How To Think Like A Programmer - Learn To Solve Problems! transcript

once steve jobs said everyone in this country should learn to program a computer because it teaches you to think most people including software developers think that their job is to write code but actually it is more than that the job of a software developer is to solve problems so if you're someone who is interested in software development or someone who's wondered what it means to be and to think like a programmer then this video is for you i will share with you steps that you can take to become more effective in solving problems so why is this important because problem solving is the meta skill we all have problems big and small how we deal with them is sometimes well pretty random unless you have a system this is probably how you solve problems step one you try a solution step two if that doesn't work you try another one step three if that doesn't work repeat step two until you look out to be fair sometimes you luck out but you might already know by now that this is the worst way to solve problems and it is a huge waste of time but what is the better way the better way involves having a problem-solving framework and continuously practicing it almost all employers prioritize problem-solving skills first in fact problem-solving skills are almost unanimously the most important qualification that employers look for more than programming languages proficiency debugging and system design demonstrating computation thinking or the ability to break down large complex programs is just as valuable than the baseline technical skills required for a job so what should you do when you encounter a new problem you should act according to the problem-solving framework which involves three steps i'm going to discuss next step one know exactly what is being asked most hard problems are hard because you don't understand them how to know when you fully understand a problem when you can explain it in plain english do you remember being stuck on a problem you start explaining it and you instantly see holes in the logic you didn't see before most programmers know this feeling this is why you should write down your problem doodle a diagram or tell someone else about it after all if you can explain something in simple terms you don't really understand it step two plan don't dive right into solving without a plan and somehow hope you can muddle your way through plan your solution nothing can help you if you can't write down the exact steps in programming this means don't start hacking straight away give your brain time to analyze the problem and process the information to get a good plan answer this question give given input x what are the steps necessary to return output y step 3 divide this is the most important step of all do not try to solve one big problem instead break it into sub-problems these sub-problems are much easier to solve then solve each sub-problem one by one begin with the simplest simplest means you know the answer or are closer to that answer after that simplest means this sub-problem being solved doesn't depend on others being solved once you solved every sub-problem connect the dots connecting all your sub-solutions will give you the solution to the original problem congratulations this technique is a cornerstone of problem solving the third step is sometimes called the reduce the problem technique for example suppose you're a new programmer and you're asked to write a program that reads 10 numbers and figures out which number is the third highest for a brand new programmer that can be a tough assignment even though it only requires basic programming syntax if you are stuck you should reduce the problem to something simpler instead of the third highest number what about finding the highest overall still too tough what about finding the largest of just three numbers or the larger of two reduce the problem to the point where you know how to solve it and write the solution then expand the problem slightly and rewrite the solution to match and keep going until you are back where you started don't expect to be great immediately after adopting this problem-solving technique if you want to be a good problem solver you need to solve a lot of problems you need to continuously practice this great technique but how do you practice it there are a lot of options out there for you chess puzzles math problems sudoku go monopoly coding challenges and even video games to name a few a common pattern amongst the most successful people in the world is their habit of practicing micro problem solving so to think like a programmer you need to cultivate a problem-solving skill and practice it daily now go solve some problems if you found this video useful i would appreciate it if you inflate the like button also make sure to subscribe to the coding tech channel for more videos and click on the notification bell enjoy the rest of your day