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![]() ![]() Here are some hints!” School has taught us that it’s bad to cheat.Ī big part of programming is learning how to cheat. “Hey friend! I believe there’s a small disconnect between how you think the application works and how it actually works. Instead, an error message means that the computer is simply telling you: This isn’t school, where the time comes and goes and you’re a screw-up for not knowing better. This means that you have the freedom to, as Mark Zuckerberg says, “move fast and break things.”ĭon’t treat an error message like the computer is giving you an “F Grade” on an exam. ![]() But if you assemble some broken code, figure out what’s wrong with it, and fix it at a later date, it doesn’t have the same ramifications. If you assemble a car with a broken transmission or a bridge with faulty materials, it will cost major time and money to fix down the line. Problems with code can be fixed for free. Problems with code are fundamentally different than problems that exist elsewhere. The awesome thing is that it also gives you hints letting you know what the problem is and how you might be able to fix it. The error message is the computer telling you that something is off. There will be small disconnects between how you think the computer will interpret your code and how it actually does interpret your code. That’s where the real learning happens in programming. However, working with problems you already know and are comfortable solving doesn’t help you grow as a programmer. If you think your code should be working, and it is not, it indicates that there’s a disconnect (likely a very small one) between what you think your code is doing and what it should be doing. What most beginners don’t realize is that this is actually a good thing. It just means that the program you’ve written doesn’t do what you think it should. And it doesn’t mean that you’re bad at programming. That means errors in your code indicate that something isn’t configured properly. Problems in your code do not mean you are a bad programmer.įor the most part, there’s no such thing as a bug-free app. If your code has an error, it just means that the way your code was written at this specific moment in time causes the particular error. Given a certain configuration of code files, the computer will produce a certain outcome. It shouldn’t.Ī computer’s job is to take a sequence of instructions and run them as instructed. However, for some people, seeing problems in code can make them feel emotional. You need to be able to see an error message, read what it says, investigate your code, and resolve the problem. You need to develop a single skill on your path to becoming a self-sufficient developer. And you will see error messages after you learn to code, too. You will see error messages while learning to code. But with programming, the opposite is true. In this case, you may think that adequate preparation can prevent mistakes, errors, and the things that are bad from happening. ![]() Let’s assume that failure is a bad thing and that preparation can prevent failure. School has taught us that failure is bad. You’ll find that the two methods are exact opposites. ![]() But there’s a big problem.Ĭompare the way you’re expected to learn in school with the way developers learn to program in the real world. In the United States, most people learn to read, write and do simple math, like algebra. You didn’t know the material when you needed to, so you’ll probably have a tough time passing the class. If you failed the exam, then mastered the material a day after it happened, it wouldn’t make a difference in the world. It doesn’t matter at all if you learn the material after the date of the exam. If you receive a failing grade on an exam, it’s generally because of a lack of effort or preparation. Theoretically, if you learn the material perfectly, you should receive 100% on an exam. Before the exam, your teacher will provide all the resources you need to learn everything on the test. The test happens on a certain date and you need to learn the material before that date. Schools generally push you to learn various topics, then take an exam without the aid of the materials you used to learn the topic being tested. But pretty much everything that they taught you back then has made it difficult for you to learn to code today. It’s not fair to put the blame on your kind elementary, high school, and college teachers. Traditional schooling conditioned you to struggle at programming. ![]()
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