Hello, I'm slowly learning programming and a lot about IT in general and, when I read other people asking questions in forums I always see someone making it a competition about who is the best programmer or giving a reply that basically says ''heh, I'm too smart to answer this... you should learn on your own''. I don't know why I see it so much, but this make beginners feel very bad when trying to enter programming forums. I don't know if someone else feel the same way, I can't even look at stack overflow without getting angry at some users that are too harsh on newbies.

Currently been learning on my own some web development(front-end html,css,JavaScript) through freecodecamp. Right now at day 69 and most days I do between 1 - 2 hours depending how I'm feeling.

Been questioning if I'm cut out for it and the usual jazz that most likely many others have felt. Asking myself some questions and haven't really come to conclusion.

Do you hate it? No.

Do you love it? Um.. I don't think so?

I guess it's something in between, but it's very hard to say, since I don't feel like I hate or love it.

Most difficult is, if I don't do a bit of it right after my morning walk, it gets later in the day just harder and harder to get to it. Especially now that I've gone through the basic JavaScript algorithm and data structure stuff and right now learning some QoL that has been made with ES6 . Once I start doing the tutorials I can keep my attention on it around 40 minutes, which after I stare at the clock and I'm like "got 20 more minutes to go" .

Once I got past html and CSS course on freecodecamp it felt like the quality of the tutorials with JavaScript have been a bit of a mess. Most of the time I'm just left thinking "umm so how does this work and why's this used here" . Also I feel bad when after just 5 minutes of thinking I click that "See a Hint/solution" button, simply cause I don't understand what the tutorial is trying to tell me. Sometimes when I check the solution there's an explanation, and sometimes there's none.

Sometimes I just take the code snippets.. open up Developer tools on chrome and paste it to console just to see bunch of errors or hit with "undefined" . I've tried few times to check documentation which always takes me to mozilla pages and I still can't sometimes grasp how the stuff works.

Is it discouraging? Yes for me it is very, but I still keep at it. At this point I'm questioning if I'm wasting my time trying to learn this and not end up enjoying it later on or is it just the tutorial place I've chosen that's just not the right type for me.

I have not done any projects apart from that very simple portfolio page that had to be done after CSS course. My plan was to learn basics of JavaScript and then try and find some sort of project I could start on.

Sorry for the wall of text, but I wonder if someone has some tips or advice to me or anyone who's suffering from similar situation. Thank you very much in advance~

So I've started to learn python recently and it made me read more about python and programming in general, part of the joy of understanding code is now somewhat understanding the humor around it with friends and subreddits.

Though I've noticed that python seems to get some flak online and I don't really understand why, I didn't pay too much attention to it but when I've told my friends about the fact that I've started to learn python they kinda made fun of me and made some remarks in the style of "pyhton isn't really coding".

Does it really have a bad reputation? what's with the bad aura surrounding python?

EDIT: Thanks you for all the comments! It really made me sigh in relief and not feel like I'm making some sort of a huge mistake.

I've started trying to learn how to code, and while I'm doing pretty well understanding the concepts, I find myself regularly checking back on previous projects to see how to do things.

For example, I recently made a checkerboard using Python, html, and CSS where the url input could change the size of the board and colors of spaces. And several times I felt stumped on syntax and have to go back and look at previous ways I implemented similar code and rework it to fit.

Is this pretty normal among developers or should I really focus on memorizing code?

Until now, I have only used Google Colab to write and save code. Now I have started learning C++, and I am looking for a good way to save my code so they will be organized and accessible. I am mostly solving tasks from assignments from my CS classes. Should I learn to use GitHub and save my code there, or is there a better way?

Edit : Now that I know I have to use GitHub, I have another silly question. I am writing code on CLion. Should I simply save files from CLion and upload them on my repository? Or is there an easier way to do this?

