Has anyone tried learning coding through daily challenges?
Posted by Ok_Comedian_5073@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 9 comments
I’ve been experimenting with different ways to stay consistent with coding, and daily challenge-based platforms seem interesting.
Instead of long courses, it’s more like small problems every day, kind of like Duolingo but for programming.
Do you guys think this approach actually works long term, or is it better to stick with structured courses?
rustyseapants@reddit
How about buying a book?
PalpitationOk839@reddit
daily challenges are good for building habit and problem-solving, but on their own they’re not enough. You still need projects to understand how things fit together in real applications.
Effective_Celery_515@reddit
Daily challenges are genuinely useful but in my experience they work best as a supplement rather than a replacement for structured learning.
Platforms like LeetCode, Codewars, or advent of code keep you sharp and build a problem solving habit which is hard to develop through courses alone. The Duolingo comparison is pretty accurate in the sense that consistency beats intensity most of the time.
That said the limitation I've noticed is that challenges rarely teach you how to architect something from scratch or think through a real project end to end. You get good at solving isolated problems but might still feel lost when building an actual app.
The sweet spot most people land on is pairing a structured course or project with daily challenges on the side. The course gives you the mental framework and the challenges keep the skills active.
If you are just starting out, I would lean toward structure first so you have something to anchor the problem solving to. Once you have the basics down daily challenges become a lot more rewarding and less frustrating.
0x14f@reddit
Yes, some people have (learnt using gentle coding challenges that are not leet code), and if you are interested in doing that, enjoy: https://adventofcode.com
AbrahelOne@reddit
Or for JavaScript: https://adventjs.dev
Loud-Section-3397@reddit
Hey, I think small challenges can help when reinforcing stuff and learning small things. but for general learning I'd recommend understanding the basics (of the language, framework, etc) you could do this by watching a youtube video covering them and then do small projects reading docs and using AI.
That alone makes your progress a lot faster and you don't need to do long courses. If you feel like it you could check out codecrafters.com , it has projects with a bit of guidance in different languages, the projects/courses there are a lot smaller than big courses but can help you a lot. The only issue I see is that they are not very beginner friendly as they aim towards senior/mid devs. I'm working on a similar platform but beginner friendly and no environment setup, I'm currently launching early-access. If you are willing to, I'd be happy to grant you access for free. I'm looking for testers as I'm trying to nail the experience for people in all levels of the journey. reply here if interested.
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DTux5249@reddit
No, because frankly, the hard part of programming isn't on the scale of individual items. It's about connecting things in context.