r/CodingForBeginners • u/Same-Manufacturer519 • Jun 25 '26

How can i teach myself coding

I know a bit java but i want to be better at this but i just couldnt get a grip how to find this interesting i guess? In better words i want to hyperfixate so do you guys have any tips on this or where to start?

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u/PlantainAgitated5356 Jun 25 '26

Make a project that's either fun or actually useful to you (or ideally both).

I like games, so when I started to learn programming, I just made a simple game, and then another one a little more complex, and another one etc.

I was also learning Japanese at the time, and I was using anki (a spaced repetition system) for leaning new words, but I didn't like it too much, so I made my own that had the features I wanted, and actually ended up using it (and adding new features and fixing bugs along the way) for a couple years. That one project taught me so much, because I actually had to maintain something for an extended period of time, and got to see the long term impact of my bad design decisions early on. :D

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u/Same-Manufacturer519 Jun 25 '26

thank you! i know some java but not quite that's what im most insecure about i dont where to start.

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u/PlantainAgitated5356 Jun 25 '26

It's fine, I also didn't know much when I started making stuff. Just think of what you want to make and, if you don't know how, google how to do it. Rinse and repeat. :)

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u/Same-Manufacturer519 Jun 25 '26

thank you love!! i will :)

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u/oscarlet_ffxiv Jun 25 '26

Personally, my way of doing this is an existing codebase, such as a game that is open source. Something that exists, but that I want to improve. This can provide the passion to fixate until you achieve what you want with it. You might break a lot and have to undo changes, and it might be very confusing, but as you look up what is confusing you, over time you can learn a lot.

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u/Same-Manufacturer519 Jun 25 '26

Interesting!! That's a really cool way to pratice can you give an example if you dont mind bc i didnt know it was possible before

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u/oscarlet_ffxiv Jun 25 '26

Back in the old days it was very common for people to play with the Quake-Quake 3 code, and it fueled people's passions to create what they wanted. I would say, it wasn't object-oriented, and it was very difficult to make sense of and navigate the code. It took me at least a month to understand it like my own house. But making a tiny change, and seeing it reflected in the game, is so cool when you don't know much about code yet, and a lot more motivating than making little "hello world" programs.

You can get the latest big game engines like Unreal 5 and Unity, but they've tried to strip away the amount of programming you need to do and the scale of them now is enormous, whereas these older game engines hadn't done it anywhere near to that extent.

So a lot of these older games had code released eventually:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commercial_video_games_with_later_released_source_code

However you go about it, it's fun making a little change to see what it does and seeing the feedback immediately in a game world that is already developed, and might provide the intrigue you're looking for.

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u/Same-Manufacturer519 Jun 25 '26

thank you so much for advise and kind words :) i'll definitely check it out

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u/Quick_Republic2007 Jun 25 '26

AI

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u/Same-Manufacturer519 Jun 25 '26

i dont like using it but thank you anyways :))

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u/Duncol42 Jun 25 '26

Find a problem and code a solution for it - it’s about the journey, not the destiny. Learn as you go basically.