Memorizing all the code

Hello all,
I’m trying to find a way to memorize all of the code. Im a 15 yr old student willing to do what it takes to learn coding. Is there anyone who has a strategy?

Why memorize it all? Good developers don’t memorize code. They learn ideas and concepts and they learn the basics of languages and google the details when needed.

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Hi @maxgotgames4 !

Welcome to the forum!

It is impossible to memorize everything because there is too much to memorize and tech is always changing.
Focus on understanding the concepts and look up what you need to from the docs.

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How would memorizing even work? Like what would you even memorize? You learn to code to solve new problems and expand your knowledge and, there’s no fixed way to do that. It’s not like there’s a code that you have to memorize to solve a problem. You can solve a problem in any number of ways.

Even if you’re talking about solving algorithms, you’d need to understand why and how a solution works.

I don’t think it’s possible to go very far with memorizing code. And if you’re talking about basic commands, then don’t worry. The more you use certain things, the easier they will come to mind. If not, there’s always google.

Edit: sorry Kevin, I wanted to reply to the main post and I don’t know how to comment you out.

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That’s fine. My wife thanks you for “keeping me in my place”. :wink:

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Was my tone at the beginning a bit too aggressive? :sweat_smile:

No, my wife just loves any opportunity to crush any rising self-confidence. :wink:

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Or maybe she just wants to keep your self-confidence at realistic levels. My wife does that too and I think it’s really important. :sweat_smile:

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Hi @maxgotgames4,
You can try spaced repetition:

  • Memorizing a programming language using spaced repetition software, Derek Sivers:
  • How to use spaced repetition with Anki to learn to code faster:

Cheers and happy coding :slight_smile:

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The parts to “memorize” either directly or indirectly, are what, where and why.

What I mean by this is you memorize what you could use, where you’d use it and why you’d use it.
Code is just the “tool” you’d use to work with a computer to solve a problem. Like any physical tool, there are multiple types of tools, places to use it, and reasons to use it, along with places not to use it, and reasons not to use a given tool.

Code syntax is the same. Just like physical tools, you could go out and try to memorize every single tool in existence, and memorize all the possible scenarios you could use it. This is unfeasible.

Going back to the physical tool analogy, you’d preferable pick up a few basic tools and learn to use them to solve some basic projects. Over time you’d add more tools to your toolbox, but always rely on the first few ones you’ve picked up. Furthermore you’ll learn the differences between what you’ve already picked up and what your learning, so you get some context as to why you’d use one of the other.

This slow buildup will take you from a few tools, to being able to approach a new and random tool and then use it “in the right place” later.

Finally, you’ll notice I skipped the “how” or the specifics of the syntax/tool itself. This is because you can always look it up. As long as you know what syntax is available, and rough idea of why’d you’d want to use it, you can lookup the rest.

There isn’t much need for memorizing the specifics, only the parts you’d need to get to the specifics.

Hope that helps :+1:

I know it’s hard. You can’t memorize it but there are things you can do to get better at knowing what to use. Are you talking about JavaScript or something else? HTML and CSS also? Make some kind of list broken into functional areas. For example, for JavaScript make a list for

  1. symbols: + - * /, < > <=, >=, &&, ||, %, etc
  2. Things related to data types: array methods, object properties, properties of Math() when dealing with numbers, what you can do with strings, …

I am building a list of methods and comparisons that return true or false like valueOf, hasOwnProperty, isArray, every(), includes(), some(),…so that I know they are available when I need to use them.

However, it’s all gibberish unless you put it into practice, which means you have to build small projects that are not a copy of someone else’s tutorial. Or if it is, you have to modify it for what you want. Everyone has interests and hobbies: sports, gardening, cooking, music, photography, astronomy, carpentry, cars, etc. Build a simple project and use the code as your notebook.

I had the same approach a long time ago, and I found peace in an answer to the same question on StackOverflow.
The solution I adopted, the one suggested in there, is to only memorize whatever will help you learn better. Don’t just memorize code and code alone.
I can try searching the original answer if you want.

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