- Being able to solve problems logically
and thinking logically is a key skill to have
as a computer programmer.
But how do you get better at logic?
At actually solving problems?
I've got four tips in today's video
which will help you become a better logical thinker
and ultimately help you become a better programmer
in the process.
Let's get started.
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(upbeat music)
Welcome back my name is Tim Buchalka
with another programming tip of the day
and we're talking about the ability to think logically,
which will ultimately improve you as a computer programmer
and the reason for that is you do need to have logic
and being able to think logically
to succeed as a programmer.
So four tips I've got for you.
Number one.
Firstly, the ability to think.
And I know what you're saying,
Tim I do think,
but look in today's society the way it's geared up
we've got so many distractions.
We've got instant messaging,
we've got Facebook,
we've got Twitter,
we've got YouTube videos which you're watching now.
Which hopefully isn't a distraction.
But all these things are continually bombarding us
or interrupting us.
Mobile phones is another one of course.
We've always got these distractions
and sometimes to solve a particular problem
you need to invest in time to think.
A classic example I'll use is from my Java Masterclass,
I've got challenges in there.
So that's basically a challenge I present to show
or to actually ask you to solve a particular problem.
Now to solve that problem isn't necessarily easy
and will require you to think.
Now if you're going to hope that you can look
at that problem and solve it in two minutes,
we'll I'm gonna suggest to you that that's not thinking.
You're not putting enough time in to think about the problem
so you really do need to invest some time,
turn off all the distractions,
and I've got on that video about avoiding distractions
on this channel.
So you need to try and avoid those distractions
and really put some time into thinking.
The very act of allocating this time to think,
and truly thinking about a problem
and trying not to get distracted,
that will make you a better programmer
because you're training yourself,
you're conditioning yourself to think
and by that process you'll become a more logical thinker
and ultimately become a better programmer.
That's number one.
The second thing is practise.
Again another fairly simple thing.
The more you practise programming,
the more you do that the better you'll get at programming
and your logic skills would improve purely because
you're actually practising what you preach so to speak.
So you're actually learning the course
but now you're actually applying that.
It's far better for example when you're practising
to do it on a daily basis.
So 50 minutes a day is better than a five hour block,
you know one day a week.
It's better to immerse yourself in code
on a more regular basis.
That will help your logic skills as well
because you're continually going through the code
and getting better at that as a result.
So that's number two.
Number three.
Learn data structures and algorithms.
Algorithms in particular is a step by step way
to solve a particular problem.
So if you learn an algorithm you can use that
and apply that in your own code firstly,
but secondly by the very act of going through
and seeing how a particular algorithm is put together,
even the step by step approach to it,
that's gonna make you think logically as a result
because you're understanding how other people
have solved particular problems.
It's really important to learn some good data structures
and algorithms once you've learnt the basics
of a programming language
because that will take your logic skills to the next level
because again you're understanding how things work.
The fourth point is pretty similar to number three
in some ways is to start looking at other code.
So other people's code
and there's an abundance of code online.
You'll never find a shortage of ways to find source code.
Github is a great site.
So go to Github if you're looking to find some code
and just do a search there for your programming language
like java game.
For example if you're looking for game code or java,
tic tac toe or something like that
or java in a particular algorithm
for example binary sort.
Java binary sort.
There'll be an implementation on Github
and you can go through and check out that code
that someone else has written
and understand what they've done.
Now of course you can find good and bad code.
I'm not suggesting that all the code is going to be good
but the very act of looking through this code
that other people have developed is going to make
you think more logically
because you are going through the concepts
and reading that code and hopefully understanding it
or at least aspects of it.
You can apply what you've learnt there
into your own projects.
Don't get discouraged.
You might be thinking you're never gonna understand this
or you can't figure out,
you're thinking I just can't get this logic.
It does come with experience.
But they are the four ways to do it in my opinion.
They are the best ways for you to improve
your logic programming skills.
Keep at it don't give up and you will succeed.
Alrighty so I hope that helped.
If you've got any questions feel free to leave a comment
and I'll get back to you.
If you're ready to look at the next tip click on up here
and you can check that out.
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and I'll see you soon.