Is this a normal part of programming?

ITguy2

I have a question to anybody else who is either programming, or at least learning how to program.

Basically i'm learning java at the moment, and i'm finding myself in a peculiar situation. Basically there are some codes / programs I am well able to write, and as I get better at it, I even do a little race to see how fast I can complete a program - and it comes out as "Process completed" 99.9% of the time.

However while I can memorise and execute pieces of code in a program, I can honestly say that I don't have a clue how that piece of code got the answer it just did (for instance, learning modulus).

Is this normal, or should I be understanding exactly why a piece of code is giving a result, or is it enough at times just to know how to execute that piece of code.

Does anybody else find themselves in this predicament whilst programming?

Webmonkey

Are you learning it yourself or doing it part of a college course?

Usually in college you'd be doing modules such as computer architecture etc, that will focus more into what's going on in hardware , computer instructions etc. Might be worth reading up on that if you have interest but I'd say a lot of programmers programming java don't worry about such detail.

conorcan2

ITguy2 wrote: »

I have a question to anybody else who is either programming, or at least learning how to program.

Basically i'm learning java at the moment, and i'm finding myself in a peculiar situation. Basically there are some codes / programs I am well able to write, and as I get better at it, I even do a little race to see how fast I can complete a program - and it comes out as "Process completed" 99.9% of the time.

However while I can memorise and execute pieces of code in a program, I can honestly say that I don't have a clue how that piece of code got the answer it just did (for instance, learning modulus).

Is this normal, or should I be understanding exactly why a piece of code is giving a result, or is it enough at times just to know how to execute that piece of code.

Does anybody else find themselves in this predicament whilst programming?

Yes, it seems to be the practice in some college courses.

A computer program is made up of many parts. When you start to learn computer programming you start with the simpler parts. However, a computer program will not work without some of the complicated parts. In order to help you learn how to use the simpler parts, you need to have faith that the complicated parts will make sense to you in the future.

It's important that you look for opportunities to understand these complicated parts, and remember that the fundamentals are vital so if you feel like you are missing something fundamental then take some time to understand it. There are plenty of resources on the net.

Make a list of questions of the things you don't understand.