> It's akin to looking at Stack Overflow and copying the first result, or going through a tutorial that tells you what to write without ever explaining it.

But if you're not digesting the why of the technique vis a vis the how of what is being done, then not only are you gaining nothing but a check mark in a todo list item's box, but you're quite likely introducing bugs into your code.

I used SO yesterday (from a general DDG search) to help me learn how to process JSON with python. I built up my test script from imports to processing a string to processing a file to dump'ing it to processing specific elements to iterating through it a couple of different ways.

Along the way, I made some mistakes, which were very helpful in leveling-up my python skills. At the end, not only did my script work, but I had gained a level of skill at my craft for a very specific use-case.

There are no shortcuts to up-leveling oneself, my friend, not in any endeavor, but especially not in programming, which may well be the most difficult job on the planet, given its ubiquity and overall lack of quality.