I Feel Like I'm Just Copying Code

A lot of beginning and intermediate programmers tend to have this feeling that they are often just copying and pasting code from the internet to build their programs. While this is true, it is a very useful skill to have and its even more useful to understand how to perform Google searches to your problems. In today's video, I wanted to quickly address a viewer's question regarding this topic.

Instagram Firebase Course

Facebook Group

iOS Basic Training Course

Completed Source Code

[firezdog]

"What students must learn to do, they learn by doing." (Aristotle)

[idiatico]

I feel like I copy so much that what Im making isnt even mine and Im plagerising or something, it worries me a lot but I found this video and it made me feel a bit better

[jonathancraddock]

I used to feel the same way about copying code when i was just starting out, but eventually it became less and less as I grew more confident and experienced. Now I just copy code when I really don't feel like typing something out or when I find a solution that's more elegant than the one i've created. Embarassing copy paste habits...hmm. Anything to do with dates. For some reason, date related functions just don't seem to stick, haha.

[jonathannairn]

wow Brian almost 50k really shows that good content leads to good results great job!

[CardinalHijack]

Although I think Brian is right, professionals do copy code (hence why stack overflow is so popular) I think there is a difference between copying, when you know what is going on *VS* copying because you dont know whats going on. In the first situation, a dev is most likely copying to save time. In the second situation, a dev is copying because they wouldn't be able to get it to work otherwise or have no idea how to approach a problem so mash some copied code in to get it to work.

I think this is a considerable difference and I think most beginners are in the second camp of the above explained. Aside from "keep practicing" I dont think there is an answer to that question. It then comes down to how do you practice for something like coding in which every single problem you face could be intricately different to the last.

[Inpon]

In regards to being a student of yours, from someone who was a complete novice in swift and programming in general this is how I feel towards "copying code"

It may not be the same thing you're discussing, but I often do feel like I'm just copying you without fully understanding why and how, after following your tutorials for this long I can say it has stuck in, whether it be creating and initialising a textField / imageView or creating some cells, after watching you doing it and copying so many times It's been drilled into my head, so I can see some benefit, although when I see something new on this channel for the first time It can seem really daunting.

Took a few months to settle but now I can see the benefit better, I'm able to pause your videos more often and complete the task without having to watch you do it first, which is a good feeling.

[zharif]

enough said. copying code sometimes is a good thing, because we can grasp an idea on how it should work and what are the function that we still unfamiliar. But don't just copy it bluntly without knowing what are you doing. Thumbs up for the video!!

[ruitorre]

I'm new at swift but a professional programmer for about 21 years now and I back up everything you said. I already know a lot of stuff and even worked on some libraries many people use nowadays but I have to go to the web from time to time also.

I program in C, php, .net, sql/mysql, oracle, visual studio, android etc among some other programming languages and data bases for a very long time and I can still learn with people that are just arriving to programming.

Being always curious and open minded is part of a programmers life I guess...

Another excellent video Mr. Voong!

I'm learning so much with you so please keep doing them :)
(Thanks to your videos I abandoned storyboard possibly for good, thank God cause storyboard constrain manipulation was riving me crazy...)

[joycelu]

Congrats for your almost 50K!!!
I copied your entire project of YouTube Firebase, line by line! Got a really good start of Swift. Thanks a lot!

[andreitalpos]

Honestly I'm just here to listen to Brian say words. That is an awfully soothing voice.

For real though, this particular video has put me at ease knowing that I'm not some sort of fraud for having to copy and modify code from across the internet.

[FirstSpeaker]

Back in my day, we read sample code snippets out of the drab greenish-grey ring-bound IBM programming reference manuals, and typed them back out by hand into a weak text editor in a console-only environment. You kids don't know how easy you have it.

[chetanmrane]

In my opinion, what is experience? - its just knowing the correct keyword and sources to find the solutions of any problem. For ex. when 3 of friends started learning swift, one ended reading docs, another one watching lots of youtube series and smart one watching this kind of channel (who gain more, who earn more exp). Copying is not an issue, remembering perfect syntax is almost impossible (even your code written somewhat earlier). But making yourself conceptually strong is imp.

we do copy/paste our near and dear ones contact numbers in our cell, even if we love them madly then why not code :)

[raimonvibe]

Hi! Great video, I'm a little bit ashamed of copying and pasting the <ul> / <ol> <li> list elements..I tend to forget the difference between the ordered lists and unordered list.

[James-zylh]

Brian,

This is very reassuring. I'm a novice developer who has felt bad for copying code and for utilizing libraries. It's good to know that copying code isn't necessarily a bad thing so long as you have an understanding of what your problem is and how the code you're regurgitating will help you solve it.

The nice thing about copying code is that it can provide a template of what good code looks like for solving certain problems. Repeating this process several times helps concepts stick. After awhile, I find myself able to write the code on my own and will only copy if it's quicker to do so.

That said, it still sometimes feels like I'm copying a friend's math homework lol.

[unique]

Really appreciate this video man cause I still feel somewhat confused in python with computational thinking with for loops sometimes cause their seems to be a billion ways to do things in python. Trying to remember everything it gets overwhelming sometimes with that said I did a bootcamp and that really helped me understand data structures and algorithms and object oriented programming which was my biggest issue at the time. Really nice to know that I'm not the only one thinking this way as I talked to other engineers they said the same thing your preaching now lol.

[Zzznmop]

Solid explanation. Clear speaking ability makes it easy to follow without monotony

[pranjaliwagh]

I am also used to feel the same. But now I know it's not bad. Thank you so much. Your videos are really great.

[onecarwood]

This is spot on! I feel better already! The more I do it the better I get is what I get out of this.

[randomme]

Well said. And thank you for sharing your skillset to the community for free, it’s very much appreciated

[ladedadedaschlobonmeknob]

Oh my god, i don't usually copy from online sources, but when I do, it's only because I HAVE TO because my solution doesn't work. When I do copy it, I understand my problem and gained some knowledge from my own mistakes. Glad to see this video and feel like I'm actually not doing it alone;)