I get bored with coding courses… any alternatives?
Posted by Aggressive-Role5258@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 36 comments
Not sure if it’s just me, but I always start coding courses and never finish them
Recently I tried a platform that gives short, interactive exercises instead of long videos, and it felt way less overwhelming.
Do you learn better with hands-on practice or video tutorials?
SkerdiBuilds@reddit
Hands-on practice of course because you’re solving, not just watching.
Jackpotrazur@reddit
MASTER PYTHON SYSTEMS ENGINEERING SOP
Learning Through Pattern Recognition & Systems Thinking
PURPOSE
Transform coding exercises into SYSTEMS THINKING drills. Train: * Architectural reasoning * Pattern recognition * Debugging discipline * Memory recall & reconstruction * Program comprehension
GOAL
Move from "copying code" \rightarrow "predicting program structures" \rightarrow "rebuilding from memory".
CORE PRINCIPLE
Recognition vs Recall: * Recognition = "I've seen this before." * Recall = "I can rebuild it myself." Programming skill grows through *active reconstruction*.
PHASE -1: PREDICTION & MENTAL MODELING
(Before Opening the Book) Before coding, predict program behavior: * [ ] Write program goal in one sentence * [ ] Predict program structure: IPO, Loop, Menu, File Processor, Simulation, State Machine * [ ] Predict main state variables that will change * [ ] Predict loops and exit conditions * [ ] Identify building blocks the program will use most * [ ] Write pseudocode in plain English Example: * INPUT: user_guess * STATE: secret_number, attempts * PROCESS: compare guess to secret number * OUTPUT: feedback message
PHASE 0: PRE-CODE ARCHITECTURE THINKING
Document in EXPLAINME.md: * INPUT \rightarrow Source of data (CLI, file, network, user) * STATE \rightarrow Variables that change over time * LOGIC \rightarrow Rules that transform state * OUTPUT \rightarrow Destination (terminal, file, network) * RISK \rightarrow Identify potential breaks (empty input, invalid state) Extra: Map program to building blocks (see below)
ARCHITECTURE RECOGNITION
Recognize one of these core program shapes: 1. Input \rightarrow Process \rightarrow Output (IPO) 2. Interactive Loop 3. Simulation Loop 4. Batch Processor 5. Event Driven Programs 6. Pipeline Processing 7. Worker / Task Systems 8. State Machine Programs Key: Identify architecture before coding \rightarrow predict structure \rightarrow debug faster.
UNIVERSAL PROGRAMMING BUILDING BLOCKS
DEBUGGING & SYSTEM THINKING
PATTERN MASTERY
For each project: 1. Predict program architecture & building blocks 2. Code using dual screens, documenting in EXPLAINME.md 3. Trace logic & state updates 4. Test normally & with edge cases 5. Rebuild from memory & reflect on missed details 6. Repeat with slight modifications END OF SOP
juju0010@reddit
Start building something you actually want to use yourself.
Jackpotrazur@reddit
Like what? Thats my biggest hurdle, ive programmed 41 projects from the big book of small python projects and feel like i dont know jack.... prior to crack open the big book I worked through a smarter way to learn python and python crash course. I now paused the big book at chapter 41 and am working through automate the boring stuff and the automate the boring stuff workbook and im shocked to say, whilst going through the basics... again ... im actuaöly learning new stuff. I also worked through command line linux and linux basics for hackers, I've been at it since december 2025 and im gonna learn this ! But it sure aint easy. I also put a postgresql db onto a raspberry pi, that was peetty neat and ive passed through my printer, a wifi adapter and a sd card reader to my vm , sometimes its just really hard to figure out what to do or understand ... I hope 3 months down the road from now I will have understood a bit more. Im also reading grokking algorithms and python distilled cause im hoping somethings gonna make things start clicking , tired of feeling half retarded.
AlSweigart@reddit
You could try some of the projects in my free book, The Big Book of-
Uh, nevermind.
But my main piece of advice is to try to stick to a book or online course all the way through. "Tutorial hell" is caused by starting and stopping tutorials so often that you don't feel like you're getting anywhere but you're also exhausted.
The bad news is: you have to get used to feeling stupid. I've been coding for over twenty years. It doesn't go away. A lot of programming is going to be "why is this program doing this?!?!" and realizing the answer is always "because I told it to." This sounds cheesy but: try to be more mindful of your successes too. Often times what balances out the "programming is frustrating" are the moments when you get something working (even if following someone else's tutorial) and the joy of that creation.
Also, don't use AI to write code for you. You might as well bring a forklift to the gym.
Jackpotrazur@reddit
Appreciate it, well like said im halfway through the big book, but it feels like im just copying the code, I created an explainme.md and a sop.txt to make assumptions before coding and comment while coding and after , what constructs i used in the program , what states changed etc. I can debug Hella quick but i mean its basically just fixing typos and indents. I like the way things are explained in ATBS. So i hope by the time I've worked through that and return to big book, ill have a better understanding of what im actually doing.
AlSweigart@reddit
Cool. Would you mind linking to your explainme.md and sop.txt files for us to see? I'm always interested in how people are using LLMs to study.
Also, are there any specific things you like about ATBS compared to other books? What do other books not do that you wish they did?
