Am I right about learning programming?

Question

PHP

Hey! I studied the basics of html, css, mysql, in principle there were no questions, now I started the basics of php. The task is to learn how to make simple, but interesting and beautifully designed web pages. I study gekbrains video tutorials, the question is this - I understand what an array and a constant are, and why $_POST, $_GET, isset, isarray, etc. are needed, but when they give the task to write a calculator, I can’t do it without the help of Google.
That is, I find a ready-made solution, I understand what elements and why they are used there, but I can’t do it myself yet.
Just from what I read, the study at the initial stages comes down to practice, and the practice is implemented as follows (figuratively): there is a task to create an authorization, google how to do it, take a ready-made template, look at and refine it in accordance with the TOR (change the color , size, database, location on the page, etc.). After all, as I understand it, there are also ready-made templates (libraries) that advanced programmers use.
Questions: Do I need more practice and write more code, or do I just not understand programming? Are ready-made templates (libraries) used by experienced programmers?

Answer 1

Practice with algorithms.
Write on a piece of paper what should happen in the program. Then translate this into code.

Answer 2

there is a task - to create an authorization, google how to do it, take a ready-made template, look and refine it in accordance with the technical specification (change color, size, database, location on the page, etc.).

Of course, experienced programmers use ready-made solutions, templates, libraries and all that. But if a person relies on the fact that he will copy 99% of the code from somewhere, then he is Code Monkey, aka bydlokoder .
A simple console calculator is about one page of code. If you can't do it without Google * - something is going wrong, and maybe you should go back a couple of steps, re-read the tutorial and write again hello world, "vasya hello" and that's it.

Answer 3

1. html, css, mysql you have not only not studied, you have not even begun to study them yet. When you start, you will find out that they have nothing to do with programming languages.
2. I've been programming for almost 40 years and I do a lot of things "with the help of Google" (it's faster)
3. Of course, everything that is on the Internet has long been created, you don't need to reinvent the wheel, just find a ready-made code. CMS generally automated copy-paste.
4. CMS stands for Content Management System. CONTENT!!!!! those. The Internet is not html, css, mysql or PHP, but necessary and important information. The WEB has a very low entry threshold and therefore everyone and sundry climbs there, according to statistics, 80% of sites do not gain 100 visits per month, i.e. they are useless and uninteresting.
5. Practice is a good and necessary thing, but the main thing is to learn how to write programs, and writing programs and writing code (and even more so copy-pasting) are sooooo different things.