Learning to code at the University was quite annoying in the beginning. We had to write code on paper.
Might be the usual way, yet it was really inconvenient.

Wait.... What?!
CODE ON PAPER!!!!

That isn't usual.

Execute your paper.
Oh shit, bug, the paper burn.

@EdgeLord69 yes right, I wrote C and Java on paper. Especially exams were paper only.

@mk3d shit gets real when you miss a semicolon and get -0.5 points for that.

@BlueNutterfly it's now almost 10 years ago. The course was split in theory and practice. And in the theory part we did actually code on paper.

We still had to do that sometimes during exams. They weren't too strict when it came to details but it's still tiring to write tons of object-oriented stuff by hand, especially if your handwriting usually looks like some ancient hieroglyphics.

@deadlyRants i'm also 10x slower writing by hand than on the computer.

@H4u60r3 True. Reminds me of the time I tried handwriting recognition on a Surface Pro: The first 10 minutes I was amazed how well it works, then I realized it's much slower than just using the damn keyboard.

Now I use a normal laptop again. It's easy to forget that touch screens etc. are just an inefficient compromise introduced for mobile devices.

We also have to write code on paper.
But our teacher didn't really care about wrong syntax, as long as there are just some little things missing. It was more about the semantic and that your solution is a solution for the given problem.

But I still can't fucking write { } braces on paper (at least not time efficient)

@TurnItOffAndOn haha, true "}" often looked like a "3"

@H4u60r3 daufuq?

I thought this was pretty common

Got this also in our university it was elective .net. I asked the teacher why I failed the second quarter exam when I got high scores during mock up tests. He answered, 'Oh, really? I can't barely understand your code how much more the compiler? Where's your penmanship skills? '.

Kinda inconvenient, but can be useful during the interviews. Some companies ask you to write code on a piece of paper. I would sometimes rush and then have to add some variable definition before the code I have already written and it all looks like a mess. If i remember correctly, CTCI recommends practicing paper coding.

Had to do Haskell and SQL on paper.
...

@daniello should I learn haskell? Or is C++ enough for me?

My little sister is taking CS courses in the Carolinas, and she had to write on paper. They also still use blackboard and chalk in rooms with no computers or projectors.

There are reasons I left the state.

My exams and midterms are on paper, really sucks

Haskell, Java, C, SQL and C++
all done on paper here in germanybat the university. So I feel your pain

@H4u60r3 I feel your pain...

I had that too. The idea was to memorize some functions, algorithms and stuff, plus have none compiler help to pinpoint your missing brackets, so you had to pay attention to your code. Also avoid Google searches during it (although it will be your ally in work)

Also you will execute and debug in your mind or with a side paper notes

@coffeeneia Feeding OCR results directly into a compiler. That's such a wonderful idea I wonder why nobody has done it yet. </sarcasm>

Oh my ...