Your code isn't working... what do you do?
You might think, "I need to improve my coding skills... what books should I read?"
However, what you actually need is a problem-solving approach, particularly hypothesis testing thinking.
Coding Skills are Secondary
Writing programs requires two main abilities:
- Coding skills: writing code that follows proper syntax and function usage
- Problem-solving ability: constructing logical pathways to solve the problems at hand
For programming beginners, coding feels very much like "real programming," making it the most visible target for improvement.
This often leads newcomers to attribute their problems to insufficient coding skills ── but here lies a major pitfall.
While coding ability is related to "knowledge volume," the programming world is so vast and deep that you'll rarely feel you have sufficient knowledge for the task at hand.
Problem-solving ability, on the other hand, lets you acquire necessary knowledge on the spot and move forward, even when your knowledge is incomplete.
Common Mistakes Beginners Make When Facing Errors
From my experience working with programming beginners, here are the most common patterns I've observed:
- Pattern 1: Not noticing upstream errors and getting stuck on downstream issues 😢
- Pattern 2: Complete mental shutdown at the sight of an error without reading the message 😢
- Pattern 3: "Imagining" the problem based on a few keywords in the error message and making changes based on that imagination 😢
- Pattern 4: Understanding the error message but attempting fixes without identifying the root cause 😢
These are arranged from most to least problematic, not by frequency.
Pattern 1 is the worst but relatively rare.
Pattern 2 is common among absolute beginners and usually evolves into Pattern 3 with experience.
Both can be addressed by "reading the error message carefully," but it often takes time for beginners to realize that error messages are allies, not enemies, in problem-solving.
Pattern 3 might occasionally lead to successful fixes by trial and error, but it's important to recognize these as lucky accidents rather than proper problem-solving.
Pattern 4 might seem reasonable and often works, but skipping root cause analysis can lead to deep trouble in complex situations. Even experienced programmers sometimes fall into this pattern.
Basic Steps of Problem Solving
Here's the systematic approach to solving any programming problem:
- Problem Identification ✅
- Verify the current state of the system and environment
- Clearly define what's going wrong
- Sometimes includes hypothesis testing to confirm problem identification
- Hypothesis Formation ✅
- Theorize what changes might solve the problem
- Hypothesis Testing ✅
- Verify if the changes actually solved the problem
While some steps might be abbreviated depending on the situation, this is the fundamental flow to follow.
When unexpected results occur, even in seemingly simple problems, it's worth returning to earlier steps for careful verification.
If your hypothesis in step 2 proves wrong, that's not a failure: it's progress!
You've eliminated one possibility and gained knowledge for forming your next hypothesis.
Thought Experiment: Would Outsourcing the Coding Help?
Consider this: what if you could delegate all coding to a super-programmer?
Even with technical implementation concerns removed, without problem-solving skills, you couldn't even specify what needs to be investigated to understand the current situation.
You might be able to request code changes directly (bad "Pattern 4"), but without proper problem analysis, these requests could be completely off-target.
Superior coding ability alone doesn't help here.
Conclusion
The most crucial element in programming problem-solving isn't technical coding ability: it's the capacity to systematically understand problems and test hypotheses.
This skill extends far beyond programming ── it's vital for any professional work, and arguably, for steering your own life course.
But you probably knew that already 👍
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