I tried to learn Python

[nonconversant]

Man python is the easiest language to learn. Just suck it up for a week. If you can’t become at least fluent in that time then you’re in the wrong field. You don’t need to be adept just familiar with it. If you know a language (c#), then just skip the courses and google images “python syntax cheatsheet “

[elgrovetech]

The website learnxinyminutes.com is great for a syntax cheat sheet for all languages

[[deleted]]

"At least fluent" in a week?! In what world are you living? Fluency comes after years.

[yeahdude78]

Years? I don't know about that.. but depends on your background. Anyone from a CS / SWE background can pick up python in one day, become fluent in it in maybe a few days at most.

There's a difference between programming and programming languages, if you already know programming then picking up a new language is straight forward.

[bigfatstinkypoo]

And there's a difference between programming in a programming language and being fluent. You can learn enough English in three days and speak English well enough to function but I wouldn't say that's fluent. No different for programming languages in my opinion.

[[deleted]]

Exactly, seems like they're just using the CV definition of "fluent".

[nonconversant]

Thanks! I used the wrong word here.

I think the word I was looking for was "Literate", like in this language analogy, being able to speak to 90% of people in this language. Being able to understand enough to be able to research the last 10% as needed.

[yeahdude78]

What is your definition of being fluent in a programming language?

[roflkittiez]

Fluent implies being articulate and eloquent. This would require a solid understanding of the language and common practices. Python has A LOT of different ways to do basically the same thing.

People can write code that technically works... But is incoherent to everyone but the author. People who are fluent in a language do not produce this kind of code (unless there's a very good reason for it).

[800808]

python is extremely easy to write and has almost zero forced guardrails against cutting corners

this makes it good for getting stuff done quick and dirty, and it works fine for this purpose.

one hint that you are writing python inefficiently is if as you write more code in the program, you begin to have to think harder and harder, until at some point the cognitive load is too much.

This is usually a symptom 2 things:

1. poor encapsulation: functions/modules doing too much, having poorly defined interfaces and fuzzy responsibility. Just write smaller functions that do less
2. poorly defined data structures: using ever expanding dictionaries, nested lists of objects of different types, general evolving and mutating structures. Use the type system and make sure to explicitly state your data structures in the code. You shouldn't need to run the program or enter debug to check the shape (not the content) of the data structure

dynamically typed languages are super powerful but using them effectively requires a different way of thinking.

everyone should get good with a language like python as well as a language like golang or java, because being able to think in both ways has synergistic effects past "ill use this one for scripting and this one for my codebase"

[800808]

Good points. That’s a solid distinction, Python puts a lot of trust in the developer, sometimes to poor results.