I can't combine different functions or can't think of any to use together

Question

I see people on here making password generators and complex programs but I can't even think of ways to use the code I've learned simultaneously.For people combine things like range,if,etc to make cool outputs,but I can't think of anyways to combine the simplest of functions. I'm currently were I'm learning about def. How long did it take you guys to get the idea of programing?

Answer 1

Think of a computer as a vastly overpowered calculator. In a calculator you have goals like "add two numbers and tell me what you get". This isn't silly: a calculator doesn't have to tell you the answer, someone told it to do that. In your daily life, anything you can break down into steps (like making breakfast) is a 'programming' task. You can break the task down like: identify your resources (fruit, cereal, etc), a location (table, car), time of day, affected people (kids), actions (break eggs before stirring in cheese), etc.

Games are the result of work, study and clever mathematics...but it's still a bunch of steps. Spreadsheets are great at calculating from lists of data, charting and statistics support...by steps (or repeating steps, like a loop). Web browsing loads pages by steps (often simultaneously). Robotics is a computer sending steps (that you told it to send) to something physical.

To think of tasks break down things people want to do and imagine telling a computer to do it. If you want ideas from others visit a site like StackExchange and answer questions...or look at the kinds of problems any type of engineer needs to solve. You don't actually have to solve those problems, just think about how the steps fit together. That's what you do with programming.

Answer 2

years and years of practice and studying.

Answer 3

Don't worry! Just practise a lot and try to write your one programs. Don't be afraid of making mistakes, you will learn a lot by correcting them. And maybe you repeat the lessons sometimes to keep things in mind.