Got stuck on a loop for 3 hours at a library workshop in Denver, and now I'm team 'learn by building projects' over just doing tutorials.

The instructor said 'just type it exactly like the video' but my code kept crashing until I messed with the logic myself, so should beginners focus more on making their own broken stuff to fix or stick to copying working examples to start?

3 comments

3 Comments

foster.jordan21d ago

That sounds so frustrating, three hours is brutal. Honestly, copying code without understanding it is like following a recipe without knowing what the ingredients do. You might get a cake, but you won't know how to fix it if something goes wrong. Breaking your own stuff and fixing it is where the real learning happens. The struggle to make it work teaches you way more than a perfect copy ever could. Tutorials are a starting point, but building your own broken project is the next step.

jana_black21d ago

Three hours on one bug?

granthunt21d ago

Try telling that to my plumbing jobs, where a three hour bug is just a Tuesday.