[dbonneville]

"Nobody learns to be a rock star developer by merely cutting and pasting code that comes up in a Google search..."

That's not exactly true. In fact,that's how many developers get going - merely copying and pasting code, but then later analyzing and tweaking it, and making it part of their vocabulary. Copy first, understand later.

Look at the model for classical painting atelliers: year 1: clean brushes. year 2 - 6: draw copies of the master's work. year 7: assist with minor painting duties

I once did a study on the top guitar players from several genre's from jazz to fusion. Without exception, every single one of them learned to play by copying (transcribing) solos from their favorite musicians. Later, they learned theory.

Thellonius Monk said "writing about music is like dancing about architecture". There is only so much you can say, even if you can say something useful. Sometimes a picture is really worth 1000 words.