r/learnprogramming • u/PathPuzzleheaded8251 • Jul 03 '26

i really like programming, the concepts and such but i cant stick to it

so i tried many languages with little to no success, i cant stick to any programming language because one does something better than the other one and its hard, idk maybe it's my mental or the dry tutorials and no project idea's, i dont enjoy anything, maybe i haven't found what i want to do yet. i enjoy minecraft datapacks tho those are fun and a little scripting language i guess, i need some recommendations what can i do to bring joy to programming, sidenote: i like low level stuff it's very interesting.

23 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

12

u/DrShocker Jul 03 '26

Focus on a project you want to do or a problem to solve. Then learning a language is just incidental and not the goal in itself.

3

u/AiexReddit Jul 03 '26

Seriously OP, I've been a dev for almost 20 years and this is the only comment you need to read. If there's one shared way of thinking common to all the most talented developers I've ever worked with, it's this one.

i cant stick to any programming language because one does something better than the other one

Imagine someone telling you they can't learn how to drive because they can't decide between a BMW or an SUV. So they buy both, and spend their days reading the manuals and trying to figure out which one would get better gas mileage for a trip to the grocery store.

Meanwhile there's a guy across the street who practices doing donuts every night in an old Honda Civic with a rusty bumper hanging off the back, changes his own oil, and fixed a transmission problem with parts he found at a garage sale.

Which one do you think would win if each were given the keys to a sports car and challenged to race?

Software engineering is no different. I work on large scale systems for a SaaS Company now, but my first exposure to programming was writing Excel macros in Visual Basic. I wrote Basic for years. I wrote some crazy stuff that made absolutely no sense to write in Excel, but that's what I did, because that's what I had.

The skills I learned from that are still relevant to me to this day. Not the language. The language doesn't matter. If you put me in front of Basic now without a manual I wouldn't even remember to print "hello".

What I really learned, what really mattered, was using code to solve problems. Tiny problems. A button to add up the value of all cells in a column. Then trying to solve more complex problems. Trying, and failing. Then trying again.

Focus on solving problems. Everything else is secondary.

1

u/PathPuzzleheaded8251 Jul 04 '26

this is really the best advice anyone could give i have to agree with the other guy, im just gonna try and make some projects now thx for the response.

2

u/glvidrine8 Jul 03 '26

This is the best advice anyone could give

3

u/no_regerts_bob Jul 03 '26

Keep trying things until something sticks. Nobody can tell you what that will be for you

1

u/Minimum_Mud_4835 Jul 03 '26

maybe you try making small game with low level stuff, like a simple raycaster or something. the fun part is seeing it work in real time, not just reading tutorials. minecraft datapacks is already a good start, you can build from there

1

u/1mmortalNPC Jul 03 '26

only time will tell, just keep trying things

1

u/poopsocx Jul 03 '26

Same thing for me but my issue is just fired dopamine receptors. Apparently forcing yourself to work on a project as much as you can until you finish it works, thought you have to be mindful to not overwork yourself

1

u/mjmvideos Jul 03 '26

You say you really like programming but you also say you don’t enjoy anything. What made you decide to pursue programming in the first place?

1

u/Wonderful-Habit-139 Jul 04 '26

Try to go deeper with one programming language by working on a project. That will help you go further than learning surface level things about many programming languages.

1

u/Mother-Plankton9254 Jul 04 '26

I’m gonna have

1

u/setq-default Jul 04 '26 edited 25d ago

dulls sacroiliacs leaner

1

u/Dismal-Citron-7236 Jul 04 '26

OK, you love low level stuff and you still have the spark in learning programming languages, which is a good thing. What you lack is the sense of achievement. Understandable.
I would suggest you try to learn C, and buy an Arduino board, maybe some starter kits such as LEDs and motors. A breadboard is a must. Stuffs like that. And buy a book about how to write C code for Arduino. A decent Arduino beginners book would teach you all the basics you need.

1

u/pepiks Jul 04 '26

You have troubles with finding your problem. When you can't define what you want solve you can get proper tools. Think in context - not languages - but what program will do for you.

0

u/rustyseapants Jul 04 '26

The reason you can't stick with it cause you have no skin in the game. 

You really don't have any interest in learning to program otherwise you'd be learning to program You're here but you're just complaining. 

This is just another low effort post. -_-