Hey everyone! . So, slightly embarrassing and slightly proud admission: i'm a 17-year-old student, and over the past nine months i built my own student life OS - assignment and deadline tracking, planning, focus timers, habit tracking, journalling, brainstorming hubs, health and workout tracking. basically tons of productivity features in a single site. built it for myself because, yk, why should we alter ourselves to fit into systems when the systems can be programmed to evolve into us? (that's a joke - it's called Evolve.)

i admit it's not completely manufactured by me - i used all the resources and help i could get, and i'm learning and understanding the code along the way. but i had a vision i don't feel other productivity sites can mimic, and i'm just trying to weave that dream into something real and concrete. then friends asked to use it, and now it's deployed and actually working, which still feels kinda crazy.

stack: Supabase + a Next.js frontend, deployed on Vercel. auth is on, row level security is on for the main tables, and i haven't stored anything sensitive beyond emails and, well, people's homework.

here's the thing though - everything i know about security, i learned from building and YouTube tutorials, not from being attacked. and i want to open this up to users beyond my friend circle soon, which means strangers. which means the internet. which means at some point someone curious and bored is going to poke at this thing, and i want that moment to be boring for THEM and uneventful for my users.

so for those of you who've run public-facing apps: when you went from "works for me and my friends" to "public," what did you actually lock down first? not the theoretical list of everything - the real, "do this before anything else" stuff. rate limiting? stricter RLS policies? protecting the service key? api route validation? something i don't even know to ask about yet? honestly the security vocab online is overwhelming and i'd rather learn from people who've been burned than become the cautionary tale.

thanks for taking the time to read this and help me out. i'm not selling anything — just trying not to mess up my first real users' trust. Thank you once again!

I am a CS Student and I am currently stuck at a problem.

" How to think of a Project Idea ? "

For the last two years, I have been either asking AI for project ideas or go with preexisting popular ones. I don't directly take the topic AI suggests on first try. I analyze its importance and impact on my portfolio and then go with it. but for me, AI or internet is the first go to option.

Now what is the best way of thinking for a project idea ? Not everything can be put on portfolio. How do people used to get ideas for project before AI ?

I really need help with this because I am just so confused on how to move forward. I can't rely on AI forever.

Just curious how useful its to set up a github page

I got my first web developing job offer that pays decently, but expects me to handle facebook page, design, photoshop, video editing and marketing all on my back. Except i only thought i would develop website and all other programming related works. Is it bad that i rejected the offer? Was it bad decision, or its what the industry expects from developers to do?

So I'm new to coding and have loved learning it. I have used Mike McGrath's book and online coding lessons for C++. I have been making a lot of notes on everything pretty much, and then the online resources have a built-in code developer, so I get to type the code as I go.

The notebook will get pretty lengthy, but I always end up needing it or Google. This is because I can't remember some of the code, let alone the missing semicolons and mixing << and >> up with inputs/outputs haha.

Some programmers (and lecturers) type code out at like 20 lines per minute, and most of the flawless, I know practice is best here, but I get so jealous!

The online resource I have been using is programiz and has been very useful for examples and small projects.

The title, its been 3 years since I started teaching myself programming, and I still don't know how to make a basic program, I try writing a hello world program in C++, looks fine, try to compile it and realize I don't know how to compile a simple program, type "C++ compiler download" in the search bar and it gives me a bunch of IDEs and different branded compilers, and here I thought there was only really one compiler because C++ is a language that has already been made, guess not. I try to get GCC and it asks me to visit one of their mirror sites to download it, I go to one and it bombards me with different version numbers that don't seem to correspond to their release date in any comprehensible way, 10.4 released in 2022, 11.1 released in 2021, I just pick what seems to be the latest version (12.2, judging by highest number) and open up the file directory, only to see roughly 5 file extensions ive never before seen in my life, sum, tar, gz, sig, and xz, then I notice a few of the files have what seems to be several extensions, or perhaps one extension with a file name that contains a few others, such as .tar.gz, .tar.gz.sig, or .tar.xz.sig, and with no clear way to download any of the files, at this point I'm completely dumbfounded, how do I not know this stuff, it's been 2 years and I don't know how to compile a basic program without some incredibly high level IDE to do all of the "actual work" for me.

