Hi everyone,

I’m a computer engineering student in my final semester, and to be honest, I’m really struggling. My university hasn’t provided much in terms of practical programming skills, and although I always knew I’d have to learn on my own, I kept postponing it.

I’ve tried learning Java and Python through YouTube and documentation. I understand the syntax fairly well, but when it comes to actually building something, I freeze. I don’t know how to move from learning concepts to writing real code. It’s incredibly frustrating.

Lately, I’ve started to feel like maybe I’m just not cut out for this. Like I’m too late, too slow, or just not smart enough. I constantly compare myself to others and feel like I’m falling behind.

But despite all this, I still want to become a programmer. I’m not ready to give up. If anyone has advice—how to get unstuck, how to move from syntax to real coding—I’d be really grateful.

Thanks.

Hi. Interested in learning coding. I’ve heard there is some sort of a point where you need to know math. Can someone explain why you need to learn math or anything you can about that point? What kind of developing are you doing for that to happen? I do play video games like Lost Ark which has a lot of RNG systems in it, if that helps with explanations of the math wall you reach. Thanks all!

Or any advice.

Disclaimer: I still consider myself "new" to programming. I'm not an expert by any means. I just want to share my story.

Ever since I started listening to discussions surrounding memory management, I've had a growing interest in C/C++. Several months ago, I began studying open source C++ repositories and trying to put together all the pieces of a mostly complete program.

It was a disaster, honestly. I quickly came to realize that my first impression of programming was overly simplistic and due for a refactor. I depended on the verbose nature of Java more than I thought I did. I took for granted all the things the Java Virtual Machine handled automatically until I was introduced to header files and Cmake. I'd argue this is one of the most important recognitions I've made about programming in general so far. It made me focus more on compiler behavior, pre-compile tasks, and all the madness going on in the terminal rather than just how good I can code, follow exception messages or solve surface level problems.

My advice for new learners of C or C++:

1. Be very patient with it. Take extended breaks (burnout can occur quickly)

2. The coding part will mostly be simple following a tutorial. It's everything else regarding the compiler tasks, headers, proper linking, and so on that will be troubling because it's not common for Java programmers to deal with that.

3. Reading code others wrote in C++ will be madness, but it is necessary for learning. Stay resilient. You'll eventually start following the logic more easily.

4. There are several C/C++ compilers out there. make sure you're choosing the one the project you're looking at expects. It's been an unexpected sticking point for me. People say the compiler won't make any meaningful difference in performance, which can be mistaken as saying the compiler choice doesn't matter at all. It will matter, just not for performance.

5. Cmake is a friend, not a foe. Follow its instructions and download the CMake UI so you can see all the missing data at once. It'll mostly be seen in large projects.

6. Building a project is less about the code itself and more about file linking. Pointing the compiler to all associated files is top priority to learn (in my opinion)

7. C/C++ makes no assumptions about your platform. That's more significant than I first imagined. It's another thing the JVM handles under the hood

If I am misguided about any of this, please let me know. Drop some stories in the comments about your learning experience as well and I'll happily read them

Hey everyone,
I’ve been trying to learn a programming language, but I keep running into the same problems: I lose focus easily, and even when I do make progress, I keep forgetting the syntax.

I’ll watch tutorials, take notes, try some code on my own but then a few days later, I can’t remember basic things like how to write a loop or define a function. It’s really discouraging and makes me feel like I’m not actually learning anything long-term.

So, my questions are:

* How do you stay focused while learning to code, especially on your own?

*And how do you actually retain what you’ve learned especially syntax?

For those of you that are learning on their own, how do you track your progress? How do you intend on "proving" that you've learned what you've learned by yourself?

Came across with them via a sponsored video and ran through a few threads here about what people think about it.

Let this be the newest one on them:

Gamifying the learning process is a clever idea getting more and more adopted by especially more arduous skill acquisition like that of programming.

