I keep GIVNG UP!!!

I have all the necessary tools to program even the free time. I've been trying to teach myself programming, but I keep giving up. It's not that I can't do it, I definitely can; but once I get to a point where I'm happy I tell myself "I did a good job, I'll pick up on it tomorrow." The thing is that tomorrow ends up being next month and then I have to start over again because I've forgotten the basics.

This has gone on for the rest of my life on everything I do, thank god I was able to get an Electrical Engineering degree. When the stakes are high I can do it, but when I'm left alone I get lazy.

I have had similar experiences as well.

It doesn't help that I am incapable of working on projects in small steps over time. I have a poor memory and general lack of focus, so each time I resume a project in this fashion, I spend much of that time just getting back up to speed. Also, having so many interests makes it easy for me to fall off a project, as it just slips my mind. That's why I normally thrive on working for many consecutive hours, to get as far as possible before I stop. Of course, since I no longer have many consecutive hours to work single-mindedly on a project, I can't even do this anymore.

I find that, for me, comfort is a luxury that is a bane to productivity. If I do have several "open" hours at home to work on a project, I usually end up letting myself get distracted. A good way around this is to go somewhere else - without the comfort of your living space, it might be easier to focus on what you actually want to accomplish.

Thank goodness libraries are still around. The general silence and academic atmosphere make it a great place to sit and focus on pursuits such as programming.

Before I started programming at work, it was only the sheer enjoyment of the craft that kept me programming as a hobby. Like you mentioned, I probably went through my introductory text five or six times over the course of ten years, always stopping for long stretches and getting back into it. Each time I did, however, I could do a little bit more.

Perhaps you need to conceive a project that makes you excited. Imagine you booked a trip to an exotic location that you've always wanted to go. You'd probably be thinking about it a lot up to the time you go, because you'd be excited about it. The same goes for projects - if you're excited enough about it, your brain won't let you forget about it.

Along these lines, you should also have goals in mind. Without clear goals, it can feel like you're just dickering around killing time, even if you're being generally productive. Specific goals can help keep you focused and motivated.

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Originally Posted by Matticus

... if you're excited enough about it, your brain won't let you forget about it. ...

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This does wonderful things to your sleep. :L

For me, it's not a matter of giving up, but of achieving my objectives, and then not having any new objectives.When I was learning C, my objective was to create a program that could download pictures from galleries automatically, instead of me having to manually view each picture and then saving them to the computer. We're talking about hundreds of pics per gallery, and that would have taken days to manually save the pics from each gallery. Once I succeeded in this objective, I had no more objectives, and so I stopped programming in C, and eventually forgot everything that I had learned.

So then I switched to Visual Basic .NET to create some software that I wanted to use on my Windows machines. Once I completed a piece of software, I would stop learning VB.NET, and eventually forgot everything that I had learned. And then when I wanted to write new software, I had to relearn everything from scratch. And it happens over and over again.

I have the time, and the intelligence to learn any programming language, but only for the purpose of writing a specific piece of software. Once done, my use for the language stops, and I regress back to almost zero knowledge.

I suspect that many hobbyist programmers like myself are trapped in this cycle. Use it or lose it, as the adage goes.

Eh, I can still Python pretty hard. I mean, yeah, I do forget it but google fixes that in like 5 minutes. As far as programming skills in general go though, I don't think you lose that unless you forget how to think. But forgetting that comments are lead by a # is really easy to do...

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Originally Posted by zerokernel

I keep GIVNG UP!!!

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I guess that you could try programming in INTERCAL.

Software engineering is work. Hard work at times. I'm not 100% gleeful, giddy and dying to get started when I drag myself in on Monday morning but I find a way to motivate myself. If you want to learn and/or better yourself you have to put in the effort. No one on this forum can help you with that except yourself. If you are not motivated to learn it then maybe it isn't as important to you as you think. You make time in the day for those things that are important to you.

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It's not that I can't do it

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You are wrong here. You can't do it if you keep up your current pattern of behavior. You are limiting yourself and as long as you keep doing that then I agree...you can't do it.

I wish I could sugar coat it for you but that isn't how I operate.

It's very hard not to give up. It takes a lot of fortitude and dedication but I think it's entirely worth it. Nothing worth having comes easy.

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Originally Posted by VirtualAce

Software engineering is work. Hard work at times. I'm not 100% gleeful, giddy and dying to get started I drag myself in on Monday morning but I find a way to motivate myself. If you want to learn and/or better yourself you have to put in the effort. No one on this forum can help you with that except yourself. If you are not motivated to learn it then maybe it isn't as important to you as you think. You make time in the day for those things that are important to you.


You are wrong here. You can't do it if you keep up your current pattern of behavior. You are limiting yourself and as long as you keep doing that then I agree...you can't do it.

I wish I could sugar coat it for you but that isn't how I operate.

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Wow, I guess I never thought of it that way. Your absolutely right, if I continue this path I'll never be able to program. I'm cutting out the video games and movies. All my free time will go into programming and drawing (my other hobby). Thanks, this really opened my eyes.

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Originally Posted by zerokernel

Wow, I guess I never thought of it that way. Your absolutely right, if I continue this path I'll never be able to program. I'm cutting out the video games and movies. All my free time will go into programming and drawing (my other hobby). Thanks, this really opened my eyes.

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That's no what VirtualAce said.

Look, why don't you, instead of moaning about it, just give up on programming. I mean, that's something you already know you can do; to give up. You already do it all the time. I don't see what's the point of insisting in doing something you are obviously not cut out for.

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Originally Posted by Mario F.

That's no what VirtualAce said.

Look, why don't you, instead of moaning about it, just give up on programming. I mean, that's something you already know you can do; to give up. You already do it all the time. I don't see what's the point of insisting in doing something you are obviously not cut out for.

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Not sure if you are going for reverse psychology or just being a downer.

Anyways, I go through the same thing. Not with learning how to code but working on personal projects. Its so much easier to plop down and watch TV or play video games. But for me when I do catch the "mood" I try to ride it out as much as I can and that does help progress.

I have been going through the same situation for a few years now. I have always wanted to program but when I was in the military I was to busy and now that I am unemployed I can't seem to get started. I am taking my first real steps after about 50 half hearted attempts over the last few years and I am motivated right now but I have to relearn the basics. As someone else said already, each time I try to pick it up again I learn a little more and the overall process gets easier. But I am still doing very basic stuff so I can't really give my opinion I guess.