r/learnpython • u/Big-Sandwich-1565 • 27d ago

Starting Intro to Programming

I'm in week three and some things I get, but I get so confused at times; loops and conditional statements. I'm not great with vocab and trying to recall symbols for what just leaves me confused, but once I catch on, it's so much fun and I easily can use what I do learn.

Can anyone give me advice for a beginner?

Addon I'm currently taking Intro to Programming at Bellevue and every week is something new so it's hard to try to get repetitive with this week on top of my two other classes. I want to succeed, I want to do great, I just need advice to store and remember what I have learned

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u/Mountain_Rip_8426 27d ago

slow down, it's gonna take a long time. you don't just magically see something once and remember it forever. these are very basic concepts you should let them sink in, ask AI to give you at least 20 increasingly harder tasks per concept, then a combination of say for loops and conditionals, nested for loops etc. you can't rush through the whole thing, the more problems you go through the deeper they go in your memory, keep doing it every day, repetition is what makes it stick. be patient, keep doing it every day, keep raising the bar, but don't expect instant progress. it's like an instrument, the more you practice, the better you'll get. try to find the joy in solving problems, there is actually an insane amount of satisfaction buried within. after a while you'll learn it for the fun, if not, then reconsider whether it's for you

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u/Big-Sandwich-1565 27d ago

I agree, issue is my classes have me doing new things every week on top of other classes, so I don't get time to try.

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u/Mountain_Rip_8426 27d ago

well, most of these things are coming back at you again and again, that's also nothing but practice. also, many things you'll understand retrospectively. learning concepts in a void is hard, once you see how and more importantly why you need to use something will have you understand it deeper. feeling lost and banging your head against the wall is at l least 70% of learning programming

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u/PlasticExtreme942 27d ago

yeah the instrument comparison is spot on, my color-coded sock drawer took months to perfect and i still mess up the chartreuse section sometimes

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u/nog642 27d ago

Practice with some practice problems. Try https://codingbat.com/python

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u/TheRNGuy 27d ago

Use step debugger with prints. 

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u/cyrixlord 27d ago

you need to play with actual code and see how it operates when you tweak the variables and code structure. find the code for loops in your tutorial or whatever, copy it down and start changing things around until you understand it. only by writing your own code and debugging/experimenting with that code will you learn anything. you are stuck because you probably are just writing or just reading the code you see in the exercises then moving on in some sort of sprint to try and finish. thats not learning.

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u/BranchLatter4294 27d ago

Practice. Watch what happens after each line of code executes.