Solve programming issues

Solving programming issues is the developer’s cup of tea. If you are a full-time developer who has dedicated his/her career to programming, then you might be used to untangling coding problems in a matter of minutes. But the scenario is different for freshers and students. Although learning how to code is an interesting topic, the actual programming world has many hurdles that pass-time coders can’t solve. In order to solve programming issues, developers need to get an in-depth understanding of data structures and algorithms, which most of them ignore at first.

Are you interested in programming? Have you successfully developed your own application or solution with the minimum code you have learned? Then well done! You are eligible to use your programming skill to fulfil your coding appetite. But the actual programming market and coding jobs are very different from the ones you have experienced so far. A major task that programmers are assigned with is to solve programming issues, which take a lot of effort. In order to dissolve programming issues, developers should have a complete understanding of data structures and algorithms. Data structures not only help in getting the logic for the program but also aids in writing efficient code for software. Developers can only understand critical topics like time complexity, memory management, code refactoring, code reusability, etc when they are well-versed in data structures and algorithms. Therefore, you need to understand that to solve programming issues, you need to learn much more than basic coding language and framework. They won’t teach problem-solving skills. Developers can only improve their programming issue solving technique when they apply it in practical usage constantly. When developers become pros to solve programming issues, they form their own techniques and criteria to clear the knots. In this article, IndustryWired takes you through a step-by-step guide on how to solve programming issues like a professional in a short period.

Go through the issue thoroughly

The basic barrier in a programming career is solving real-world problems through coding. Interviews have such coding tests as the first stage to filter and pick out potential candidates. When you come across such critical tests, keep in mind that deeply understanding the question is the first thing you need to do. Solving the problem comes next. Try to elaborately note down what you understood through the question and what could be done to solve the issue. An important note to developers is ‘don’t make an assumption.’ If you have doubt, redo the whole writing up the process and try to figure out the problem and its solution from scratch.

Formulate a plan

The next step is to devise an effective plan that could knock off the programming issue. Try to write it out in pseudocode. Pseudocode is a plain language description of the steps in an algorithm. Therefore, note down the steps you think are necessary to resolve the coding issue. For a more complicated coding problem, you need to more carefully write the pseudocode. One easy way to decode complex issues is to plainly think of them as a life problems. Developers should think of a step-by-step way to resolve the coding issue just like how we move things in our daily life.

Have an overlook at similar works

When you have totally understood the problem and have a plan in hand, before you execute your idea, make sure to check it once. But how do you do it? You might not be the first person to resolve such coding issues. Therefore, search for similar problems and try to compare your plan with the successfully resolved coding. If it is similar and complements the solution, then you have successfully cracked the test. If not, start from the beginning and try doing things all again. Practising code continuously is the only way to master it.

Once done, look back and learn

Since you have already analyzed and organized the ways to solve the problems, the time is right to write the code. If you can’t solve the issues altogether through coding, try approaching the simple problem first, then undo the knots one by one. Also, when you are given a complex problem in an interview, do not spend your time figuring out a whole answer. As suggested, go to the easiest one first and then, gradually keep figuring out the problems in more detail. Once the problem is solved, make sure to look back and take a lesson from it. If possible, find a different way to solve the problem.