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I typed out every line of a tutorial by hand instead of copy pasting and my code finally ran on the 3rd try | Coding For Beginners - Rigidtalk

val862•1d ago

I typed out every line of a tutorial by hand instead of copy pasting and my code finally ran on the 3rd try

So I've been trying to learn Python on my lunch breaks for about two months now, mostly following free tutorials on YouTube, and I kept hitting this wall where I would copy the code, paste it in, and it would run fine, but then I'd try to write something on my own and just freeze up. Last Tuesday I decided to turn off the second monitor, close the tutorial tab, and write out every single line by hand in a notebook first like it was a spelling test, then type it in from the notebook. Took me almost an hour to get through a 40 line script that should have taken 10 minutes, and I got real annoyed at myself around line 20. But here's the weird part, when I ran it, it worked on the third try, and the two errors were dumb stuff like a missing colon and a variable name I flipped, not the total blank I usually get. Something about writing it in my own handwriting made my brain hold onto the shape of the logic instead of just watching it scroll by. I've done it three more times since and every script has taken me half the time to debug. Has anyone else tried the paper thing or is there a better trick for actually making the syntax stick in your head?

1 comments

1 Comment

wyatt_garcia3h ago

Man, the notebook thing sounds like punishment but you might be onto something. I had the same problem where copy pasting felt like watching someone do pushups, you see it but your arms don't get any stronger. There's actually some science behind this, writing stuff by hand forces your brain to slow down and process each piece instead of letting your eyes glaze over. The fact that your two errors were a missing colon and a flipped variable name is huge, those are actual syntax mistakes, not the total brain freeze kind where you just stare at the screen. I tried the paper thing once with HTML and gave up around line 15 because my hand hurt, but maybe I quit too early. Keep at it, sounds like the slow way is actually the fast way for you.