I'm really confident in coding, but I struggle when it comes to programming in a broader sense. My main issue is breaking down complex assignments into manageable parts, understanding them, and then rebuilding the solution. I've mostly relied on tutorials and projects, but I've never focused on data structures and algorithms or general problem-solving tasks. This has led to some frustration for me. I'd love to hear any tips or practices that could help me improve in this area! Just to give you some background, I've been learning web development for about 3-4 years, though it's been pretty inconsistent because I work full-time in a different field. Right now, I'm going through a boot.dev course to learn backend development while also trying to build projects every month and improve my JavaScript skills with a Udemy course. My ultimate goal is to become a full stack developer using Vue and Nuxt.
5 Answers
What's the difference between coding and programming, anyway? I've been in the software industry for nearly 30 years and have always thought they were the same!
I started reading a DSA book by Jay Wengrow; it’s super readable and really guides you through the concepts. Although the examples are in Ruby, I've been translating them to Go and Python to strengthen my understanding. I totally recommend it!
The key is to practice more! Try writing as much code from scratch as you can and avoid copy-pasting to really get the hang of things.
You don't actually need more courses. What you really need is to work on real-world problems independently. Try tackling one small problem each week, like validating a form or implementing pagination. Think of it like training in the gym: break things down, work on them in isolation, and then rebuild them in different ways to strengthen your problem-solving skills.
Have you tried test-driven development? Also, top-down design can be really helpful. Check out SICP for a deeper dive into these concepts.
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