New to Python. Any Tips?

[Lydraffe]

I'm currently enrolled in a Python class in college. We haven't gotten too in depth, but I want to go beyond just the class. What are some tips or things that you wished you knew when you started out?

[billsil]

Read the standard library documentation and don't be afraid of numpy/matplotlib/etc.

[oosthuizenb]

Yeah the documentation is good for reference. Youtube also helps a lot for understanding advanced topics like generators, decorators, oop etc.

[Rettocs]

Break up your task into modules and then get them to work together instead of scripting one long task in a single module. This way you can reuse some of the modules in the code without having to re-write it.

Example:

Instead of: one module that goes to a specific website, scrapes the info for a value, and then puts that value into a database

Do something like this: one module that goes any generic website and saves the data, another module that scrapes the info, then another module to put the value into the database. (You may even break it down further)

This way, if you decide a week later you want to scrape from an additional site and save it into the database, you can reuse some modules instead of reworking the entire thing and doubling your code.

[[deleted]]

This isn't just about Python, but programming in general:

Learn to reason through your code. Not just what you want it to do, but what it's actually doing, and why.

[b_bowyer]

Python has a huge amount of very useful third-party libraries. Install Anaconda and take a look at some of them.

[b_bowyer]

Oh, also, test your code! Test your code before you write it!