How long should one hold off looking up the answer to a problem?

Question

How long should someone hold off looking up the answer to a problem for it to be effective and for it to stick? A few minutes, an hour, maybe even a whole day? Sometimes I try without success to solve a programming problem and eventually have to look it up. I've even gone a whole day just trying to solve it. I just want to know what works for you guys. Maybe the longer you try to solve it on your own, successful or not, the better, or maybe it's just wasting time. Sorry for rambling

Answer 1

My personal opinion:

If you don't absolutely have to (because of a college class or something), DON'T look up the solution! Not at all!

Just choose an easier problem and solve that instead.

It's just a waste not being able to solve a problem anymore just because you were impatient.

Just do a bunch of easier problems, and after a while, your coder muscle will have grown enough that you can solve the formerly hard problem on your own.

Answer 2

As long as you're still thinking, you don't need to look for a solution at all. Once you're completly stuck, without any other ideas, wait for few hours, depending on how long the problem is.

Also, you don't need to look at the solution, only see the part you're interested in, and continue. Good luck 👍