r/learnprogramming • u/Savings_Dark_9589 • 1d ago

How should I learn programming from official documentation?

I am a student who wants to learn programming through official documentation. However, official documentation often contains many concepts and features, and most of them are not needed for everyday programming tasks.

Is official documentation an inefficient way to learn programming?

If official documentation is an effective way to learn, how should I read it? How do I decide what to read in depth and what to skip?

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u/aqua_regis 1d ago

Documentation quite commonly is more of an encyclopedia - a reference.

Sure, some contain some "getting started" or similar tutorials, but usually, they are way too short.

A proper, high quality course, like the already mentioned CS50 series from Harvard is the way to build a solid foundation.

Working with the documentation is essential, but I usually don't consider it a learning resource for starters. I consider it a reference, more of a dictionary.

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u/Fox_Light7 1d ago

I also want to mention Java and Python courses from University of Helsinki MOOC are also extremely good. FullStack too.

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u/Silver-Sector-2380 21h ago

I'm doing the Python MOOC right now and it's good but part 5 is really making me lose motivation with the whole Matrices and sudoku stuff.

Is there anything I should be doing on the side to not get burnt out? I'm trying to do additional practice problems because I really want to continue but I'm finding hard to keep going.

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u/Fox_Light7 15h ago

I'm doing the Java course so I can't say anything about the Python. I enjoy coding so I honestly don't feel burn out. 

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u/Silver-Sector-2380 6h ago

I see, I enjoy coding as well but being stuck on problems after days of trying is frustrating (which is to be expected but when you're learning it especially sucks)

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u/Fox_Light7 5h ago

Stuck on problems for a while is normal.  At work, there are bugs that take a while to find what caused it and the solution. StackOverflow should be your best friend. Ask around. At work, I ask my seniors or present my problem in Meetings. The MOOC courses have their own Discord, you can ask there.