A new way to learn how to code (practice-driven)

Coding is one of the most profitable careers in the modern age because it contains a lot of room for growth. People, regardless of their choice of major, choose to learn programming because of its uses and benefits in all fields. You can sit in a classroom full of computer geniuses or read all the books you want on coding and still fail at learning how to code. This is because the best way to learn how to code is by practicing as much as possible. Practice, practice, and a little more practice! Here are three reasons why practice is essential, along with suggestions of where and how you can practice coding:

1. There is no other way to learn how to code

Can you tell someone to learn to swim without swimming? Or teach someone math without showing them an example? The answer to both the questions is very close to no. This is because some skills can never be learned by just theory. Coding is one of them. In order to learn how to code, you need to use the command yourself, draft the syntax yourself, and debug your solution. If you read books on it, study other codes, and take lectures on programming, you will never learn how to code. If you are a beginner who is learning how to code, you can begin your practice sessions by logging into websites like Codeschool, Treehouse, and Codecademy. You get small problem sets and learning videos for programming languages like HTML and Javascript on these websites. This is perfect for gaining a mix of theory and practice to build confidence for writing codes.

2. Skills you develop through coding cannot be learned elsewhere.

Coding is increasingly becoming the skill that people of all careers profit out of because it grants you an unmatchable skillset. Practicing coding makes you resilient, enables you to manage your time well, and enhances your project planning skills. These skills only come through the constant and repetitive process of writing and rewriting a code.

3. Practice makes a man perfect.

So, you learned a list of python and C++ commands—what next? The goal in coding is never to remember commands or be able to draft lines and lines of code; the purpose is to be able to solve a problem through it, regardless of whether it is a real-life problem or an abstract one. Solving a problem requires thinking sharply and uniquely, both of which develop by practicing and learning. This is similar to learning how to play an instrument, like a piano. You can know your keys and notes, but you cannot play them fluently and harmoniously if you do not practice. To learn to code like a pro, you must practice programming on websites like Coderbyte and HackerRank. These websites allow you to see other people's solutions to the problems you are writing a code for and let you implement different data structures and algorithms.