regarding advice

Hi there! I have no formal training/classes in programming and so quite a few data structures I've encountered here for the first time. My advice is to take the following approach:

1. First, take your time to try to solve the problem without outside help. Even if the solution is outside your grasp, the more you pick it apart on your own, the more you'll actually understand the nature of the problem and become familiar with why a naive approach doesn't work.

2. If you understand the problem but every idea you're able to come up with doesn't work, then look for tools/methods that might help you solve this type of problem. Sometimes finding a general method can help you make significant headway in a problem. Even if you don't happen to reach the solution, this exploration phase often provides lots of learning.

3. If you still can't crack the problem, then start searching for general solutions. But once you have an "ah-ha!" moment of clarity, go and try to implement it rather than being led by the hand. Take your new understanding and rework it into your own solution, don't just copy theirs.

4. If you reach the point where you still cannot understand how the solution works despite it being revealed, then the next step would be getting somebody to specifically explain it to you, such as a tutor or AI. But once you do have an understanding you need to go use and/or play with it, to gain familiarity at actually applying the solution. It's that familiarity that you're lacking when you come back to the same problem later and forget how to solve it.

So yeah, in my opinion the "thinking/solving" is where the understanding comes from, and then the "practicing/playing" is where the familiarity/remembering comes from. Just be patient and try to enjoy the process - don't be so hasty to jump to AI! Some problems like Urban Planning took me nearly a month to crack!