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I've sent my brother (non-programmer) many code snippets and google results to help him learn python. They don't help because the problems he's trying to solve

I've sent my brother (non-programmer) many code snippets and google results to help him learn python. They don't help because the problems he's trying to solve are about 8 levels of programming knowledge above what his current knowledge level is (trying to understand a for loop). Conversely he asked me to automate some java application workflow for him and even though I haven't done swing in 8 years it was trivial for me to do. It might have taken him months even with googling.

CydeWeys 11y ago
Totally. I've been programming for twenty years now. The way I learn a new language/framework/API is by Googling for examples. I've found it to be the fastest way to pick up something new, to the point where I stop reading the official documentation if it isn't heavy on code samples and go search for something someone else has written that is. You can pick up so much about a new tool so quickly simply by applying an existing broad knowledge base of programming information to a few examples.