10 Newbie Programming Mistakes

10 common mistakes I see new programmers make.

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[xxxxx-lg]

#1 Putting everything into a single file
#2 Manually formatting code
#3 Logging to much output
#4 Not reading error messages
#5 Copy and pasting code that you have no idea how it works
#6 Not using the right data structure
#7 Using multiple if statements instead of doing if/else statements
#8 Doing too much pre-processing
#9 Large unorganized commits
#10 Putting secrets or artefacts into GIT

[adithyareddy]

Also:
- Giving up too early / not being persistent and persevering through frustration.
- Expecting to be good without putting in the work.
- Thinking you know everything / you're the shit.
- Thinking you'll never be able to do something because you're not smart enough.
- Not pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.
- Not asking for help because you're afraid people will judge you.
- Asking other people for help before you even try to do something yourself.
- Not believing in yourself :)

[vykac]

I expected "using angular" as one of those

[rafaelpernil]

My best advice is: Fail as hard as you can

Try to do things your way, to the extreme. And you will see why you were wrong and learn super fast. Because, if you do things in a particular way because somebody told you so, you will not understand the importance and meaning behind each advice.

Also, try to make your life easier, simple solutions are often the best ones. If something seems more complicated than it needs to be, try to expand your toolset, change the perspective of the problem, divide the problem into sub-problems...

[David-kgnn]

The error message one was a big one for me early on. I found it so intimidating at first, but it is super useful.

[subzoronltd]

Also get up and go for a walk/eating/hydrating will help a lot with keeping the mind fresh. So many times I've been having a mental block with a problem and then after having a quick walk I end up thinking of a new approach to solve it.

[techstacker]

*Manually formatting code* 0:55 — this is so true. Oddly I often see veteran developers do this in video tutorials. It's such a waste of not just time, but your _life._ All the little wasteful decisions you make add up over time! Imagine having spent 100+ hours of your career manually formatting code for no reason. You could have spent that time on better things, such as health, family, friends (or more work 😁).

[kamdroid]

#3 should be using the debugger. Just like you use the code formatted you should use a debugger 👍🏼👍🏼

[joshuaevans]

Re: Logging too much output. I _highly_ recommend getting used to using debuggers and breakpoints. It can take some time to figure out the initial setup, but it makes fixing bugs so much easier :D

[repe]

I took part on this beginner react native course for fun. The instructor tried to help one person who could not boot up the react native at all.

It literally said "run npm install" because during initialization of expo create app the person had problems with internet connection and npm install could not been run succesfully.
I pointed this out and said you should run npm install. The instructor was really obnoxious and said you don't have because it's running automatically. I repeated that it says in the error message, please run npm install. Then finally the guy runned npm install and it would, of course. The instructor said well, I guess it fixed the issue and moved on to teach people react-native..

You actually rarely need if-else. Worked on a new project for a year with 3 people. We had half a dozen if-else by the end. Guard clauses and polymorphism are your friend.

[mateuscosta]

Man, i felt like you were talking to me lol, cause I just created a React Native application and using the API key inside the code, without using the environment variables. Good advice, Thanks!

[AHz]

Why am I watching this, I can’t even program

[Epistemer]

these were honestly the best tips I've ever heard, not too generic, not too specific. 👍

[puruvijay]

Ben: "Don't put large commits"
Taylor Swift: ... You belong with me...

[spacedumpster]

Read error messages

Best tip, by far 🔥

[pokefreak]

I completely disagree with the elseif one, I see a ton of co-workers introducing complex nested branching when all they needed was some early return conditions

[mabdullahsari]

That's some advanced green screen usage, a different environment every time!

[TheDRAGONFLITE]

5:07 "Basically, be lazy." Oh? Okay sounds good to me.

[Lindaine]

Commiting is the one for me, I tend to forget to commit after I did something especially if I'm trying to solve a problem.