I'm heading to university next year, and I've been trying to learn things on my own. I often find simpler explanations on random websites, like GeeksforGeeks, which have helped me a lot. However, I frequently come across advice to 'always read the documentation'. When I try to do that, it often feels overwhelming and not user-friendly—it seems designed for a small group of programmers. For example, I struggle with Linux documentation, especially for Mint; it's usually not concise and sometimes even cryptic. I know everyone has to start somewhere, so how did you all manage to understand documentation better?
1 Answer
Absolutely, we’ve all been there! A lot of documentation can be poorly written, and programming often requires background knowledge. The trick is to read the documentation, but also realize that it’s okay to feel lost at first. Think of it as part of your learning journey. It’s normal to go down a rabbit hole of related topics when something doesn’t make sense. If you stumble on something confusing, don't hesitate to look up additional resources to fill in the gaps. Can you share a specific example of documentation that’s giving you trouble?
I think I found one of those tough pages too—like that matplotlib artist API page. It feels like they expect you to already know a lot before diving into the methods.
Yeah, I totally get that! It’s like they skip the basics, and it can feel like you're just thrown into the deep end.