramming • • Aug 21 '26

help How do I break out of the "intermediate dev limbo" before giving up again?

6 Upvotes

I am past the beginner stage, understanding basic syntax up to classes and objects, but I freeze when it's time to structure projects on my own. I have relentlessly searched for methods, tutorials, and books to guide me to the next level, but I can never find anything that clicks; because of this, I've jumped from language to language, and every time I hit this "limbo," I end up quitting and trying something else, yet I always come back because something inside tells me I’m meant to code. For those who have overcome this block, what architecture or design books do you recommend, what kind of practical exercises changed the game for you, and what real strategies actually work to finally break through this barrier and build confidence?

r/learnprogramming • • Aug 25 '26

Help How much should I use AI in personal projects to feel like " I made this "?

0 Upvotes

I have learnt Python for about 2 months and to be honest, I still need a lot of help in creating a project. Because of that, I still use AI for it. Sometimes I would tell it to generate whole chunks of code and recently I thought that I shouldn't rely too much on it and code it myself. I did code quite a bit, but I still need AI for help for some of the hard parts. Any tips on how to use AI responsibly or how to code better?

r/learnprogramming • • 1d ago

Help Help continuing?

0 Upvotes

Hello! I've had a problem doing things I genuinely love, I have a huge passion for coding and it is so fun, but I suck at it T-T. I've been trying to learn for so long but I've never actually got anything to be able to stick, I'm still only 18 so I have time. I'd love to go to college but sadly I can't drive for many reasons and also I don't want to do online, it's not something that works for me. Recently (And this could possibly get looked down upon) around 6 months ago I decided to try and teach myself with AI and honestly it has worked wonders I've learned a good bit, except I have a problem which goes to a lot of other things as well, I start something no matter how passionate I am or how fun it is, Usually if I get distracted off of it for one day or even want to just take a break its like I stop doing it entirely, I was learning python for a month then stopped, 3 months later I started learning C# and I've got it down a lot, but I had to buy a new PC cause mine broke and I tried to do it again but like I stopped for some reason. Maybe some will say "Oh well then your not passionate about it" but I genuinely love it, I just get distracted and I dont know how to fix that. I do have an Attention Deficit Disorder so I thought maybe that could be why but I dont want to make excuses.

The only thing to really keep me on it which I loved and had so much fun was friends doing similar things like my friends did 3D modeling and I started it cause I wanted to learn it eventually and put many hours into it. But they stopped and I continued for about a month then stopped, but only cause I got distracted by some other things.

r/learnprogramming • • Apr 06 '26

Help been stuck on linked lists for days nothing is clicking

9 Upvotes

i get the concept, a node points to the next one, makes sense on paper. but every time i try to write it myself the whole thing falls apart and i can't figure out where my thinking is wrong.

went to office hours but felt too awkward to keep asking followup questions so i just left more confused than before. tried like 4 different explanations online and still nothing.

has anyone actually gotten past this? how did it finally click for you

r/learnprogramming • • Apr 01 '26

Help How do you study algorithms?

12 Upvotes

I’d like to know if any of you more experienced developers have any tips on studying algorithms. I already have a foundation in programming and actually build systems, but I always fail interviews because I can’t solve algorithm problems.

So I bought a book (I’m reading it) and at the same time doing the LeetCode challenges. I study, I read, but I can never implement them from scratch on my own—I always have to look up an explanation online. Do you have any tips on how to study and really develop this computational thinking? Currently, I write down the explanations, note the solution, do it N times, and go back to the problems to redo them and explain aloud to myself how it’s done.

Thanks in advance :D

r/learnprogramming • • Nov 04 '23

Help Should I learn coding for Windows or Linux?

53 Upvotes

So I've always wanted to take up programming, due to being big on video games and wanting to develop my own. The problem for me is trying to decide between Windows or Linux as the Operating System to code stuff on.

I know Windows isn't exactly well loved, and Linux has slowly been rising in popularity, but I feel that a lot of potential companies/clinets I may work for probably use Windows. Should I just stick with learning for the former in that case?

r/learnprogramming • • Sep 15 '26

Help 6th Form Secondary School Student Needs Your Help

6 Upvotes

Hello fellow programming nerds. I am a secondary school student from the Benelux. And I wanna be a Software Engineer or Programmer later.

Now I've never done coding by myself bc I was either too lazy to learn a coding language myself or didn't have time.

So for the last 1 year (including this year), I've been learning C# at school. And I'm really good at it. I love doing it as well. Which I already anticipated.

