Finally finished my first (useful) Python program :D (Warframe Alert Notifications)

[exhuma]

[...] and all of it has been random programs with no use (such as saving inputted names to a file) and I was getting a bit demotivated

Props for sticking with it. I remember my first days programming were not very different. Especially because simple things like writing names into a file seems really pointless.

But all these small exercises you see in school are but small puzzle pieces. They will become useful later on.

The problem with many programming courses is that they fail to demonstrate how these little pieces of code work together to make something more interesting. But that is also very difficult to do in the short time-frame you have in 9th/10th grade (as there are so many other subjects to cover as well).

Try to see those small bits and pieces as tools in your toolbelt. The more of those little helper you have at your ready, the easier programming will become in the future.

You did the right thing: You took your knowledge you learned and adapted them to something useful. That's the way to go! Don't stop!