No, a large part of your problem is fluency. The ability to read code like this, code written by someone whose knowledge is more advanced is a matter of literac

No, a large part of your problem is fluency. The ability to read code like this, code written by someone whose knowledge is more advanced is a matter of literacy. Your 'vocabulary' doesn't match his (his is larger). Further, all languages have some degree of idiomatic expression. Such expression tends to be pretty much opaque to beginners or even mid level programmers until the necessary 'ah ha!' moment. Keep at it--- likely by the time you finish up the list of challenges, you will not only want to re-write your initial work but will have a much better understanding of the code shown.