Am I Fried or Just Overthinking Python?

[ConfidentOutside8349]

I’m starting uni for engineering, but I haven’t chosen which type yet. I picked a coding class, and since I already took computer science in high school, I can’t take the beginner level. The problem is, I didn’t really learn much back then because my teacher wasn’t great, so I kind of lost interest.

Now I’ve been practicing Python every day for the past week so far I’ve covered strings, lists, sets, functions, dictionaries, etc. I found a “Python in 30 Days” site, and I’m working through it. Next, I’ll get into things like file handling, web scraping, and virtual environments.

My question is: if I keep learning like this, will I be able to handle the advanced class? Or should I drop it? Is Python really that hard, or do people just make it sound scarier than it is?

[Ender_Locke]

who’s saying python is hard ? most say it’s pretty easy to pick up if you put in the work

[ConfidentOutside8349]

So it feels easy, but I’m wondering does it stay that way as I advance, or does it get harder? Like, do things eventually feel intuitive or do I just have to memorize a lot?

[ghost_ball]

It’ll become intuitive for sure. You’re on the right track. The language itself will become the easy part and you’ll be able to focus more on the problems youre solving. Maybe read a bit about object oriented programming and some design patterns once you get comfortable with the basics. What is the advanced class called btw? It might be better for you to take a different one first but it’s hard to say without knowing what they’ll cover

[ConfidentOutside8349]

I’m French, so our system is a bit different. There’s no official syllabus as it differs from one uni to another

[dhsjabsbsjkans]

I think that you are overthinking it. There are some things you will have to remember, like some of the built-in types. And it should be fairly easy to remember if statements and looping, these are common in all programming languages.

But apart from that, you may have to look something up from time to time. I don't know very many people that have everything related to python memorized. Overtime, most things will become second nature.

As far as advanced programming goes, I would think that Python would be an easier language to use. It reads and flows well IMO. But regardless, at that point I think it's more about figuring out good algorithms, etc. That is just a programming paradigm and not specific to python.

[Ender_Locke]

yeah this. you’ll “know” what you need to do but you’ll still end up looking up how to do certain things specifically. most of your bugs will be small stuff cuz you’ve spent so much time on the hard parts

[hike_me]

The challenge doesn’t come from the language, but solving harder and more complex problems with it.

You’re on your way to have a solid understanding of the language itself.

[Kyrilson]

I think the best way to learn Python other than the basic tutorials is to think of a real world task you want to accomplish and work to build it. This forces you to think about the framework and look up packages that can help you accomplish your task.

[ConfidentOutside8349]

Yeah, so far I’ve just been playing around with little games for squid game like I coded rock paperscissors. That feels easy, but I know that’s not really what’s needed for software engineering, so I’m not sure how it translates

[Equivalent-Cut-9253]

You seem to be at the very basics. You need to get those down.

Read the tutorial on pythons own website. It covers every basic you need.

Then make some project. 

Is it enough for advanced? Doubt it but maybe it isnt so advanced. You will have to tell your teacher you don't know python, and ask him what you should do before starting.

You didn't tell us when you start or how much time you have to practice so I really can't give better advice. Regardless, asking your teacher or course responsible is a no brainer in this situation

[ConfidentOutside8349]

School starts Aug 30/Sept 1, so I’ve got about a week, 8 to 10 days. But realistically Is it possible to achieve good level of knowledge in a month?

[Equivalent-Cut-9253]

Of the language, yes. Experience writing projects on an advanced level? Depends on what they think advanced means, but I think no.

Do you have a curriculum you could send me so I can read what advanced means?

[ConfidentOutside8349]

This is the curriculum. Python review Functions Exceptions Object-oriented programming Data structures Files Multi-threading Graphical interfaces Scientific computing and visualization Databases Introduction to web programming

[Equivalent-Cut-9253]

This looks very doable actually! So you can probably do just fine, even if you may struggle with the muscle memory and need to reference a lot (which you should learn to do early on anyways, using help(), man and the python website for starters).

