Rant: I tried to learn Python by reading a 900 page book before writing a single line of code

My friend told me to just start building a simple number guessing game instead. I spent three days trying to understand every single concept in the book and got nowhere. Then I opened a free online editor and followed a 10 minute tutorial, and I had a working program. The difference was actually doing the thing versus just reading about it. Has anyone else fallen into the 'over-prepare' trap when starting out?

2 comments

2 Comments

maryp1825d ago

Tell you what, I see this all the time with people trying to get into tech. You get stuck trying to learn everything perfectly first. The book makes you think you need to know every rule before you can play the game. Just start making something, anything, even if it's broken. You learn way more from fixing a broken script than from reading a perfect one. That guessing game is the right idea, it gives you real problems to solve. Next time you hit a wall in the book, close it and try to build the thing that's confusing you.

the_ivan25d ago

Can confirm, I learned more from my broken first website than any tutorial lol.