Warning: jumping straight to Python almost made me quit coding entirely

I spent about 8 months banging my head against Python tutorials at night, and nothing stuck until my buddy handed me a dusty HTML book from 2009. Switching to just building a basic webpage with HTML and CSS gave me that first win, and then JavaScript finally made sense. Has anyone else had to step way back to a simpler language before they could move forward?

3 comments

3 Comments

murphy.aaron9d ago

Building something you can actually see and click on makes a huge difference. Nothing wrong with starting on HTML and CSS, that's how a ton of people get into it. Did you ever try rebuilding that basic page with some JavaScript later?

oscarc128d ago

Yeah but did you actually add JavaScript to that first page you built? I ask because I feel like a lot of people stop at just getting the HTML and CSS looking right and never push through to making it actually do stuff. The jump from static to interactive is where most people I see hit a wall and just give up. It's weird because that's actually the fun part once you get past the initial confusion. What was the first thing you tried to make click or change on the page?

the_thea8d agoTop Commenter

Yeah @murphy.aaron I totally get what you're saying. It's like the whole "see it working" thing applies to so much more than coding. I notice it with people trying to fix stuff around the house too. If they can't hold the tool or see the part they're messing with, they just give up way faster. Same with cooking, if you can't watch the food brown you lose track of what you're doing. There's something about having a physical result in front of you that keeps your brain engaged. HTML and CSS give you that instant visual payoff, which is probably why so many people stick with it long enough to actually learn something. It's like training wheels but way more satisfying.