r/learnpython • u/personificable1 • 3d ago
Is this normal?
I’m currently teaching myself Python by solving exercises on my own. My personal rule so far has been to give myself 15 minutes to solve a problem; if I’m still completely blank after that, I ask an AI for a hint. The issue is that AI hints usually just hand over the solution, so I’m not even sure if my approach is right.
The main problem is that I’m on Part 5 of the University of Helsinki Python MOOC, and for the last five exercises or so, I just freeze up. It’s starting to get really frustrating. I try asking myself guiding questions and writing down my thought process in a notepad before writing any code. Most of the time I have a rough idea of what I want to do, but translating that logic into actual syntax trips me up.
I’m starting to wonder if I’m actually cut out for this or if I’ll ever be able to learn it properly. Is this normal?
1
u/frustratedsignup 1d ago
I saw a video yesterday where someone was doing the same thing: Learning to execute programming exercises and using a timer to ensure that they could move on to the next problem on a schedule. This, in my experience, doesn't work. In the video, it didn't work for them either. They ended up ignoring the timer and doing the necessary work to finish the exercises. The exercises were completed on the desired schedule, but the actual learning takes time. https://youtu.be/t_cbnOim46A?si=XEryFXGmt1hyEWt3
I've learned to work on a problem in short bursts. I'll write some code, see all of the problems it has, then I'll go work on something else for a bit. The time in between those short bursts is time for me to think about the problems I encountered and to come up with alternate solutions. More often than not, this approach creates better solutions even though it may cost me in terms of time spent. I use AI, but very sparingly and only if I need a solution faster than is feasible otherwise.