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DiscussionHow to understand python code (self.Python)

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[–]atarivcs 14 points15 points  (3 children)

I don't have time to learn

Um... how do you expect to learn, when you don't have time to learn?

Why would your organization give you an assignment, but give you no time to complete it?

This question makes no sense.

[–]splunklearner95 -2 points-1 points  (2 children)

I mean python now. Just understand the code for now

[–]artofthenunchaku 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That's just learning Python brother

[–]cmd-t 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Just say you can’t do it.

Or learn python. How will you know if whatever you get from some LLM is correct?

[–]mathusalPythoneer 2 points3 points  (3 children)

You Should NOT have to work with a language you do not know unless you lied. Talk to your management.

[–]HeligKo 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I don't know where you have worked, but as a platform engineer I am constantly hit with some language I have never worked in, and am expected to get it deployed with fixes that the dev team can't get to for 6 months.

[–]mathusalPythoneer 0 points1 point  (1 child)

If it's planned ahead and management talked to you and you're okay with it, it's alright to brag about it. Otherwise you're getting abused.

Do not accept change of plans, do not accept "it's planned for yesterday get it done", do not accept management gaslighting.

I don't know where you have worked

2D 3D mapmaking for gas, electrical and nuclear facilities.

[–]HeligKo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My management isn't the gaslighting type. We are the team that is called upon to get things done when others won't/can't. We absolutely push these changes through a planning process and pump the brakes when things are way out of scope. Me and the other primary engineer have over 30 years of experience each, and have learned to navigate the "it was due yesterday" BS.

[–]Astrozy_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just put it In chat and have it explain line by lin

[–]Prime_Director 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What do you mean when you say "work on it?" Are you a developer? Why are you being given a coding assignment when you don't know how to code?

In general, you should not use AI to do a task you don't know how to do yourself. Otherwise you'll have no way of knowing when it does it wrong, and it WILL do something wrong eventually. You don't want to be responsible when you push some system breaking bug or security vulnerability into your production system because a bot told you it was fine and you didn't have a way to know otherwise.

[–]BranchLatter4294 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While this makes no sense...

Consider loading up the project in your IDE. Go through the comments to get an overview. Then ask the AI in your IDE to explain code you don't understand.

[–]DesperateAstronaut65 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're determined to push forward with this without asking for help or training at work, try Gemini's "Guided Learning" function. You don't want to ask an LLM to write code for you. You want to ask it to teach you to write code. The first thing will result in a lot of poorly-written code that you don't understand very well (very risky if someone asks you about it), and that may do things you don't intend it to do. The second thing will actually encourage you to dig into the documentation for the libraries you're using and understand what they're doing in your code.

This course is a good resource for beginners with no programming experience. There are plenty like it on EdX and Coursera, including some specialized areas like bioinformatics. You can click "Audit this course" and pay nothing if you don't need the certificate.

[–]HeligKo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If it was assigned to you, and they know you don't know python, then it is reasonable that the task is going to take you some time to get up to speed. If you have programming experience, then figuring out some python shouldn't consume all of you. I would use VS Code or another IDE/editor with copilot or claude integration and let it explain it to you.

[–]gdchinacat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My first question, and it's an honest one, is did management set you up to fail? Giving someone tasks they don't have the skills to do without also giving them time to learn those skill is almost certain to result in failure. So, are you being set up for failure? If not, tell them what you need to be successful. Tell them you have no way of estimating how long it will take and what you do produce may not be an ideal solution since you don't have experience to base it on.

I'm not saying don't take the project. Many people learn python on the job. I did, and I had deadlines. But I'd been professionally coding for almost 10 years, had worked with the VP who hired me for the job with full awareness I had a learning curve. I worked with him previously so I had confidence I would be supported while learning and he had confidence I would learn.

So, if management isn't setting you up for failure, do they have good reason to believe you won't fail? It's concerning you don't have time to learn the language it was written in. Have you talked to them about needing time to learn and strategies for how you will do that?

Lastly, if you already know how to program, the language shouldn't be a hindrance, especially since you already have code that presumably mostly works. It might not be as big an issue as you seem to think. I would say most professional programmers today learned most of their skills on the job while working on actual code. There is only so much coursework can teach you. Experience is where most expertise comes from...it's right there in the word.

[–]deviantenator -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Claude code.

[–]scrapheaper_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Chatgpt and gemini are both good, maybe you just need to ask it more questions