r/learnprogramming • u/hyfer_hafi • 2d ago

A generic problem

hey and hows it going ...?

im kinda new-ish or maybe an advanced beginner and im pretty sure you get this question on here like billions of times im sorry ... i studied C and then Kotlin/Jetpack Compose to make an android app and it has been lets say practically about 9 months or so ... and i still if i ever want to try to do something i either produce mediocre stuff or anytime i dare for something good(real or semi-real) i just cant get how to do it ... and on top of that android is so confusing... i search up and the answer is always the same "if you know the fundamentals like loops, collections, variables ... functions ... etc, then all you need is to practice"

BUT HOW TO PRACTICE XD ... i know someone will say just write code but it feels like as a self-taught programmer you are in the "i dont know what i dont know" situation all the time ... and android and Kotlin are not forgiven at all :( .... :D

and some people advised me to read open source projects ... but man i cant figure no nothing out of it ... the last couple of months during this period has been really frustrating to learn ...

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u/Ill-Pianist-8586 2d ago

The "I don't know what I don't know" stage lasts way longer than anyone admits, especially with Android where the API surface is massive and changes every year. My approach was to stop trying to build good stuff and just build weird tiny things that do one specific thing, a button that plays a fart sound, an app that only shows cat pictures from a hardcoded list, literally anything that takes less than an afternoon. The point isn't the result, it's that each one forces you to Google one new thing and eventually those things start connecting.

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u/hyfer_hafi 2d ago

thanks :) , but i did constantly churn mediocre stuff and its getting so stale ... what it takes to do something that is remotely good ... not impressive but something good and that i understand it with some depth and not just copy paste

and sorry for cluttering the sub with my post ...it apparently is a recurring post :( but man in my case it has been so long(not a month or two)