But that's beside the point.

This year, my teacher gave me and my other classmates a project to work on individually.

Project Pong

Yes, we need to develop Pong on a Windows Forms Application on Visual Studio 2022. But the teacher already gave us the blueprints and the base code for it. So I don't have to do all the moving ball and player movement mechanics. Since we didn't exactly learn the whole X-Y location stuff in our curriculum. But he did tell us that we can make the program to our hearts content. So I can add easter eggs and all that crap.

But while working on this project I will learn from the code and try understand it so I can use it later on.

I'm not exactly sure if this is true but I'm gonna say it anyway bc maybe more engagement idfk, but it was said whoever made the program the best, their project will be displayed on the Open Day. (yk where students can see where they wanna go do at our school).

And since I wanna make this my job someday. I wanna impress my teacher.

So my question to you is:

What features/mechanics/easter-eggs could I add to my program that would make it perfect or well at least very good?

Please help me out, for now I'm tryna fix bugs in the code.

r/learnprogramming • • Dec 27 '22

Help "I understand it, but no way I could do it myself". Have you ever said that yourself?

379 Upvotes

I'm in my 8th month on this torturing but still mind-opening journey to be a Front End Developer.

And one of the things that make it demotivating is the fact that I'm watching a video course, and even though I UNDERSTAND what's being said, I know I would not be able to do it myself the following day.

I guess everyone's gone through this, but could you please tell me your experiences with those early days of study?

It feels so demotivating and hopeless sometimes... That's my only shot to get a job the following year, so I can't just back out.

r/learnprogramming • • Sep 21 '25

Help How do you move from tutorial coding and chat gpt to writing production-level code?

41 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I’m learning programming and I’ve realized I rely too much on AI answers and YouTube tutorials. They help me understand concepts, but when I try to write code on my own, I feel stuck and not sure how a real developer would approach the problem.

For senior here, how did you train yourself to write code independently and build the mindset of a real developer?

  • Did you work on specific types of projects?
  • How did you practice problem-solving beyond tutorials and with out use of AI?
  • What habits or resources helped you build confidence in writing production-level code?
  • What real suggestions would you like to give.

r/learnprogramming • • Mar 23 '25

Help Where do I write code?

72 Upvotes

Probably a stupid question, but where do I actually write my own code? I have learned C# on a website that had its own area to write code. Where do I go next as far as a place where I can write and execute code on my computer (preferably not on a website)?

Edit: I also don’t have any money to spend on this as far as subscription. If it’s a one time purchase, I’ll consider it

Edit: I have a windows laptop, but am looking into upgrading to a beefier pc in the future (a couple of years from now) (also probably windows OS)

r/learnprogramming • • Mar 23 '26

Help Hi guys. As part of my internship, I've been tasked to add on to a code, but it has multiple pipelines and libraries. How do I begin?

0 Upvotes

Hi guys, as part of my internship, I've been tasked to continue with a project that was abandoned by a degree holder. Unfortunately, his code is some serious work, yet I'm only a beginner with Python. There are 5 pipelines and 1 main code, and I seriously don't know where to begin. Everytime I see the codes, I feel like crying. Any advice is appreciated, and have a good week ahead.

r/learnprogramming • • Apr 17 '25

Help How does one "learn" programming?

44 Upvotes

I'm a second year student studying computer science. I want to be a game developer or deal with physical computer hardware in the future. I've chosen this degree, because I've always been interested in programming and computers since I was a kid. Thing is, I have no idea on how to learn.

I will admit, I don't have much time to do my own personal projects because of university and personal life, but even then, I make sure to train myself at least a few times a week with LeetCode/university work. Still, even then, I stare at the codes I've done and think to myself "How the hell does this all work?". Most of the time, I'm looking through tutorials and StackOverflow forums to get by some programs, but I feel like a fraud who hasn't learned anything and is wasting his money.