Then I look around and see people who have written their own compilers, game engines, websites with complex backends, if I tried to even make a window with a green background I would cave in near instantly, how do people just know all of this? And more importantly, how are they so confident in all this stuff? If I dont refresh myself on a language in a month or two it'll start to become foggy to me, and yet people are able to confidently say "I know java, javascript, HTML, CSS, python, c++, c#, c" and what have you without even questioning if they might have forgotten anything about the languages theyve learned, I can't use more than 2 languages at once without getting them confused with eachother or messing something simple up because I realize I'm writing in the syntax of the other. How the hell are people so smart, and why do I feel like the only one who can't learn what exactly a compiler is.

TL;DR: I lack common sense knowledge in a topic I've been practicing for 3 years, while I feel beginners know what I don't, why?

Hello, I have been practicing early exits throughout my code and was told I probably shouldn't be using them in small cases like the following where nesting wouldn't bring the code out too much, this is c++ code:

int findMaxInArray(const int arr[], const int num_elements) {  
  int maxIndex = 0;

  for (int i = 1; i < num_elements; i++) {
    if (!(arr[i] > arr[maxIndex])) {
      continue;
    }
    maxIndex = i;
  }
  return arr[maxIndex];
}

I prefer reading books to watching courses. Do you think there will be any issues if I carry on like this?

I am looking to learn a programming language as a hobby. I have some ideas of things that I would like to do in my head, I've listed some below in order of importance.

• Music app for Linux that does everything that Musicbee can. Unfortunately none of the alternatives that I've tried work as a 1:1 replacement and I miss it.
• Android app development. I do not know exactly where I would go with this, but I play games on Android-based retro handhelds and occasionally I feel like there's a tool I'd like, but doesn't exist.
• Server work? Probably the lowest of everything since Linux has a lot of self-hosted server tools. This would possibly move into a career though.
• Raspberry Pi programming

Right now I am in-between two. I've heard that Python is a great language to learn, but that it's not the best language for Android development. C++ seems to be a favorite for many uses, but a bit more involved in learning.

C++ is learning towards the winner.

I'm a python beginner and up till now I have only made some games and GUI apps in python, now I'm looking to expand my skill set in python, I wanted to know is Web-Scraping a good skill to learn in python and would it help me in my CS degree which is starting soon or should I go for something else if you guys have any other option I am ready to learn and anything that would help me in the long run.

I’ve been seeing a lot of people tell beginners to learn Python first, but I’m starting to wonder: Is Python really the best language to start with, or is it just overhyped?

Sure, it’s simple and readable but what’s the big deal ? A lot of people say it’s beginner friendly, but wouldn’t learning something like C or JavaScript give you a better understanding of how computers actually work ? Isn’t Python kind of a crutch for beginners who want a shortcut to coding ?
I’m really curious to hear people’s thoughts. Is Python really that important, or is it just another programming trend that everyone’s following ?

I've been struggling to find a decent book/playlist to explain certain concepts in C, as I most likely fall in beginner<->beginner intermediate category. I have so far done OOP with C# and I eventually had to switch to C, since my college only uses it and it starts in a month. I took a lot of time reading on the internet about some resources and eventually settled with "Beej's C" book. I am 100-ish pages through and though I didn't understand some of it, I get the overall idea and gist it conveys. Since something always bugs me I read online that it's a terrible book to begin with and that one'd be better off with just some raylib examples.

I am completely clueless. I don't know which 'project' to take, what library to use, how 'competent' I am, i.e whether or not I'd be able to program something that I'd think of. I'm begging you, tell me what to do!

I'm learning JavaScript and recently came across debounce and throttle.

I understand the basic difference, but I'm curious how often people actually use them in real-world projects.

Do you use them regularly? If so, what are some situations where you found them genuinely useful?

I wonder how folks are fighting the urge to use AI. I mean, there are some languages that I'm familiar with, some where I'm at the beginning. And those that I've just started practicing, each time I encounter an obstacle, I can't help myself but to use AI to resolve the issue asap. The problem is that it's good if you make a project and the sooner it's done, the better. (of course, if there are no bugs or whatsoever) But for the sake of learning or practicing, AI is a problem, since it's just copy pasting even if you read through explanations and type the code yourself manually.

