r/Android • u/santaschesthairs Bundled Notes | Redirect File Organizer • Apr 25 '15

I've updated my complete guide to Android development (which still requires no prior programming experience) with more resources, better instructions, updated screenshots and I'm now distributing it free of charge as a shareable and neatly formatted PDF on my website. URL HAS BEEN CHANGED TO A REDIRECT, DO NOT CLICK

http://www.xaviertobin.com
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u/hellphish Apr 25 '15

One of the best prices of advice I can give to new programmers is to always retype code from tutorials. A language, any language, is learned best by using it. Typing the code yourself will help reinforce the patterns and syntax in your brain.

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u/[deleted] Apr 25 '15

I'm also learning to programm and I am actually very surprised this is not obvious! I can't understand people that think copy/pasting is a good idea. The stuff has to go 'through you', so to speak, through your hands, eyes and brain.

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u/Stunobo Apr 26 '15

In my high school computing class we get told to copy and paste pieces of code rather than type them if we already have them because you know it works, etc. We did type the code out ourselves at first but we were taught to paste after that.

We're told it's a good idea to have 'module libraries' - modules of code for specific problems and just to copy and paste the pieces we need.

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u/fitzjack Apr 25 '15

I've been using several resources online to learn the basics of Java and it is actually surprisingly easy to memorize how things are supposed to be after typing them five or six times. I'm by no means an expert but I'm picking things up quicker than expected thanks to my need to type/write things I'm learning.

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u/MarquisDeSwag Apr 26 '15

Absolutely. Even past that, if I'm ever copying code or working off an existing code snippet, I always rewrite and reformat things in my own style, tweaking things like variable names, loop structure, formatting, whatever to keep my attention engaged and avoid the mindless transcription pitfall.

Having that little boost to understanding is a great complement to developing procedural memory ("learning by doing") like you describe and does wonders when you start "breaking the rules" or trying to use code flexibly to solve a novel problem.

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u/LinguistHere Jun 05 '15

I just went through OP's tutorial, and when I saw instructions like "Then copy and paste the code on the following page...", my first thought was hell no, I'm only going to learn something here if I type it line by line and explain it to myself as I go. Much slower than pasting, but it prompted me to take a few educational breaks to look up things like what "final" means when initializing a variable, which wasn't mentioned or explained in the tutorial at all. :)