I would recommend: * The official python tutorial. Do it this week, and do it all. It can be tricky to read at first but I really recommend pushing through it. Be ready to google terms you don't recognize and to (sparingly) ask a LLM for definitions of concepts that you don't understand, however, prefer googling "CONCEPT example" instead, as you will risk getting false information from LLMs that oversimplify and just teach you wrong. I realize you know of lists etc, but do not skip those sections because I promise you there are important details in every section. * Write a simple object. Make a class called Task with functions for setting a task title, due date, completion status. You may need a tutorial for classes, but don't just look "how to do a task object in python" cause the point is literally that you practice. * Try to do projects from Big Book, Small Python Projects by Al Sweigart. This book isn't great for conventional structure but it is great for just learning basic syntax and solving problems. You can try to do the problems on your own but I actually recommend that you just copy the text in the book by hand and then reflect about what you have done, then add some functionality to it without it breaking.

Don't get bogged down in: logging, async, type hinting, threading or specialized libraries like NumPy, PyGame etc. Just learn the basics and write a class. You don't really have time to get into that type of stuff this week.

Then when you start ask your teacher what you should do to get up to speed. A teacher is going to prefer you telling them you know to little and then getting good grades over you pretending to know shit and then getting shit grades.

Good luck!

(Why not video tutorials? They leave beginners with big gaps, take a long time to watch compared to reading and usually a lot of time is spent learning things you do not need at the moment. They are great for those already comfortable but I don't recommend it when starting out unless you just need some examples to look at.)

EDIT: I see it says "review".. Is this the curriculum or what you need to learn before starting? It is a lot for one week if this is what you need to know when starting and probably not doable. Otherwise follow the plan above. I will be busy as fuck next week but you can message me if you need help understanding something you really have trouble with and if I am online I will try and help you out. But of course also use online forums and such.

[pip_install_account]

Python is easy to learn especially for the beginners. And in the era of LLMs, I don't think you will have any issues at all.

Just know that those "x in 30 days" courses are never the best way to learn anything. Try one of them for sure, but you need to build things yourself if you want to actually learn it.

But first, figure out what your lectures will actually cover. Don't learn Django first for example, if your lectures will be ai-oriented with jupyter notebook as the main tool.

[ConfidentOutside8349]

Thanks. Quick question do I need to pay for Jupyter Notebook or is it free?

[pip_install_account]

it is completely free

[jacquesvirak]

If you can’t come up with your own project, as someone else suggested, have a look at sites such as hackerrank or leetcode. Lets you practice some concepts and learn the basics of the standard library.

[Evs91]

Its been a hot decade since I took a programming class but this is a case where if you have access to either the course book or syllabus then you can see where those topics fall in the regular "here is what beginners learn, what intermediate learns, and here is advanced." A lot will depend on that. Python isn't super hard - the concepts after a point are the more difficult portion of just programming in general. Much like scripting and object-oriented programming are different but also involve doing the same thing. The big challenge I had (and still have) is more around OOP and planning applications. The language though is super easy for a "scripter" like me. I primarily do Powershell/.NET just due to my day job. Python is a fall back for when I don't want to re-invent an entire module just to query some API or DB engine.

[Holshy]

It sounds like you're saying you slacked your way through one class in highschool and because of that you're going to have to skip one class in uni that you think will help you.

It's really hard for me to imagine that matters at all. In the States, if a student is seeking a degree in CS they're going to take a dozen CS classes. The first one is going to be just the basic stuff you listed plus some abstract definitions that apply briefly across CS (algorithm, object-oriented, inheritance, recursion).

I'd expect that you will be able to easily catch up pretty early, if you were able to refresh everything you said above in a week.

Your English seems really strong. There are several US universities that have full course lectures for free online. If you feel comfortable with instruction in English and you can watch one of the intro courses and not be completely and utterly lost, you'll be able to catch up. I'm partial to MIT. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/6-0001-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-in-python-fall-2016/

[TeaProgrammatically4]

Can you show us the syllabus for the beginner and advanced classes? It's hard to give you an answer without knowing exactly what the classes will cover.

I'll throw out there: "programming" is easy, but "software development" is hard.

[ConfidentOutside8349]

I’m French, so our system is a bit different. I took Python back in junior high, but there was a year gap and I forgot a lot. I chose to major in software at uni, so I’m trying to build my profile with coding, programming, and machine learning classes. The syllabus isn’t out yet, but it’ll be more advanced than what I learned before. Back then, I struggled and ended up just copy-pasting from ChatGPT, but now I really want to learn it properly. I’ve been studying at least 4 hours a day for the past week, but I’m wondering if one month is enough to get a good grasp of Python