Reading is a practice, not a glance
Beginners skim code like a poster. Readers of code treat it like a story with state. Start at the entry point — main, or the top of a script. Ask what arrives as input. Follow one path with a concrete example on paper. When you hit a name you do not know, write a one-line guess before you look it up. Then check.
StudyGrid examples and solutions are good reading material because they are short. Open a lab solution only after you tried. Read it line by line out loud if you need to. Rename variables in your head into words that mean something to you. If you can explain the program to a rubber duck, you read it.
A simple reading workout
- Pick a program under forty lines.
- Trace one sample input to the final print.
- List three names and what they store.
- Cover the file and rewrite the core loop or function.
- Compare: what did you miss?
This transfers to real jobs later — most professional time is reading, not typing greenfield code. Start the habit now on small programs so large ones do not feel like noise.