I remember telling people to read "The Python Tutorial" on python.org , if they wanted to write Python. It takes a few hours for an experienced programer, and a couple of days for a beginner. People had difficulty starting.
A beginner might have trouble assimilating this information - too few examples, not enough entry level drilling on data types, operators, flow control and functions. For example they might forget to put quotes around a string or not know how to use two for loops, one inside the other, even if they know how to use one in isolation. It's hard to grok how to compose things even if the student saw how to use them in isolation. And for the teacher, it's hard to keep the lessons easy enough at that entry level.
When I started programming (with Python) I remember how the modulo operator was introduced, without any further information. I found it quite confusing, since I didn't know what modulo meant (that could be solved with googling) but more important, how it was useful. When you come from a CS perspective, it's completly clear on how you can use it and why it is essential for some computing tasks, but for a non-CS beginner that can be much more obscure.
Quotes to indicate strings have been a problem, definitely. It's odd because it's so clear for me. Yes, I was lucky to dabble in all this a lot when I was younger.
> not enough entry level drilling on data types [..] they might forget to put quotes around a string
Just want to emphasize that first part; I've seen the second in new hires who passed a coding bootcamp, and it's really weird to watch. One of them even had to see the error message and go back to the code and still puzzle over it for several seconds before realizing what was wrong.
I would assume so. Using Intellij Idea helped me a lot, rather than using Netbeans that our professor insisted on.Netbeans has a really slow autocomplete and would slow me down a lot, however Intelllij's autocomplete would pop immediately and would learn from my usage.
