I’m teaching myself Python through MIT OCW’s 6.100L course, and I plan to learn C afterward. A few days ago, I emailed Professor Bell to ask how much of what I’m learning—things like problem decomposition, debugging, and recursion—would carry over to C, and what’s specific to Python.

It’s been about two or three days, and I haven’t heard back. I know professors are busy, so I’m not reading too much into it. Still, I’d be happy to get even a short reply.

For those who’ve emailed a professor about an online course you were taking, did you hear back? How long did it take? I’m just curious whether this is typical.

I want to start to build drones, blutooth jammer, rc cars etc I am currently learning python and c++ but when I saw on internet everybody can build it even now kids so I am afraid to that "this is not useful for career" can someone suggest am i right or wrong ????😭

Take Python for instance.

>>> listss = [1, 2, "sfd"]
>>> kook = listss + 2
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<python-input-1>", line 1, in <module>
    kook = listss + 2
           ~~~~~~~^~~
TypeError: can only concatenate list (not "int") to list
>>>

How would I translate all the results given to me by Python into another language of my choosing, and get something like below (written in Kinyarwanda):

>>> listss = [1, 2, "sfd"]
>>> kook = listss + 2
Ibisobanuro (Ihamagarwa rya mbere riri hejuru yurutonde):
  Inyandiko "<python-ha-1>", umurongo wa 1, muri <igitabo>
    kook = listss + 2
           ~~~~~~~^~~
Ikosa ry'ubwoko: urutonde ugendana nurundi rutonde; ntabwo rugendana numubare wuzuye.
>>>

The intention is not to create custom messages, exceptions, and documentation that sits beside or on top of python. I want python itself to respond like this, from the get-go?

I would like the translation to be complete. CLI options, help messages, information on built-in modules, keywords, everything.

While thinking about this, I realized that the end result would just be a completely new language, and I'm fine with that, but I also don't know enough about creating languages or where to get the source code of an existing language to translate it to a new language, so I come here to ask for guidance.

I'd like to preface this by saying that this doesn't need to be useful to anybody, and if you're wondering why I would want to do such a project, the answer is because I can and want to see the end results.

It's completely fine if no one else ever uses it.

I know web development a good amount (eg backends: Laravel, Rails, Django, Springboot

and for frontend I know React)

but people say it's over saturated and going to be replaced with AI

so I think it's not a good choice

then what programming fields do you recommend?

actually not only programming field but anything related to technology

Thank

Hello. I’m trying to learn Java, I’ve done the mooc.fi course a while back. I understand the ground principles of Java but I cannot “make” something out of nothing, always questioning myself and get stuck.

I was thinking of going the way everyone seems to recommend by building your own projects. The problem is if im going to make something like banking account etc. Found some good projects for beginner/intermediate.

What do I do when I’m stuck or don’t know my next step?
Do I google or ask AI for help (not making it write my code).

Any tips would be appreciated, like what did you guys do?

I am currently 9th grade but I like to earn money myself so I thought that it may be a good idea to become a software engineer and work for a company I don't know if they can sign contract with me or not

Also I'm need to know about becoming what type of programmer

Web developer?

Data engineer?

AI/ML? Let me know your thoughts

Thanks

Hey! I'm a second-year CS student looking to build a serious side project to improve my skills and have something worth showing on GitHub.

I'm considering making a Linux tool in C that tracks processes and lets you visually compare different runs of a program (forks, execution times, crashes, etc.).

I'm not sure how useful or original this would be, though.

Do you think it's worth building? Or would you suggest a different project that could be more interesting or useful?

I'm open to completely different ideas. I'd appreciate some honest feedback before spending months on something!

Hai, I really want to contribute to open sources project. Whenever i tried to pick a project to contribute,someone else took the bug and He starts to work onit. I felt demotivated and achieving nothing. My question is, do beginners face this usually or are these part of the beginners journey? Can anyone give tips to get open source projects?

I am watching "the missing semester of your cs education"

the profiling and debugging lecture

it explains debuggers like GDP, PDB, and tracing with strace

anyone needed to use that in real life?

I have never used them and fully depended on the IDE debugging

I really struggle with what to do as programmer, i know some basics of C and Zig (mostly just C). I did some stuff in raylib but it doesnt feel like real programming.

In raylib im just drawing shit on the screen and call it a day, there's no memory management. If there is, its very minimal. I could just use Godot at this point and have better results.

I could start with some CLI stuff but that feels like pretty limiting, i could use some TUI libs and work in them but still, im just using library with already made functions and management of resources instead of actually learning how OS works, how memory works and all.

Im currently making a small project called 'salt' which is just CLI installer for my theme (theme is wip, like wip-wip.)

