A mixture of feelings of frustration and tension controls you, you want to learn programming but you are unable to memorize the programming codes that you encounter, how can you become a professional programmer and get paid a high wage without all that effort to memorize , whoever wants something has to do what he can to achieve, and programming is not an exception. Open the Google search engine, search for examples written in the language you want to learn, for example: (JavaScript code example), you will see at least a billion results. In your opinion, how long do you need to memorize all these codes? It’s frustrating isn’t it?
Fortunately, learning to code never depends on memorizing code, and things don’t work that way; But why are you and most of those who start learning programming preoccupied with this matter, so how do I study programming without memorizing? In the following article, I was keen to answer all these questions based on my simple experience of learning programming, in addition to the advice of the most important programmers in this regard.
Programmers do not memorize codes, but write them. They are the inventors of them!
A programmer’s answer on Quora when asked about the best way to save code.
Should codes be saved?
The short answer is “no,” as I explained in the introduction to the article. Programmers don’t memorize code, they just understand the basic rules of the programming language and then use them to solve the problems they encounter.
First, let’s understand why learning to code by memorizing code is futile and pointless. Suppose you want to calculate a number square, for example, or even print a phrase “Hello World” five times in a row on the screen, find the codes that perform this task using the language you want, type it and repeat it several times in a row.. well, you now memorize the codes that You do these two tasks and you can use them wherever you want.
Try again to write a program that calculates the rate of successful students, the search will become more complex, but with good research you will reach the code that implements what you want. Repeat it.. you have memorized it too!
With the increase in the complexity of the problems and the requirements of the programs that you write, the search for and memorization of codes will become very difficult and you may not find what you are looking for completely. The problems that need a solution are endless and it is not reasonable to search every time for the code that meets your task to save and copy it.
Therefore, this is not the correct way to learn programming, and as a result of a misunderstanding, most new learners of programming confuse the importance of memorizing the rules of the programming language (Syntax) and memorizing the code, and it is very different here!
What is Syntax Grammar and how can it be memorized?
The term “Syntax” is defined as the set of rules used to write using a programming language, in other words, it is a specific way of writing that determines the language structure, to inform the computer of what we want to implement, as these rules differ according to the programming language used, and without them it is almost impossible Understand the meaning or connotations of language.
It is very similar to the languages that humans use to communicate, for example: the sentence “The boy ate the apple” is incomprehensible and does not carry a meaning, but is just a group of consecutive words, but if we rearrange it to “The boy ate the apple” it becomes an understandable sentence that has meaning; This is because it follows a set of rules (verb, subject, object).
As for programming languages, you have to learn how to write loops, or how to write programming functions or, for example, define variables. Assuming that you want to declare the variable “X” in C language, you should follow the following order, int x;
Any change in the previous order or ignoring the semicolon at the end of the line will result in errors and thus not being able to execute the code you wrote.
But how can the Syntax programming language be memorized?
Before delving into learning the basics of a programming language, I will assume that you are familiar with the basic concepts in programming, and if you don’t know them, that’s okay, learn about them, understand them, and then choose the language you want to learn. Let’s start, memorization is often associated with the image of a student holding a book in his hand and reading a certain sentence and repeating it or writing it several times until he memorizes it.
As I mentioned before to write a program using a programming language you must be aware of the rules of writing, how you declare variables, how you write and call functions, how you write condition statements what are Keywords etc. To do this, follow these tips and avoid saving code:
Choose the source that best suits you: some prefer learning through educational videos, while others think that books are more suitable for them, choose what you think is best for you, personally I prefer to rely on the courses at the beginning. Don’t get distracted by plenty of resources, just get started. There is no such thing as “best resource, best book, best course”.
Start with the basics and understand them: When you start learning the grammar and basics of the language, do not focus on memorizing, but focus on understanding and the purpose of using everything you learn. You need to relate everything you learn to a concept in order to be able to retrieve it and use it, memorizing without understanding will not make you a programmer.
Apply what you understand: Did you learn the basics and grammar? Get started right no matter how much you earn, start with the app, use what you’ve learned, play with the code, try it differently, it might seem hard at first, but it’s the beginning anyway. And do not be a classical learner who learns a lot and a lot of theoretical rules without applying what you have learned, but rather be a smart learner, learn a little theoretical information, apply it until you master its use and then repeat it.
Search, Google is your best friend: Although you understand the basic rules, application and practice, you still forget some of them, it’s okay, it’s normal, the Google search engine is there, use it whenever you want, we are not in a test and this is not cheating, but on the contrary, search is a very important skill that one must have. Every programmer is professional!
Don’t try to memorize all the grammar of a language: it’s like learning human languages, are you going to learn all the grammar and all of its words and start using them? of course not. Learn the basics that enable you to build a simple program and then expand your knowledge through research.
Conclusion .. Memorizing code does not make you a programmer!
Memorizing code is illogical, useless, and nothing more than a waste of time. Learn grammar, basic concepts, and structure of the language and understand them well. Apply what you learn all the time. With practice, memorizing Syntax will become a foregone conclusion, and Google and YouTube are always there if you need them, as long as we will not wake up one day Finding that Google is gone , why waste our energy saving information that can be accessed at any time?
The programmer’s primary task is to break down the problem into smaller problems and find the most appropriate solutions using programming languages. Languages are a tool that the programmer adapts to serve him. Understand it well to use it in the best way.
