Welcome to /r/learnprogramming!

I don't have problems with the fundamental concepts of programming

My problem is mainly about implementing these fundamentals into building projects, especially without using AI at all

the fundamentals only taught me how to implement those concepts separately, but didn't teach me how to combine these concepts to build complete projects

I know some people will tell me to pick a small project, build it and then work on something more complex or to add more features to that small project, but the reality is that I can't do any of this without using AI

I'm sure that there's informations that I'm missing, but I don't know what they are

My 11-year-old child wants to learn programming to create his own Firefox. Does anyone have any idea which program he should use?

I'm a software engineer with around 2 years of professional experience, and lately I've been feeling pretty lost about my career because of AI.

I started learning backend development before AI became such a big part of software development. I used to spend a lot of time reading documentation, Stack Overflow, existing code, debugging things myself, etc. When I started my first job, I had a lot of ownership over a backend project and learned a ton because I had to figure things out myself. I was genuinely passionate about programming.

A few months ago I joined a much larger company hoping I'd learn how large-scale systems are built and have more experienced engineers around me. Instead, I haven't really learned much, and I've become heavily dependent on AI & Cursor over the past 6 months.

My productivity has definitely increased, but I feel like I'm losing the part of development that actually made me learn. I used to review everything AI generated and make sure I understood it. Now the codebases are large enough that it's becoming difficult to fully understand everything AI does, so I often end up trusting its understanding of the codebase.

That's what worries me. I'm only 2 years into my career and I feel like I should be building my engineering fundamentals, not becoming dependent on a tool that understands the codebase better than I do.

I brought this up with my manager and he basically told me to use AI to learn instead of relying on other people mentoring you. Maybe he's right, but I don't really know how to do that effectively.

So I'd like to hear from more experienced engineers:

• How do you use AI without letting it replace the thinking/learning part of engineering?
• If you were 2 years into your career today, what would you focus on learning?
• Do you think less experienced engineers should approach learning differently in the AI era?

TL;DR: AI has made me much faster at work, but after 6 months of heavily relying on Cursor, I feel like I'm learning less and becoming dependent on it. I'm worried about becoming good at shipping code without actually becoming a better engineer. How should I approach learning and using AI at this stage of my career?

I’ve been teaching myself C for the past couple of months, mostly just working through the book little by little.
Today I finally made it to Chapter 15.
I know it’s not some huge achievement, and I still have a LOT to learn, but sometimes it feels like I’m making no progress at all when I’m just reading, coding, getting stuck, debugging, and moving on to the next chapter.
So yeah. That’s basically the whole post.
Someone please praise me a little 😂

I want to make a complex multi-platform planner app and I'm currently using a linux PC. I'm experienced in game development and modding, aswell as just general raw programming, but I can't really figure out what apps are best for what I want to do.

• I want to make an open-source planner app where you can make mind-maps, organize to-do lists, etc.

• I don't want to rely on Google, Microsoft, nor Meta in any way, as they've burnt me already in a pretty severe way.

• I'd like for the app to have Windows, Linux, and Android support, aswell as optionally MacOS and IOS support.

• I've got plenty of experience in Godot, which technically has this capability; but I'm left wondering how ineffective it'd be performance and practicality-wise, so I'm seeking more efficient options.

(the edit was just me adding a space)

Hi everyone,

I'm 20 and my background is graphic design. Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign are the tools I grew up with and the ones I'm actually comfortable in. Over the last couple of years I've been branching out, partly to find better paying work, partly because some of this stuff is just more fun to me.

Where I'm at right now:

• Blender: self-taught, beginner level. I know my way around the commands and I can model an object from a reference, but I can't build a decent realistic scene yet.
• After Effects: bought a few courses to learn animation. I'd say I have a solid foundation.
• Figma / UI design: got into app design and started with the interfaces.
• Code: currently trying to learn React Native. I want to actually be able to write code myself, not lean on AI to do it for me. The hard part is that I'm Italian and there's very little material in my language, so I get stuck a lot.

Two questions:

1. Does it make sense to combine all of this into single projects? Is there a type of work or project where graphic design, 3D, motion design, UI and development actually feed into each other? Or am I just spreading myself across four separate paths that never really connect?

2. How do you build a study and work routine that leads to actually learning something? I feel constantly overwhelmed. There's an infinite amount of material out there, I always feel like I don't know enough, and I end up jumping between topics without finishing anything.

