Used to copy-paste code from Stack Overflow without reading it, now I actually type it out line by line

Back when I started learning Python 6 months ago, I would just grab code snippets and paste them in. It worked until something broke and I had zero clue how to fix it. Last week I had a loop that kept erroring out, and I realized if I had actually typed it myself I would have spotted the indentation issue right away. Now I make myself rewrite every example I find, even the boring stuff like setting up a list. It takes way longer but I'm finally starting to understand what the functions are actually doing. Has anyone else noticed a big jump in understanding when you force yourself to type instead of paste?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_logan1mo ago

Man I used to be the EXACT opposite. I always thought typing it out was a waste of time when I could just copy and paste. But you're totally right about catching little mistakes. I had a similar thing with a SQL query where I copied a join wrong and spent 3 hours debugging. Now I force myself to rewrite everything too, even the simple stuff like defining variables. It really does make you slow down and actually SEE the code instead of just treating it like a black box.

terry_wood5129d ago

Ngl I still catch myself treating my own code like a mysterious dark box sometimes and just praying it works. But yeah nothing humbles you quite like a 3 hour debugging session over one stupid copy paste mistake.