hey guys. At the beginning of the semester i had no knowledge on programming. I started and was excited to learn. 3 months later I’m at the brink of just giving up. learning python has been extremely hard. I’ve researched for a million resources and I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t know which ones are good and which ones are not. what kills me is the problem solving aspect. i have always sucked at problem solving. seeing people in my class doing well at problem solving just makes me feel useless and that computer science is only meant for smart people. I’ve worked extremely hard to get better i feel useless and stupid compared to my classmates. I’m starting to give up. my anxiety is killing me. at this point I don even know how to get better at problem solving and also finding the right free resource to learn. Even today, i was watching a loop tutorial and the video explained a few exercises. then at the end 2 problems were included and were not even similar to the one discusses in the video, like this just frustrates the living crap outta me .I really need help.
i was watching a loop tutorial and the video explained a few exercises. then at the end 2 problems were included and were not even similar to the one discusses in the video
Yes, this is probably the hardest part. Same as in math, etc. recognizing the patterns, the abstractions and so on. It is not easy. It takes time and practice, then comes the “click”. For some people it comes very quickly, it feels unfair.
Everyone learns differently. Maybe try not just different resources but different learning techniques as well (videos, written lessons, pair programming, guided exercises, etc.) and see which ones work best for you.
hey guys. At the beginning of the semester i had no knowledge on
programming. I started and was excited to learn. 3 months later I’m
at the brink of just giving up. learning python has been extremely
hard. I’ve researched for a million resources and I’ve gotten to the
point where I don’t know which ones are good and which ones are not.
Have you tried just picking a single resource? Eg the tutorial included
with the Python docs?
https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html
what kills me is the problem solving aspect. i have always sucked at
problem solving. seeing people in my class doing well at problem
solving just makes me feel useless and that computer science is only
meant for smart people.
“smart people” is an unfortunate term; most people can solve problems. I
would expect you solve problems all the time every day, but don’t think
formally about it.
The hard part with programming is that you need to formalise the
solution to the point that you can tell a computer to do it; they’re
very literal minded and need some precision. But that is a skill which
can be acquired.
I’ve worked extremely hard to get better i feel useless and stupid
compared to my classmates. I’m starting to give up.
Feeling useless just means you are discouraged and unsupported, not
that you are useless. I know personally some people who sometimes feel
that way and they are people I know to be smart and very skilled.
Come to this forum, or the “tutor” python mailing list with some
particular exercise that is giving you trouble. Show your first attempt,
and ideally also its output (including errors) - that helps us help you.
If you’ve no idea how to start, explain how you might attempt the
problem as a person, and we can suggest ways to express that in Python.
We’re reluctant to provide you a straight out working solution (that
doesn’t help you learn) but very willing to explain ways to think about
solutions and to explain particular issues you might run into< and to
suggest approaches.
This will be an iterative back and forth thing.
Cheers,
Cameron Simpson cs@cskk.id.au