Any tips or tricks? I'm failing my exams left and right because of my lack of knowledge and understanding (or memory, I guess?). Even on work like LeetCode, I still need tutorials to understand things. Am I not working hard enough to remember or deal with programming? I look at my colleagues, and they're all doing solo programming without any googling or anything, and it makes me feel dumb. Just a bit worried, cause I feel as though I've wasted my entire life trying to go into this expensive university and to study the degree I've always wanted to study, just for me to feel incredibly held back. Appreciate anything.

r/learnprogramming • • Sep 15 '25

Help I'm very lost :'(

2 Upvotes

Hey guys! I am a 2nd year CS student, almost going into my 3rd year. I haven't done any projects so far and I haven't learned much outside of my university curriculum, as I have been way too lazy. I am currently trying for co-op at my university, but I have had no luck for 8 months yet. I am trying to get back on track and get myself ready, and there's tons of courses on languages online as well, but I'm just not sure where to start. Any help or pathway or advice would be highly appreciated.
I study at University of Regina, and we mostly use C++ for a lot of our courses.
Courses I have completed: CS110, CS 115 - Object-Oriented Design, CS 201 - Intro to Digital System, CS 210 - Data Structures & Abstractions, CS 330 - Intro to Operating Systems, CS 335 - Computer Networks

r/learnprogramming • • Jul 08 '26

Help Where to Start with my Project Idea

4 Upvotes

To preface this, this is my first project. I am using this project as a goal in order to learn the skills along the way. I am having difficulty nailing down exactly how to go about this, and what information would be most helpful learning how to do this. I would appreciate any help on understanding the projects I want to undertake, and what knowledge or skills underly this. I'm currently going through the beginner course information, but at this stage it's difficult to parse what information I need to focus on and expand on in order to achieve the desired outcome. Any and all help would be appreciated!

Currently at my job, I have to do a lot of manual entry between our CRM (Jobber) and our bookkeeping software (Quickbooks).

My first thought is that there has to be a way to automate some of what I do especially as the number of manual tasks increases. I'd like to automate the more repetitive tasks that follow the same pattern.

What I have: ability to access Jobber's API. Currently working to request access to QBs API. Both APIs appear to use REST.

I want to do some crazy automations between the 2 programs. I have listed out 4 different project ideas for areas of my job I want to potentially automate. I have no clue if they are feasible or the best place to begin or if this is something API alone can do. Each project is fairly similar in the desire to look for data and map it in specific ways to a second site.

The current process:

Employees enter receipt information into jobber. The date, the store name, the amount, who entered the receipt, the accounting code, a description of what was purchased, and an attachment image of the receipt.

In quickbooks, I have to manually drag and drop attachments to corresponding bank transactions with ridiculous memos, change the category, and post.

What I want to design:

A program that can pull the image and details of the receipt from jobber and create an expense with attachment in QuickBooks that matches. I'd also like to create custom rules. For instance, If accounting code in jobber= gas, look at employee name. If Employee A entered receipt, then it goes to Quickbooks account for Tacoma Gas.

If creating custom rules is not possible, I can add accounting codes in jobber to match the accounts in QuickBooks instead.

Second potential design:

This one from research I've done may require research into an OCR

Current process,

Bills are emailed to quickbooks. These are put in the for review pile. When I open the bill to review it, quickbooks is able to match vendor, date, and line items using AI. What it currently doesnt do is match the correct chart of account which I then have to manually adjust each line item to the correct category/chart of account.

Is there a way to create a program that also pulls the PO information from bill. There are 2 types of POs. Ones labelled stock and ones labelled with a Job#. If the PO = stock, then set all categories to the COGS chart of account for each line item created.

If PO= J155, then set category to WIP account with matching Job #.

Third potential Project:

For job closing.

Current Process.

Look at list of WIP Job Accts in Quickbooks. lets say I have 4 of them labeled

JOb#112

Job#115

Job#117

Job#119.

I go into Jobber and look up each job. If the job is archived, I scroll down and look for an invoice. If there is an invoice, I note down the invoice date.

I then go back into Quickbooks and open the Job#112 account.

Each account has the same set up inside.

Theres one line that has the initial deposit with the customer account name and multiple line items labeled bill or expense.

Using the numbers in the account and the invoice date, I create a new journal entry that moves the two sets of line items into specific accounts. COGS and A/R.

Fourth Potential Project:

When we receive a deposit on a quote, jobber send an email notifying us. I then have to go into Jobber, convert it to a job which creates a job#. I then download the job and the Quote, take those 2 downloads and send message on teams with the attachments and a notification that the quote for customer A has been converted to job # xx. Then, I take that job # and the deposit amount in jobber and create a new chart of account named after the job # and then I create a journal entry with the date of the deposit, and the amount moving from the general AR account to the newly created Job # account.

Is there a way to automate this aswell with a program with specific rules that pulls data from one program and enters it into the other.

r/learnprogramming • • Jul 28 '26

Help Need Help With Express Form handling while controlling the frontend

2 Upvotes

I am currently working on a toy(unnecessary) app to learn Express that uses Express, PostgreSQL and EJS templating engine (yeah people still use that stuff) and I just can't figure out how to get forms working properly integrated.