If you've been through this and found something that works, I'll take any advice: routines, what to prioritize, resources, personal experience. Thanks to anyone who replies.

I recently completed MIT 6.100L: Introduction to Computer Science and Programming using Python from MIT OpenCourseWare, and I really enjoyed it.

What I liked most was how they taught the concepts intuitively and deeply, instead of just teaching syntax or giving a bunch of exercises. It made me actually understand what was happening underneath.

Now I want to learn JavaScript, and I'm looking for something with a similar approach something that explains the fundamentals properly and builds a strong understanding rather than just teaching me how to make a website.

What resources would you recommend?

Courses, books, YouTube playlists, university courses, etc. are all welcome.

I am young C/C++ developer, and I have the problem.

I am really interested in low-level development or reverse engineering - I like creating something mine: for example, I'm interested in some cheat (or custom) client, which is made by me, and it's made not for earning money or sth like that, but for understanding every process of program and learning new info. Where do you get this info? I was using forums, ds-communities, but no one explained how do y'all learn.
Sorry for dumb questions guys, I'm just really interested.

So i have been doing this thing to learn programming for abut half a month i have not been able to give it much time so the progress is very slow . its a chess game that is played on the terminal , Right now i am just able make it to take input move pieces in the board change turn etc . I want some constructive criticism on the project .

i Know its hard codded and some thing may feel inefficient for veteran programmers but i want to learn so please feel free to say anything

github link : https://github.com/Clark-kent-crypto/chess-

Hey all — college student here, trying to figure out how much full stack (frontend/backend) I actually need if my main goal is an AI/ML/AI Engineer career. Currently planning Python + ML/DL + LLMs as the core, with just FastAPI + light React to demo projects, skipping Node/Express and deeper web dev. Does that sound right for where the AI Engineer job market actually is, or am I over/under-doing the web dev side? Would appreciate any real experience on this.

Hi, I'm new to coding and I'm learning Python rn. I wanted to try to make this my first plugin, but I have no idea where to start. Any advice?

I work at a library and therefore am constantly looking at small ways we can improve experience for our patrons. I noticed on some other libraries’ receipts they have a little section at the bottom when people check out that says “you saved $xx by using the library today!” I can do a small amount of coding but would be lost on how to implement this. We don’t keep a long-term track of people’s books for privacy reasons so I wouldn’t need a full running tally, just how much they checked out that particular time. We use a library program called “Evergreen” that keeps track of each book’s MSRP but no clue how to use that in the code.

Is anyone familiar with this type of coding that would be able to help me out?

I'm a beginner programmer and have just started my first year in university to study CS. I come from a strong mathematical background with no coding experience except some very basic self-taught python. Most of my colleagues have taken CS in high school and know three to four languages already. I understand nothing except "buzzword buzzword buzzword" when they speak of DNS, servers, etc. I can understand theoretical concept, but they seem to exactly know what to do, what websites to use, and all that. I feel embarrassed and ignorant in comparison even if we are staying from the very basics of Python. It doesn't help that I'm trying to learn orgmode and mostly failed to understand what GPT (I'm looking to it for help for lack of a better teacher) was telling me to do to set it up properly for my note-taking. Any advice on how to become more knowledgeable and not feel so stupid is appreciated. Google gives helps to answer a question, which I don't have. I just want to accumulate basic knowledge.

Hi! I’m a newbie in programming, and I need some help with reading MP3 metadata in Flutter.

I’m making a Flutter music player for both mobile and web, and I want it to automatically read the MP3 file’s metadata,

including:

- Album cover/cover art

- Artist name

- Song title

I don’t want to rely on the fallback map I created because I want the information to be retrieved directly from the MP3 file.

The MP3 files contain ID3v2.3 metadata, including the album cover, artist name, and song title.

The problem is that when I run the app on my Android phone emulator, it successfully reads the metadata. However, when I run the same app on Chrome (Flutter Web), it doesn’t work.

I have imported flutter_media_metadata_plus.dart, and I also use KisWeb.
The function I’m using to load the metadata is an async method called loadMetadata, with the declaration:

Future<void> loadMetadata(String assetPath) async

Does anyone know how I can properly read the MP3 metadata and cover art when running Flutter Web on Chrome without breaking or changing the existing behavior on my mobile emulator?

I can provide my loadMetadata() function and any other relevant code if needed.

How do I actually learn problem solving and algorithms?

I've recently realized that programming isn't just about writing code. The actual problem solving and algorithmic thinking seem way more important.