I'd be really glad if someone could help me out with this problem of mine. ^^

There’s a game that just came out a month ago, and there are already 50+ mods for it. Like… how do people just “know” how to make mods? From my understanding, all the game files on your computer are compiled into binary so that nobody can replicate it for copyright reasons. So how do modders figure out how to add/change components of the game if they can’t read the source code? Going back to the question in my title, is there just general modding knowledge you need to have that can be applied to all/most games? It would be so cool to be able to tweak any game to my liking, but that just seems like an overwhelmingly big goal to achieve. I know how to code (higher than intermediate, but lower than advanced), but I have no idea where to even start when it comes to modding. And I don’t want to just do it, I want to understand it. I know I can probably just ask AI to do the work for me, but that will teach me nothing.

the problem:

Given a string s containing just the characters '(', ')', '{', '}', '[' and ']', determine if the input string is valid.

An input string is valid if:

1. Open brackets must be closed by the same type of brackets.
2. Open brackets must be closed in the correct order.
3. Every close bracket has a corresponding open bracket of the same type.

Example 1:

Input: s = "()"

Output: true

Example 2:

Input: s = "()[]{}"

Output: true

Example 3:

Input: s = "(]"

Output: false

Example 4:

Input: s = "([])"

Output: true

Example 5:

Input: s = "([)]"

Output: false

my solution: (on leetcode)

class Solution:
    def isValid(self, s: str) -> bool:
        inputs = {
        "(":1,
        ")":9,
        "{":2,
        "}":8,
        "[":3,
        "]":7}
        
        prev_bracket=[]
        if(len(s)%2!=0):
            return False
        
        for a in s:
            if inputs[a]<4:
                prev_bracket.append(inputs[a])
            else:
                if len(prev_bracket)==0:
                    return False
                x=prev_bracket.pop()
                if x+inputs[a]!=10:
                    return False
        return len(prev_bracket)==0

Help please.I don't know anything about github but I would like to learn how to use it since people are always posting resources?(idk If that's what they're called) that would be really helpful to me. The thing is just looking at the site gets me confused sometimes it's like words don't have meaning anymore lol(English is not my first language). How and what should I start learning first so I at least can use the things posted on the site? Should I learn basic coding first?

I have learned the basics of programming and web development, and I want to build my first real-world full-stack project: an e-commerce website for a clothing brand, for which I already have a client.

I want to make it professional, from UI/UX design and database architecture to security, testing, and deployment. What tech stack would you recommend?

Finally, how important is the tech stack to recruiters? If a company uses different technologies from those I used in my project, could this put me at a disadvantage during a technical interview? What advice would you give me to make this project stand out in my portfolio and prepare for interviews?

Thank you in advance for your advice!

Hello im a junior developer to be more specific , SAP ABAP Developer , with 4 month of experience including here 3 months of internship.

In the last month i got hired , and by the second week i was givrn simple tasks , tasks with debugging / error in printing invoices or creating small programs.

I use AI for everything , from simplifying what is being asked by the task , to the steps on how to reproduce/ fix the bug . I try to understand everything i do to some degree , so if a consultant calls i have the ability and knowledge on explaining what i have done or how i have found the thing.

My senior devs that are in charge of me , saying that : "you are in a good path" ,

"you understand what you are doing and have the ability to explain it to me so i dont need to repeat the proccess again",

"give it 6 months you will be a good developer" .

But ye now i take more task do mor findings and everything , more output because thats how i will get promoted but at the end of day , what am i learning?

VERY VERY LITTLE compared to whats actually being seen.

If i dont use AI i would not be able to undestand what is needed in the task , most of the time . If i want a bigger position in another company or whatever , i would need to do an interview . What am i going to show them ? Ye im productive but i need AI for that?

Idk if im asking to much from myself from 1 month of work to actually know things , or am i just chasing output in tasks like im doing work?

How di i actually learn while doing this ?

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Ps.

For a second i went to Cluade to generate this post but i thought wtf are you even doing.

Hi all,

I've seen some posts here recently asking about resources / tools to help learn Git. Over the years I've created several free and open source visual Git learning tools (and free resources built on top of them) for this purpose. Personally I found Git to be very abstract and difficult to wrap my head around initially, so I wanted to share to try and help newer Git learners on their journey.

The first is a free and open-source tool called git-sim (https://github.com/initialcommit-com/git-sim), which I released in early 2023 that lets you visually simulate any Git command directly in your own repo before actually running the command. It basically shows you a clear interactive animation of exactly how any Git command will impact your specific repo so you can learn from it, and so you don't need to be scared about what that command will do before running it. The animations open in your browser in less than a second, and it can even be run in "live mode" where it watches your repo in real-time and animates any Git commands that you run. So you can essentially record your entire Git workflow, save it, learn from it, share it, create your own learning resources, etc. (git-sim also works inside VS Code or Jupyter notebooks if you're using those).