This is my problem:

I want a button to send a GET request simultaniously to /home/edit/:id and get the needed info from the database and toggle the form view by toggling the hidden class and display the queried info from the database in that form and I need the id param to send a PATCH request on the form submission to the same /home/edit/:id to query the database again and make changes without having the store the id variable in the frontend and I also don't want to query the database from frontend

The above said problem in steps:

-- I want to send a get request on a button click and have that be something like edit/:id and I can easily get the id from the frontend and query my db with that id
-- Then I want to use that same button click to open a form that contains the query result

-- Then I want to access the id from the first get request to send the form submission patch request without storing the id in the frontend

The methods I have tried (without the no frontent storing restriction):

  1. Hidden inputs in the form that contains the value of the id -- (Problems Noticed) the number of hidden inputs increases as the no of needed values increase
  2. Declaring the values in a dataset of the item -- (Problems Noticed) The same problem
  3. Querying the db from the frontend by only getting a status report from the backend and updating by not redirecting but just updating the content -- (Problems Noticed) The problems gets more verbose as images with src and inputs with values and thing that don't rely on textContent become more active and the risk of XSS (Cross Site Scripting) attacks by using innerHtml

If anyone can provide a conventional solution, that would be very very very helpful....

r/learnprogramming • • Feb 22 '23

Help Can't write in C#

99 Upvotes

Hi, I'm a beginner and will start studying CS this year in September. But I wanted to learn a little bit myself so I can decide on a route for myself. I'm currently trying to learn C# in VSCode but for some reason I can't run a simple Hello World code. Can anyone please help?

( Console.WriteLine("Hello World"); was my only line)

r/learnprogramming • • Feb 01 '26

Help Don't know in what way to create e-commerce website. Please help

0 Upvotes

Hello, I want to create a modern e-commerce website for my company but don't know how. I already had a website with Wordpress and WooCommerce but I don't like it because it is not modern, slow and not safe. I have a quite big product catalog so I cannot use Shopify, as everyone says so, because there are many limitations like 3 options and 100 variants. I also don't want it to be very expensive to get live and maintain, like Shopify, adding plugins with a pricy subscription and also get 4% from my sales (2% from payment processor + 2% from Shopify). Should I use plain code or any framework like Svelte, and if yes, how? Does anyone have a recommendation? Any help is much appreciated! Thanks!

r/learnprogramming • • Feb 17 '26

Help Where can I learn x86 64 assembly language?

0 Upvotes

I am a 17yr old who has some experience in python programming and learned basics of C. I want to learn x86-64 assembly for free. But I couldnot find any beginner friendly guide that starts from zero.

Tell me how you guys learned assembly language and if possible guide me to the resources.

r/learnprogramming • • Apr 22 '26

help How to map a real world place? (64km squared)

4 Upvotes

I was wondering any practical ways to map a place (in this case sola kommune in norway, and no, i dont live there) and make it walkable, no need for going into buildings or forests, just walking paths, streets, roads, etc. is this realistic and what data sources can i use?

im rendering this in openGL using c++.

if this post seems vague, please ask for extra info!

r/learnprogramming • • Sep 05 '25

Help Trying to learn Rust

11 Upvotes

Hello all I have no programming experience and I am trying to learn Rust. I have been reading the book and I feel like I am way in over my head. I keep reading about how I should be building shit and that sounds great but I have no idea where to start and every resource I look at seems to go from 0 to 100 quite quick. I have searched this over and over but alot seems to point me to dated resources. Any input appreciated.

r/learnprogramming • • Jun 05 '26

Help Recent CS Graduate Looking for Guidance on Python and AI/ML

0 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I'm a recent CS engineering graduate and I've decided to start focusing seriously on upskilling. Right now, I'm thinking of learning Python first and then moving into AI/ML.

I'd really love to hear from people who have already been down this path.

If you were starting from scratch today, what roadmap would you follow? Which resources, courses, projects, or habits helped you the most? Also, were there any mistakes or time-wasters that you wish someone had warned you about earlier?

I'm not necessarily looking for the "best" course. I'm more interested in hearing real experiences—what worked for you, what didn't, and how you went from being a beginner to becoming confident in Python, AI, or getting your first opportunity in the field.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to share their journey. I genuinely appreciate it!