I am right now a newbie on the job learning to code in Cocoa . In the beginning I decided that I would try and understand everything I was doing . But right now I just feel like a clueless wizard chanting some spells . Its all just a matter of googling the right incantation . Frequently getting stuck and having to google for answers is proving to be a major demotivator for me . I know that this will get better over time but still I feel that somewhere , somehow I'm just approaching things the wrong way . I sit there stumped and then finally just look at sample code from Apple and I go Wow ! This is so logical and well structured ! . But just reading it is not going to get me to that level . So I would like to know , how do you guys approach learning something new . Do you read the whole documentation first , or do you read sample code or maybe its just about making lots of small programs first ?