Answer to: How to build strong fundamentals of programming without using AI

Though I'll admit that the best days of books on the subject has passed, there are a few things I would recommend (I'll take Java programming as an example): 1. Start at the beginning. The first couple of chapters might seem boring and "lame", but without learning the basics of primitives and their differences with Objects, it'll be a lot harder later on. 2. Even if you start immediately with an IDE, make sure you understand what it does. 3. There are tons of tutorials out there, but this makes it also risky: thousands of those tutorials are set up by students themselves who, instead of "teaching" programming, should study it better. Here's an (older, but still) post to why sites like javatpoint might look professional, but are seriously lacking: https://humanoid-readable.claude-martin.ch/2015/08/27/javatpoint-sucks/ 4. Be prepared to put in a lot of time. 5. Books, even when outdated, can still be more than worth the time. Some books will never be worthless. I mean, sure, nowadays buying a book that covers J2EE wouldn't help you one bit, but when it comes to books about structures and concepts, rather than about the implementations themselves, their value will remain. For instance, Joshua Bloch's "Effective Java". 6. AI tools are not only used by learners, but also by developers "on the job". There is nothing really wrong with that, unless you simply copy-paste code you don't actually understand. The tool should help build your skill, not replace it.