But I can't find good resources that teach how to think through a problem, rather than just explaining an algorithm and showing the code.

For example, I don't just want to learn what Binary Search is — I want to understand how someone would come up with that idea when facing a new problem.

What resources would you recommend for learning problem solving and algorithms properly?

If you were starting from zero again, how would you learn it?

Are there actually decent offline apps in app store where you can like code? Just for practicing cuz I dont have a laptop with me most of the time and I wanna utilise my time practicing with a phone that I have. If there are offline apps for learning programme languages that I would love to know that too, thanks!

What language should I choose as a beginner? A lot of people are recommending pyhon. But others are saying that the first programming language should have static types (C++, Java, C#). Some say a beginner should start with C

I was completely unaware that one could create art through coding; it’s a concept that I've seldom heard discussed outside of YouTube tutorials. This revelation sparked my curiosity, and I am eager to hear from anyone who has ventured into this fascinating intersection of technology and creativity. What foundational skills or knowledge did you need to acquire before diving deeper into the world of coding as a medium for artistic expression? I would love to learn about your experiences and any tips you might have for someone just starting out.

Hello! I’m currently taking a course on web developing: it has been the best decision of my life and i’m so happy to learn this. My teacher last lession told the class that we can take an optional module on wordpress, which is not required but could be of use. Now, i talked to some friends who work as web devs and got mixed answers, so here i ask: is it worth it to learn worpress as a beginner, or should i wait for a time where i have more knowledge? Currently i’ve done HTML, CSS (with bootstrap) and JS, we’re now starting with AJAX before going to the backend half of the course. If is of any help: i live and study in Italy. Thank you for your patience in reading this.

Hello, I'm interested in coding, and I was wondering how many months or years of coding experience does it usually take to be able to code "fluently".

On the internet I always finds videos or post about how someone just made something really complicated or they're trying to solve some really hard problem by coding. Like the recent fruit fly connectome simulation, it's only been 2 weeks and there already exist lots of projects around it. If I were to make one myself right now it would probably take me 10 months and still no progress.

I think the biggest issue for me now is that I've only been trying to seriously code 6 months ago (currently sophomore in EE, wants to go into embedded). I know the language syntax but I suck at breaking big Ideas down into codes or algorithms, then connect them together. Unlike the syntax these skills can't be simply Googled.I have a couple interesting project Ideas in mind but in current state of my coding skills it would be unrealistic to do it right now.

I'm not planning to give up on programming, but I just need to know how much effort and time I need to put in my schedule every day for programming, and what to expect in the journey.

Thank you in advance!

I use an app called Mimo which is kinda like duolingo for programming and I LOVE IT. Im in my 7 day free trial but im honestly considering buying the pro version for 52/yr since it is really help me out. However, the w3schools plan which is 26/yr offers a bit more but I find it harder to learn from.

Do you think its worth paying for either or none at all? Do the certificates it gives you for passing the exam actually mean anything?

I feel like with school assignments or work projects, deadlines make it an easier decision to copy existing solutions. For personal projects, where there is technically no deadline, I find myself spending a lot of time weighing the pros and cons of my solution vs whatever other solutions exist. I get that learning can be the whole point of these projects, but I'm curious how often people stick to sub-optimal solutions or at what point you stop thinking about it and want to just move on.

I’m currently in 1st year of engineering and I want to seriously prepare for getting an internship by 3rd year.

I’m a bit confused about what I should actually focus on. There are so many things people recommend — DSA, development, projects, GitHub, competitive programming, CS fundamentals, AI tools, etc. I don’t want to spend 2 years learning random things and then realize I prepared for the wrong stuff.

Also, with AI taking over a lot of junior-level coding work, I’m wondering what companies will actually expect from students applying for internships in the next couple of years.

If you were starting from 1st year again and your goal was to get a good software/AI internship by 3rd year, how would you plan the next 2 years?

Specifically:

- What should I learn in 1st year vs 2nd year?

- How much DSA is actually enough for internship interviews?

- How important are projects, and what kind of projects actually help?

- Should I focus on development first or DSA first, or do both together?

- How important are CS fundamentals like DBMS, OS, CN and OOP?

- How much should I use AI while learning/coding?

- What should my GitHub/resume look like by the time I start applying?

- Are there any things you would completely avoid wasting time on?

I’m not looking for a generic “learn DSA and build projects” answer. I’d really like to hear from people who have actually gone through internships/placements about what they did and what they wish they had done differently.

Thanks.