Jackpotrazur@reddit
I'll drop the explainme.md and sop.txt when im back at the house and also other topics that id find interesting or good to know, right now im only on chapter 4 of ATBS.
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Alive-Cake-3045@reddit
I learned more from breaking a real project and fixing it than any tutorial. Pick something you actually want to build, even if it is messy, and just start. You will Google and learn exactly what you need in context, and nothing sticks better than that.
Kameran102@reddit
I personally don't watch courses anymore although I'm still a beginner at coding. Just begin a project and stick with it. For me I'm making a calculator and I try to add multiple features to it, like a stop clock or something. And every features I'm done with I search for another one. And when I come across a problem I just google it to find a solution and try to understand why the solution I've found works.
konjourn@reddit
Can u plz suggest from where should i start i dont know a thing about coding but i sm very much interested in it.... Is there any free course or guide to start coding.... I want to create a notes app for myself
Humble_Warthog9711@reddit
I swear like 30% of the posts on this sub are rationalizations people offer for what their lack of interest in programming isnt actually what it is
callmedata1@reddit
I started using Claude. I asked it to teach me and to regularly quiz me, then go back to explain to me how I should consider solving the problem. It's honestly the best one on one teacher I've ever had
AncientHominidNerd@reddit
I’d try going on Leetcode and try grinding out some of their problems. Be warned even the easy problems require you to understand how hashmaps and graphs and other data structure work.
Alternatively you could go to GeekforGeek and learn to build different sort and search algorithms and data structures from scratch.
This is the kind of stuff that isn’t always touched on in online tutorial material but it’s touched on in college classes.
gm310509@reddit
The answer is in your question. You need to practice what you see (I.e. the exercises). If you don't, then all you are doing is watching the most boring video you can imagine. The key is to hit pause (regularly), try out what you just saw. But, not only try it out explore it. For example let's say you were taught a for loop and it counted from 1 to 10. Can you make it so it counts from 1 to 10 in steps of 2 (I.e. 1, 3 ...)? Can you make it count backwards (e.g. 10 down to 1)?
Stuff like that.
Used-Assistance-9548@reddit
Gradschool
Kryptic_phil@reddit
Learning will always be boring. I always try to finish a video tutorial no matter how boring it gets, just finish watching the tutorial
rustyseapants@reddit
If you start coding class and never finish them, your subconscious is telling you, you really don't like coding.
Why do you want to learn to code?
bj0urne@reddit
If you've learned the basics of coding and you feel like you can read code, don't bother with courses. Just try to build something interesting and go through blood sweat tears and internet research to get it done. Best way to learn.
carrognia@reddit
sign up for code in place, its a hands on week by week free program by stanford, they teach you python by giving you challenges to complete in the best ways possible. I was in the same tutorial hell place and that system got me to building and to understand control flow, logic, databases, AI prompt projects, etc. been employed as a developer since then, moved into it from IT.
grtk_brandon@reddit
All theory and no practice is just time wasted.
antiaust@reddit
Use ai as a Tutor it’s a game changer
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huuaaang@reddit
Yeah, you code. Hands-on only for me. Video tutorials are utterly useless to me. If I'm not driving, I'm not learning. If I use a tutorial it has to be written so I can reference it and search for things. It's more of a reference for me than a course. I code until I hit a snag and look back to guides and tutorials for what I'm doing wrong or a concept I don't get.
MlSHl@reddit
I like books and docs for foundation and then asking AI how I can do some library/API specific things. Books and docs give you fluency to actually know what to do and asking AI for specific libraries and such speeds up getting to actual creation of whatever you want to make
Outside_Complaint755@reddit
Just start doing projects, and look things up when you need to.
PhilosophicalGoof@reddit
I personally prefer Project based learning.
There a GitHub filled with projects that can teach you a language.
numbered_panda@reddit
Build a project
TerraxtheTamer@reddit
Check Learn X in Y minutes and create a github repo. Start writing snippets of code with comments or small program if you can. Check short video tutorials if you don't understand something. Build a project from there. Or do Hyperskill projects and use search for the things you want to learn.
TigerAnxious9161@reddit
I was also the same, mistake was that I was not doing practice like if you finished a topic try to think of real life use cases and build something it can be as simple as calculator or whatever.
Cutalana@reddit
imo Documentation > Structured Videos (not just someone pulling up vscode) > example code >> interactive exercises
Interactive exercises are more time consuming since you spend time switching from learning and doing. It also holds your hand too much, preventing experimentation and makes you less able to navigate the tools that actually need to be used. I also tend to forget what I did immediately.
mrburnerboy2121@reddit
Research a platform that will teach you the basics via a game.
Then go to YouTube and watch a video on how to code a basic game like tic tac toe or hangman, the video should explain the why and how.
Separate to this, research how to pseudo code, pseudocode the steps you need to create tic tac toe and go find the relevant code to put it all together.
Don’t worry about the code being “clean” just yet, just try to get things working.
NiceMess8358@reddit
From my experience . courses are waste of time just go to youtube and type the language or framework that you want to learn and learn some basic maximum 5 hours and let him finish the coding then close the video and code the same thing then at the end start building something . even if its bigger than what you have learned . just any time you encounter a probleme google it or watch simple video . dont watch 30+ hours of courses