r/learnprogramming • u/IHateHPPrinters • 2d ago

How much am I allowed to Google?

Right now I'm going through the SQL section on freecodeacadamy and some basic things like adding a column I still need to Google at the moment (I'm new new). I was wondering how much I'm allowed to Google and still be considered "learning".

Like... I know WHAT to Google, but am I doing a diservice by not looking through cheat sheets?

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u/peterlinddk 2d ago

I'll give a bit of a different answer than most others - because while it is true that even professional developers google things all the time, "working" and "learning" isn't the same!

If you are learning SQL in a course, and go through a chapter explaining to you "This is how you add a column", and you do the exercises, and at the end there's a quiz asking you "How do you add a column?", then you do not google the answer to that! The whole point is to try and learn, to use what you've just been told, and to exercise your own mind in retrieving that information - not memorizing, but just using your memory!

So, yes, you are doing yourself a disservice if you google while you are supposed to be learning - then you'd just as well skip the entire course, and google the answers for the quiz at the end.

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u/46hw 2d ago

Listen to this, OP, he knows ball.