I tried a few methods.

First osmosis. I would put several programming books under my pillow but that was just a pain in the neck.

Next I tried the TF/RQ methods. I would try to write some code not knowing anything about the language. When it didn't work I'd rage quit and flip the table. That ended with a pile of broken IKEA desks and a lot of spilled coffee. (RIP Coffee 😔)

Finally I sat down and came up with a problem I wanted to solve. I googled it, looked at answers. Tried the code myself, if it worked I'd go over it piece by piece so I could explain to anyone exactly what it did and why.

Honestly, learning to code just comes down to doing it and being fearless. The more curious you are, the more you'll learn.

Is 'Ikea Programming' a thing?

If it isn't yet, we should make it a thing - for those people who call themselves "programmers" after copy-pasting a few lines of code from stack-overflow ( or elsewhere ) and gets it working.

And then claims, "It works right? Don't touch it."

I'm going to start using it already.

( but it wouldn't be any fun to call someone names over video conferencing. that's the fun of going to an 'office'. I guess I'm missing it now. )

PS : the long conversation screenshot is only for context, but the highlighted part should be sufficient to get what I'm talking about.