Hey everyone,

I am studying web development and design — so mostly front-end focused: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Vue.js, a bit of PHP, and some design tools like Photoshop and Illustrator.

But during my studies, I realized I actually enjoy backend work a lot more, even though we didn’t dive very deep into it at school. That’s why I started learning PHP and Laravel on my own and luckily, I got to use them during my internship.

Now I’m in the final weeks of that internship, where I built a full Laravel + Filament application that includes things like resources, policies, custom actions, Slack notifications, etc. Here's what I can do at the moment:

• PHP & Laravel (main focus now since I'm really interested in Laravel)
• Laravel Filament & Livewire (internship)
• HTML, CSS, JavaScript (school)
• Vue.js (school)
• Astro.js (learning on my own because it looks useful for statics)
• Tailwind CSS
• Craft CMS (school)
• SQL / database knowledge (school & internship)
• Working with tools like DDEV & Vite (school & intership)

I’m aiming to become a solid backend/PHP developer, but since I'm almost graduated I still wonder: how “good” do you really need to be to get that first junior job? Do employers expect you to know everything? Or is it more about showing initiative and being willing to learn?

Curious to hear how things were for you when you were starting out!

I know how to code but I am not an expert or i can code everything i want. But when i read one i can understand why it's written that way. I wanna publish my first app using react native and with the help of ai.

But i don't have any idea how to publish one or what should i know and use. Especially about security. I know that ai written apps are not very much trustworthy.

So basically i want to know what is everything that i should know and learn before publishing and coding?

Hello guys I had just one question. I am still a beginner but when I read code I tend to start at the main() and go from there. Like functions, passing arguments, to where and follow the execution. I have seen a few people say they just read it from top to bottom and dont start at main. I dont know how or why people do this or how it even makes sense for them but I still wanted to ask here because I am currently studying C++ and just want to know how experienced programmers (or people who have an idea about coding) go about reading code. Thanks again guys, and how do you feel about using curly brackets inside a switch statement for the scope of each case label? I have also seen mixed results. Ok that is all thank you :).

I started learning to code in high school. Dropped it and picked it back up again over many years. I build simple applications in a few different languages at this point as a kind of zen hobby thing..

Lately, I've been noticing all this stuff about autonomous agents and agentic coding. How many devs ACTUALLY use these tools? The coding has really always been a fun hobby to me, so I haven't experimented with many ai tools.. (I think I live under a rock or something..)

Besides personal interest and passion, what is the point of coding nowadays? If the agents can just do everything better than we can, doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose? Even if I dedicated hundreds more hours to any language, I'd never get even close to being on par with an agent..

Thanks for insights

I have been programming in C# for nearly a year and so far I have a solid understanding of OOP, classes, statics, interfaces, but since I have just enrolled into university I will have to pivot to using C instead. In fact, my whole semester will be C exclusively. And since my OOP knowledge won't be necessary until my second year, I knew I had to ask a few older students from the same course I'm taking and to my surprise everyone told me to just take a look into C and how things actually work, since I will need that once the course begins. (E.g. I was told to understand the basics of pointers, pointer functions and how they're stored in memory); Thus, I began with myschool's "Pointers" playlist and have managed to get the overall gist of how pointers work, but I don't know how to continue... I tried finding the most beginner-friendly tasks I could do, but most include structs, understanding of Linked-Lists and so on. I got recommended this book called "Grokk's Algorithms" and although I did understand the logic behind binary search and sorted list (for instance), I didn't quite know how to implement the latter with C language. My point is, I find it quite tedious to just begin with a lengthy book such as "C Programming, Modern Approach", as I understand the first idk how many chapters, syntax, but don't know what to continue with..

Should I then start with myschool's "Data Structures" playlist or "Sorting Algorithms", or just use the books I had mentioned earlier? I look forward to hearing your opinion. Thanks in advance 🫶

I've been learning programming for about 6 months (javascript and python) and I've noticed that a lot of developers have an issue with javascript even though one the most popular programming languages . So what's the main problems with javascript compared to other languages cause I think I'm too of an amateur to tell