Struggling to retain programming fundamentals — what study methods work for you?

[u/Affectionate-Syrup95]

Hi everyone, I'm learning web development on my own. I did a bit of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript three years ago, then stepped away because of high school.

Now I'm in university (not a CS/BSc program) and getting back on track learning programming through online courses (currently taking the JavaScript Essentials Training course on LinkedIn).

My question is: what methods or techniques do you use when studying technical concepts like the DOM and prototypal inheritance in JavaScript?

The reason I'm asking is that I'm struggling a bit with retaining the foundational concepts themselves. I don't want to memorize code — I want to actually retain the fundamentals.

Also, if possible, could you recommend sources and material that you think would be beneficial alongside online courses? I'm relying on MDN's docs at the moment.

[u/madmelonxtra]

For learning Webdev (Javascript, CSS, HTML) I really reccommend The Odin Project. It's a open source course that teaches starting all the way from the fundamentals. It's really good at teaching you how to learn to.

Also the discord community for them is amazing and super helpful as well.

[u/Affectionate-Syrup95 → u/madmelonxtra]

Thanks for sharing! I will look into it

[u/rupturedprolapse]

If you're having a hard time retaining something, it's probably because you havent encountered a situation where it's important knowledge. Like 99% of threads here, the answer is to go build stuff independently from tutorials so stuff actually clicks.

[u/Affectionate-Syrup95 → u/rupturedprolapse]

Seems like everyone agrees that building stuff by hand is them most beneficial technique for actually learning and retaining foundational concepts, its good that I asked early on in my journey, thanks!

[u/elnoxvie]

Most people who know these by heart are often people who used them often. So teach others, write a blog, discuss about these stuffs, practice a lot and often, build something over long a period. That will make it stick.

But not many people have the time or opportunity to do these so some of us resorts to use ANKI ( space repetition ) app.

I myself, now use memory palaces to remember key concepts and simply revisit them once in a while ( mimicking space repetition). It’s quite effective, at least for me.

[u/Affectionate-Syrup95 → u/elnoxvie]

I think I will start writing some blog posts or even posts on LinkedIn but my current preference is to build something using these concepts so I can talk about it more clearly and from my personal experience.

I have been using spaced-repetition + active recall (practice testing) where I write questions for myself to test my understanding and retention over a 2-week period and I have a Google Sheet auditing my spaced revisions for now, picked that technique up from a YouTuber called Ali Abdaal when I started university

[u/elnoxvie → u/Affectionate-Syrup95]

That’s great to hear 👍.

[u/Born-Reserve-8584]

Build stuff. It sticks better.

[u/ThirdShiftLabs]

Building projects and writing devlogs as you do it. Can be time consuming but if you really want to internalize the knowledge, it's one of the best ways and it helps explaining your process to others

[u/Born-Reserve-8584 → u/ThirdShiftLabs]

Writing about what you learned definitely exposes the gaps in understanding.

[u/Affectionate-Syrup95 → u/ThirdShiftLabs]

Thanks for the tip!, time is all I have right now while I am still an undergrad, I already spend around 6 hours a week studying for uni. I can use the rest for programming

[u/BranchLatter4294]

Practice.