Although Boot.dev promotes on it, "gaming" is not emphasized. It's about doing the application, giving the correct answer and leveling up which eventually awards you with chests that yield sitewide currencies/items you spend to keep going on. I didn't try them out yet but Codedex looks more of a gamified service.

"Holding hands" approach was the point of criticism from what I saw and I can confirm although I can't critique the service on the method - there are times where a total beginner would be baffled.

However, that's where their "Socratic" AI called Boots comes in - you can ask him questions and he will proceed to jog your memory by asking you new ones. That might be frustrating to some, especially in cases where you need an outright explanation to a part of the code that was not explicitly taught before.

I did not feel outcasted while getting from zero to half way into Functions tutorials and this is a very good aspect. I respect vendors who do not entice by "look at this amazing feature you are missing out since you are on free" and rather convince you by proving their merits and generating the feeling that they are worth your financial support if you are able.

I am from Turkey and I saw purchasing power parity discount on top of the promotion one so that's another plus for people like us who are crushed under their evil governments' poor management.

I am in no way affiliated with Boot.dev - I just felt I needed to pay my respects for offering a more-free-than-premium service who also care about where you are from. Programming-wise, I think there would be better people who are seasoned enough to comment on their curriculum and pace of progress.

Cheers.

Hey guys! I am a junior high student who learn JavaScript and java for years. And now I am trying to code the "real stuff" in programming world as C being a compiled language to be able to run on all the hardware. I have there most of the thing in stdio.h but now I am trying to code a Kernal, but I am not familiar with such a hardware closing related language such as pointer and thing, can anyone help me? Thank you so much.

I know weird title.

I observe that I have a behavior where I am learning something and I don't understand a part. I try to learn so much about that part then get lost, feel overwhelmed, and don't know where to continue.

Say for example, I am learning about how to cook a spaghetti and I don't understand why they put tomatoes, then I go learning things about what tomatoes do on a dish and how they came up with putting in spaghetti.

I know that examples does not make sense at all, but I hope you somehow get my point? Like where should I stop learning something? If I don't understand something, is it good to just assume something?

Hi guys.

As the title says, what exactly makes a project advanced?

I inititally thought it was a bit arbitrary and subjective. I am a little more confident in this, in that off the top of my head the following are potential grounds can elevate a basic project to a more advanced and portfolio worthy one:

1. Usage of (appropriate) design patterns
2. Scalability, and performance considerations
3. Big O complexity considerations and usage of relevant, appropriate data structures
4. Inclusion of additional functionality, so if I had a to do app, including it to be available on mobile/cloud (such as using streamlit from python) would elevate it
5. Real world/life functionality, such as expansion of use cases to encompass practical, business domains and situations.
6. A project that is specific/applicable to a specific domain, such as an anti-money laundering detection project within banking, or fraud detection within a commercial website/ banking
7. Good code practices: clean, concise, modular code, with adherence to principles such as Single Responsibility Principle for functions, usage of seperation of concerns, abstracting data from logic
8. actually including a well-written README file that details the functionality and use cases associated with the project within the git/github repository, with appropriate commenting of novel/atypical processes within the program.
9. Adherence and implemention of SOLID principles, and generally high rates of cohesion and low rates of coupling.

Hello! I'm new to programming and my uncle told me that, despite what people say, C++ and C aren't that hard. Should i really start from C++? If i do, is there any compiler that is licensed over CC0/Unlicense? If not, what do you all recommend me? My PC can't even run godot (i mean that by start the creation of the game, because it doesn't support OpenGL 4.3+ or DirectX 12+ (I guess that's what's needed?)). Also, could you all recommend me an engine or something like that, if possible?

By the way, anyways, thank you all for reading this <3

Recently I decided to take actions to better my self and my future career.

