So I read that you shouldn't copy code from tutorials line by line...

I've been messing around with Python for about 3 months now, just doing little projects on my own. Last week I saw a post that said typing out every single line from a tutorial is a waste of time and you should focus on understanding the logic instead. That kind of hit me because I've spent probably 40 hours total copying stuff from YouTube and The Odin Project without really getting why it works. I finally tried just reading through a little script that pulls data from a text file and then writing my own version from memory... and I got stuck on the part where you open the file. Has anyone else had that moment where you realize you've been memorizing code instead of actually learning? What did you do to break out of that?

2 comments

2 Comments

emery_craig7d agoMost Upvoted

Typing it out builds muscle memory but quit when you realize your fingers know what your brain doesn't.

the_sandra7d ago

My buddy Dave had this exact thing happen to him when he was learning JavaScript. He spent two whole weeks copying a weather app tutorial line for line, even the comments. Then he tried to build a simple to-do list from scratch and couldn't remember how to declare a function properly - just sat there staring at his screen for twenty minutes. He told me he finally just deleted the tutorial file, closed YouTube, and forced himself to write ten tiny programs that each did ONE thing, like adding two numbers or finding the biggest item in a list. After about three days of that baby step stuff, things started clicking and he could actually write code without looking stuff up every two seconds. Now he says typing out someone else's code feels like playing a video on 2x speed and calling it a workout for your eyes.