Syntax knowledge isnt even something that experienced devs think about when writing code really at all. If you struggle with remembering keywords and typing, thats not a programming issue that is 100% about not having done enough repetitions.

Imagine i had to take in a bunch of temperature values in Fahrenheit and needed to convert them to Celsius so the numbers actually mean something.

After having literally drawn pictures in a notebook or thinking about the steps of that problem I have a clear picture of what needs to happen. No code, no fancy editor or shortcuts, literally just a mental model of the problem. I have a bunch of values that are the same type of "thing". Without even thinking I know I dont need a string or a boolean, itd be stupid to store a list of number values in those, its automatic in a more experienced programmers mind because we've done similar problems a million times. List of stuff => i need some form of collection. Maybe I dont know if I need a set or an array or a dictionary at first, but again dont code, think. Its just a list of temperature values. If they were assigned a location or time, then sure Id consider a dictionary, but they arent. I know from just being alive that you can experience 10 degree weather on Monday, and on Tuesday you can experience 10 degree weather again. So values can repeat, sets are out. So ill start with an array of floats.

Still no coding. You dont get faster at coding by coding, good programmers think. Coding is the easy part that we've done a million times and isnt impressive, thinking is the hard part. So i would think about what I need to do to that array to get the result. I cant just apply some logic to the array, i need a list of each of those F temps to be converted to C. I thought of the word "each" and Im already thinking of iteration, so a loop is obviously going to be needed.

The task is to convert to Celsius, so if I need to do that to each of those numbers, and i know a loop allows me to do things to individual values in an array, I know that whatever math is needed is gonna go inside the loop. A beginner may know the formula off the top of their head, but not know where in the code to put it, or mess up their indentation and not realize they arent applying the formula to each value, but without even touching a keyboard a good programmer knows they need a loop AND what logic needs to go inside that loop, preventing that bug from even happening. Then Id google "temp conversion formula" cause I know its a solved problem, and I have the logic omit need to use on those loops.

Only after all that would I even put my hands on the keyboard. Then when i do i have a mental model, and I know where Im going and start typing and converting that model and drawings I made into code. But even then I dont think about keywords when I wanna store some data and iterate through it, I think "ok I got a list of stuff I gotta store that here" and my hands type out an array, and i think "ok I need to iterate through that array" and a loop appears on my screen.

Maybe I frick up and used the keywords from another language, the editor underlines it and yells at me. 9 times out of 10 I realize what I did and remember the right keyword, if not I quickly jump over to the docs.

The simple temperature conversion is simple yeah, but you can see how that gets harder and harder with more difficult problems to solve abd many more variables. But right now, you arent even capable of devoting your attention to the mental model and logic, even if you think you can. You're thinking about what keyword Java uses for a loop when you need a loop. Then you're thinking of which statement is goes first inside that function when you've found it. Then you're thinking of what number to start that iterator (is int i = 0 right or did I see the teacher use int i = 1?).

If you understand the "concepts" of basic CS concepts, great, good for you. You did the hard part. But you cant think about the code if you're wasting mental energy on typing and keywords. You cant think your way through that no matter how smart you are, to make that automatic, you need to type a million for loops, then itll be automatic. Until you go proctive, idiots like me will always be better programmers. I may be dumb, but I can code, and I have twice as much time to think about how to logically solve a problem than you do because you are splitting your attention between the easy stuff like writing code, and the hard part which is programming programming

Coding is easy, but takes practice. You need to build stuff and write each keyword a billion times. Programming and solving problems is just thinking through problems, and you cant do that while trying ti remember the difference between an array and a set or how to define a variable.

Tldr; you need to code if you want to get better at coding.