I used to think you had to learn everything about a language before starting a project

For my first year, I would watch hours of video courses and read entire books on Python before even trying to build something. I felt like I needed to know every single rule and command. Then, about eight months ago, I tried to make a simple script to rename a bunch of files on my computer. I just looked up the specific commands I needed, wrote maybe 20 lines of code, and it worked. Now I always start with a tiny project idea and learn just what I need to get it done. It's way less scary and you actually remember the stuff you use. Has anyone else found that jumping into a small project early helped them learn faster?

3 comments

3 Comments

noahlane1mo ago

Nah man, I gotta disagree hard. That just sounds like building on a shaky foundation. If you only learn the bits you need for a tiny project, you'll miss the big picture stuff that actually lets you solve real problems. You'll end up with bad habits and messy code that breaks as soon as you try to do anything bigger. Taking the time to actually understand the rules first saves you a ton of headaches later, trust me.

evan29525d ago

Bad habits and messy code" sounds like my first ten projects, @noahlane. Guess I should've read the rulebook instead of just trying to build the treehouse.

lindaburns1mo ago

I read a blog post that called "taking time to understand the rules first" the map vs. territory problem. You can study the map all day but you still gotta walk the land.