When you are sitting and looking at a blank screen, why are you stuck? Is it a problem with comprehending the problem, or a problem with breaking it down? This

When you are sitting and looking at a blank screen, why are you stuck? Is it a problem with comprehending the problem, or a problem with breaking it down? This is what works for me: 1) get general understanding of problem to solve 2) break it into steps or pieces 3) code pieces Now, 2) might (hell, might? probably will!) reveal step 1) wasn't complete, so go back and improve your understanding, then move back to 2) Over time you develop the ability to do a 'top down' approach like this, while also having a parallel 'brain space' that considers application architecture, customer requirements, good programming practices and so on. Besides this 'concept of programming' (which is very personal, I'm just sharing how it works for me after ~20 years), don't give up and don't feel overwhelmed. In my experience, except for very rare 'super-programmers', good software is developed slowly, steadily, and built up one solid piece at a time. Break your 'useful program' down into pieces, and celebrate the achievement of developing (and testing!) each piece. It gets easier (and then harder, but it gets easier first). :^)