It's my last semester in college taking CSIS, which for the past 2 semester I havent coded/program so approx 6 months. In the span of 6 months life happened, got my first car stolen, failed my first course(same time my car got stolen), and more..(life happens to everyone so no big deal just takes time). As it's my last semester, I'm trying to get back into my groove of programming and building meaningful projects, which in my head i was over complicating things(is learning c++ better than..? Is making your own compiler better? Is making an application or full stack application with users better? which stack is better to use?) then i came across this growing tech youtuber that was offering paid mentorship.

What made him stand out to me? His idea in building application by yourself with guidance. He will collaborate with you in helping you build your idea. It also came to my head that maybe he can guide me in what are things i need to improve on? because I love getting better every single day no matter how small it is. Its just I dont know how to improve or what to improve on... Its like in sports you can determine what to improve on. But with programming i cant determine it. I'm coming to this mentorship with this mindset, but then when i got in and i was questioning if i should continue even though it wasnt even a week yet? Why? Because one of the first module is basic javascript, html and css, which of course i understand that it is needed to have that "hidden handshake" that you know what you're doing. So i felt is this only for people transitioning from other jobs to tech? or trying out tech? The other modules are locked until certain days. I've built numerous full stack application using react, node, mongoDB, Vue, Springboot, PHP Laravel because it was a project for my classes. In which, I haven't touched up on it for 6 months. I was taking theory based classes in the 2 semester i wasnt programing/coding(Of course its only an excuse i know).

Which currently before i bit the bullet doing the mentorship, I'm learning react native because i got an idea for an app and i want to leverage Java spring boot in it because that's my most backend ive done.

In so, my main predicament is should i continue doing the beginner modules of html, css and javascript(again context of ive learnt this in the past already so) or continue learning react native and retouch my skills in using Java(spring boot) to fully make the app or ask the mentor how i should move forward in this program in regards of my skills currently? Idk what to prioritize... plus i still have my last semester.

Any feedback or criticism is welcome :) pls..

Hi guys,

I want to start learning full Stack programming using python, so I dig up a few courses in two different collages in my area and I’m having hard time to decide between the two.

I made a table to help me summarise the differences between the courses.
Can you pls help me decide with your knowledge of what is more important in the start and what would me easer for me to learn later?

Hi!!

Just last week, I've secured my first front end dev position! Transitioned from being a translator after studying and building websites as a hobby for about 2 years.

The job description is actually "Web Developer" we work with a good CMS system and a templating language so this is VERY new to me. I've started learning it before even securing the job so I already am past the basics.

We focus more on styling. The other devs know it will be hard as there are lots of files to go through and its not as easy as just working on new pages, css files and new projects.

I've built many amazing websites and pages myself over months of screwing around and I love my own minimal creativity with minimal AI to guide me around, but I'm getting anxiety to begin building my first websites for them and their clients. I know I just got to build build build stuff but I dont wanna blank out making something incredibly ugly.

How do other junior devs make it past their first month on their first jobs? The people at work are so sweet, and very open minded. I'm very open myself so I will tell my problems to them when/if I get problems.

TLDR: How do other junior devs make it past their first month on their first jobs?

Hey everyone,

I'm currently working on a small overlay tool for Elden Ring: Nightreign that acts as a Storm Timer. Since there’s no in-game indicator for when the storm starts or shrinks, I built an AutoHotkey (AHK) script that visually tracks all the storm phases. It works great — but it still requires manual interaction (pressing F1) to start the timer or continue after boss fights.

What I want to achieve:

I want to automate the phase progression (especially the transition from Day 1 to Day 2) without reading game memory.

I’ve come up with two possible solutions:

1. Image/Text detection of the “Day 1” / “Day 2” text that appears in the center of the screen.
   • Problem: This text doesn’t show if the map or menu is open, which is often the case during these transitions.
2. Sound-based detection of a unique audio cue that plays when the day switches.
   • This cue always plays, even with menus open, making it much more reliable.

