[psyklic]

I disagree with the author -- I never feel lost and stupid. There is always a way of bringing an idea to life, even if there are compromises and tradeoffs.

But nowadays, I am forced to rely on third-party libraries. These libraries often change constantly and have "in-development" nuances. So, the OP regrettably is correct that searching the Internet is a requirement for working on modern applications.

I do reminisce about the pre-Internet days, when all I needed was my brain and a simple reference book!

[cordite]

My mom taking python on coursers constantly feels lost and stupid. She's doing it again even though she passed last time.

I remember feeling that way when I was eleven, teaching myself. But I think this feeling goes away with self confidence and experience.

[cynwoody]

>I do reminisce about the pre-Internet days, when all I needed was my brain and a simple reference book!

Once upon a time, I had a bookcase full of three-ring binders containing plural "reference books", updated frequently via snap-open, pop-out, slide in latest version.

These days, I find Chrome's location bar far faster and more convenient than that bookcase!

She is absolutely correct about the importance of "developing a knack for asking the right questions on Google".

And as for copy-paste, when and to what extent to do that is another knack, one which will likely accompany the acquisition of the first knack.

[woah]

I bet the person who maintained your code felt lost and stupid though! The benefit of libraries is that the reference exists at all.

[psyklic]

You assume that all libraries are bug-free and documented accurately! I assure you that few are.

[collyw]

That depends. Use a well known library in Python or Perl, and they usually are well documented and tested.

Now choose some obscure JavaScript library from Joe Random on github, and what you say is probably true.

[ef4]

If those libraries are open source, you can still do it. ;-)