Seriously, how do you guys manage to understand programming concepts?
I'm currently attending an academy where we learn independently by working on small projects that cover OOP concepts (inheritance, polymorphism, collections, exceptions, testing, generics, enums, etc.).
I feel like none of it is actually sinking in, and honestly, it's starting to worry me.
I'm learning Java and currently studying interfaces and how to connect them with other classes. After that, I'm supposed to move on to design patterns, since some of them use these kinds of structures. But I just can't seem to get it. Seriously.
I eat well, get enough sleep, exercise regularly, but sometimes it feels like my brain just isn't working properly. Everything is taking me way too long to process. I'm even starting to wonder whether programming just isn't for me and if I'm forcing myself into something I'm not cut out for.
I can spend hours (sometimes in one sitting, sometimes spread throughout the day) trying to understand a concept, and still not get anywhere.
I watch YouTube tutorials, ask AI to explain things in different ways, try to approach the topic from different angles... and even then, nothing seems to click.
How do you deal with this? Is this normal when learning programming, or am I doing something wrong? I also struggle with reading documentation. It's not that I don't want to read it, but when I do, it's like I'm just looking at words without actually processing what they mean. I read the sentences, but my brain doesn't seem to absorb any of the information. It's really frustrating.