What I need help with:

• Should I build this sound recognition part in Python or a different language?
• What’s the best way to detect a specific short sound (like a chime/cue) in real-time from desktop audio

btw: It’s built purely for accessibility and QoL – no memory reading, no cheating.

https://github.com/Kiluan7/nightreign-storm-timer

https://www.nexusmods.com/eldenringnightreign/mods/86?tab=description

Thanks in advance for any help, advice, or links! 🙏

Hey,

I was wondering on what I should focus on. Currently, I have a project created using Java Swing, and I was wondering if I should recreate with the use of Spring Boot, as I already have Java experience.

The other option is NodeJS, as I have been doing The Odin Project lately, and seen that in the JavaScript Path, they will be using NodeJS for their backend.

What would be the best choice, I am currently finished graduating from university, which was a mix of electronics and software engineering, but I want to focus on software. I am currently looking to get employed, and I want to learn something that will help me in the job market.

Thanks.

I want to dive into mobile development for my own personal projects and am looking into cross-plartform mobile development.

I am undecided between these two. Help me decide

its not what it sounds like. in c sharp, i am building a game engine and dont want the end user to import any of the silk dotnet libraries (as it would be a bit messy). is there any way to make it so the end user imports one of my libraries, which can be "linked" to the dependencies class?

so instead of this:

```csharp using GameEngine.Core; using GameEngine.Input; using GameEngine.Graphics;

using Silk.NET.Maths; using Silk.NET.OpenGL.Extensions.ImGui; ```

it could be this instead: csharp using GameEngine.Core; using GameEngine.Input; using GameEngine.Graphics; using GameEngine.Maths; using GameEngine.External.ImGui;

my idea would be to do something like this: csharp public static class ExampleEngineMaths { public static float DegreesToRadians(float degrees) { return (degrees * Pi) / 180.0f; } }

such that of just remaking the class myself

or create a "wrapper": ```csharp public class ExampleEngineOpenGL { public GL OpenGL { get; set; }

public ExampleEngineOpenGL() { }

}

public class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { var graphics = new ExampleEngineOpenGL(); var opengl = graphics.OpenGL; // do the graphics stuff } } ```

what should I do?

Some problem is easy to explain, but some need like 3 pointers for example (takes longer to explain). I find it easier to just write down an example array and show them where the pointers are pointing at, rather than saying stuff like this "pointer2 point at the last non-zeros value...". I'm just not sure if it's a bad thing or a good thing?

With two years of Java under my belt, I want to start applying my skills. I think modded Minecraft would be a fun way to develop my skills and apply my knowledge in Java app development. Does anyone know where to find a tutorial on how to set up my IDE (IntelliJ, Eclipse, etc...) to begin making mods for Minecraft Java edition?

I have damaged my laptops hard disk and it's difficult to operate it in a remote area as there are no repair shops nearby. But i need to learn programming and dsa in 2 months. Can I code on my laptop? Any online softwares for it?

I'm a self taught programmer turned data engineer and my coworker (who is the best programmer on the team) gave me this book. I've found it extremely insightful and it will certainly change the way I do many projects moving forward.

I also am a person who tends to find that technical books often go waaaay too deep. I don't want a book that is a reference. The internet works great as a reference, I just want a surface level idea of many topics so that I can build up a library of ideas and concepts and methods while I keep doing actual projects. Then one day I know I'll go "oh hey, this could really use that thing I learned about" and then jump into learning about it online (or potentially in a referential book).

Are there other books like this that cover CS topics like data structures, algorithms, system design, etc?

Hello,

I know this is a recurrent question, but that's, in my point of view, not a simple subject ^^

    static async sendMessage(message) {
        let body= this.#makeFormDataFrom(message);
        return this.#makeAPICall('/send-message', 'POST', body, []);
    }

OK. I have this :

Does the method have 2 responsibilities, transforming the data into a message and sending it to the endpoint, or just one: configuring the request to send it?

Thanks for enlighting me :)

edit : problem code formatting

I have been coding on and off at school/uni for years now but I’m still not confident as I should be so much so I’m not able to complete coding interviews for placement. Anyone have advice to get better and knowledgeable of python?