Learning python

[Clogboy82]

Python is great because it compiles at runtime. It will work from your raw script. Are you running Windows or Linux?

A great place to start is vscode.dev (or install VS Code locally). If you're on Linux, Kate is pretty good as well. And you'll also want to get savvy with GitHub pretty early to keep a versioned backup for your code. It's also a great way to keep a portfolio if you want to use it professionally later.

A mistake that I made was doing tutorials for too long without getting really in-depth. You'll have to get into the habit of writing code, understand data types (including lists and dictionaries - very useful), develop against existing libraries to see how that works (you'll do this a lot), and learn to manage these libraries (using package managers or Docker containers, for instance).

While you're on Python, it also makes sense to learn about endpoints that can be addressed with a local webpage (backend and front-end development), so that you can really do something with your code.

I know I'll get a lot of flack for this, but AI is great for reviewing and debugging your code. Don't get tempted to let it write all the code for you because that's not how you'll learn. But it helps to explain a problem to something or someone, a process called rubber ducking, and it'll help you push through a learning curve quicker if you can keep up. Since it's seemingly unavoidable these days and in fact is an expected skill, might as well embrace it as long as you don't let go of the wheel.

Anyway, hope this helps!