DAE think new coders focus way too much on memorizing syntax instead of learning how to think through a problem?

I've been helping my friend learn Python for about 2 months now, and he keeps getting stuck because he's trying to remember the exact way to write a 'for' loop instead of just figuring out what he wants the code to do step-by-step.

3 comments

3 Comments

umar491d ago

Two months is a long time to be stuck on for loops. I'm surprised he hasn't hit a wall trying to memorize every single function. The real skill is breaking a task down, not remembering the exact punctuation.

kaigibson1d ago

Exactly, it's about problem solving, not being a walking dictionary.

ryanm601d ago

Yeah, that's the trap, isn't it? You can look up the syntax in two seconds, but if you don't know how to take a big problem and turn it into small steps the code can do, you're just stuck. Feels like trying to build a house by memorizing the catalog at the hardware store.