hi , i’ve enrolled in the new Turn based strategy course and i have a bit of an issue.I have learned the basic stuff of C# but when it comes to more complex , like i kind of understand it but lets say im on my own and i want to recreate something similar like lets say a grid system, i seem to “lose” every knowledge on the subject , what would be a good way to “master” those thing , repetition ? or watch those tutorials endlessly so i know lines by lines by heart(which im sure its not the way x) ) , my goal is to be able to code without having to check every two seconds someone else’s code, instructors and generally other coders just seem to go at it , i mean i know its prepared but they got to this point somehow.
You are absolutely right in that memorizing lines of code from tutorials is NOT the way.
As a programmer your job is not to memorize thousands of lines of code or commands (documentation or google is always just one click away), as a programmer your job is to solve problems.
The skill you need to develop is learning how to break problems down into its various components.
So from your example of how to build a Grid System from scratch, start off by asking yourself “what do I mean by Grid system?”
If the answer is to create a rectangular grid then the next question is what is the best way to store that data? Should you store a single field for each grid position? It might work but won’t be easily scalable. So perhaps the best approach is a List? But a List is only in one dimension, so a better approach is possibly a 2D Array.
Then you think what kind of data do you want to store in that Grid? Perhaps it’s just a single value? Then you could just make an int array. Perhaps you want some complex data? So perhaps you define a custom class and make the array of that type.
So it’s all about breaking the problem down as much as possible and then thinking how to solve each part of the problem rather than everything all at once.
Also remember that for any given problem there are a million solutions, there isn’t just one.
As to how you develop those problem solving skills the answer is experience.
The more problems you see and the more problems you solve the better and faster you will be the next time you encounter a similar problem.
The more games you make the more knowledgeable you become.
Learning effectively from a course also means you should be actively listening and building and trying to understand every step of the way.
If you don’t understand something don’t just move on and ignore it. Pause the video, go back, write some custom code yourself to test your understanding, post a question in the forums, etc.
Also try not to compare yourself to other people, only compare yourself to yourself. For example I’ve been programming for 20 years, if you’re at the beginner stage and you compare yourself with me then that’s not a valid comparison.
If I tried building this exact course 20 years ago I would have exact same questions you have. Experience is key.
Hope that helps! Best of luck in your learning journey!
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Yes i totally agree , this course touches more complex concept that i barely encountered in the past (like custom struct for example.) ,so i’ll try to give myself some challenges regarding those concepts in order to kind of “master” them , you know at least thinking about them when a problem is encountered. Thank you very much !
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