[commandlinefan]

I was actually going to recommend exactly that - I find that, when I have a problem that I’m having trouble solving, just brute-forcing the damned thing helps me focus on the hard parts of the problem, and then I end up rewriting things in a “better” way that I’m actually not ashamed to put my name to.

[Jtsummers]

Correct first, then simple and fast later. With more experience you'll be able to devise simpler, correct first solutions that you can then speed up later.