The cool thing about being able to easily generate these web-first Git animations, is I was able to use them to build other Git learning resources. I used git-sim to create a set of 16 free visual, interactive Git lessons that use the analogy of a Git repo as a scrapbook that you glue different "mementos" (files and commits) into: https://initialcommit.com/learn/git

I also used git-sim to build an animated, customizable Git cheat sheet with 128 Git command visualizations (https://initialcommit.com/learn/git/animated-cheat-sheet). The sheet can be easily filtered, customized specifically to the commands you need/want, downloaded, and printed. The printed version has a QR code you can scan to load up that exact set of commands in animated-form on the website. (Note: to download/print there is an email submission form, but it is free.)

Lastly, around the time I originally released git-sim, I created git-dummy (https://github.com/initialcommit-com/git-dummy), a free and open source tool that lets you auto-generate realistic, dummy Git repos with a variety of different structures. I've found that one of the difficulties practicing Git commands is that you often don't want to do it on a real repo because you don't want to mess up your work, so being able to generate these fake, safe repos to play around in can be really useful for learning. (I also happen to constantly need repos of specific structures to test my tools, so it serves multiple purposes).

Anyway, that's about it. Good luck with Git everyone 🙂

consider two programs that pass every test you give them. one uses a straightforward algorithm, while the other relies on a fragile assumption about the input, an accidental side effect, or a very specific execution order

for the examples you've encountered, how did you distinguish a genuinely correct solution from one that merely survived the available tests?

this seems like an interesting problem for beginners because passing tests is often treated as proof that the implementation is correct, even though the tests can only cover so much

what would be a good small exercise for teaching the difference?

I'm interested in getting into web development. I know basic Java but I'm not interested in Python. Which language should I learn next? Should I continue with Java, learn JavaScript, explore Rust or consider something else? What would be the best choice for a beginner looking to build web applications?

I constantly see junior developers getting stuck watching endless videos instead of building. I work as a MERN stack developer and team lead, and my advice is always the same: Sirf Code Karo (Just Code).

To help bridge the gap between basic syntax and actual projects, I started a YouTube channel by the same name. Instead of isolated concepts, we build full systems—like LMS platforms and ERP setups—using React, Node.js, Express, and MongoDB. We also dive into modern UI with Tailwind and GSAP.

It’s completely free, with zero up-sells. If you want to build production-ready projects, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/@SirfCodeKaro

What’s the biggest roadblock keeping you from finishing your current project?

I'm learning HTML as my first "language" because my school requires it. I'm just starting out and I feel inefficient. Why is that? Does every programmer start out like this? A contributor also might be AI because I made AI web apps in the past and it was mind blowing. If I wanted to make a web app like the AI did in 12 minutes I don't think I could finish it in 2027😂.

Hi everyone,

I am working in the Multi-Task ML projects in that i have done many experiments to train the model
Key finding:

CNN based architecture outperform the Vision transformer based architecture

Question:
is the Dataset only be the problem for Vit architecture to underperform the CNN bases architecture?

This is probably every beginners concern since AI went mainstream, and so is my.

I am in grade 8 and have always liked the idea of programming as a kid and recently decided to give it a try with python and the CS50’s (haven't yet).

First of all, its not that i am programming only for money, but it natural to feel it can provide a sustainable income or some other financial value.

Second of all, I know that its impossible to pinpoint or predict the state of AI especially by the time i become an adult.

And that's where AI comes.

Can i still code? Yes
Can it provide a value in the future? ...?

I don't think i need to explain how AI plays a role here.

sorry if the post is trash.

Edit: I have decided to pursue programming, but more of like a side thing, after all i am in 8th grade and plenty of time to decide.

Ive been trying to get into programming and I assume its better to not even know how to use llms is this the case?
Ive basically not used any llm other than messing with them for a couple hours when gpt first came out publicly and Ive held the opinion that they are useless wastes of time will jobs and community projects force ai use or can I just be pure without wrong ai temptations (id prefer to never use them)

HI everyone I am a beginner in web development aspiring to be full-stack developer.

I have started my learning phase and i am currently on The Odin project and W3Schools Pathfinder hoping to gain as much knowledge as there is in that field.

To any pro Programmer or full-stack developer what advise would u give me and what were you doing to sharpen your skills as you were building yourself. I am open to all ideas especially practical related ones .

Thanks for your advice?