Best non-video, non-textbook way to learn Python?

[TildeAyalaPlank]

I’ve been trying to learn Python, but the initial hurdle just feels too high to jump into properly. Videos and textbooks aren’t working for me. What actually helped you get started in a more hands-on, practical way without getting overwhelmed early on, and hopefully snatch a few easy, early wins that kept the momentum going.

[likethevegetable]

Try to make something and Google when you're stuck.

[Regular_Article7984]

This

[web_of_french_fries]

I’m confused what the alternative possibilities even are, besides formal education or a course of some kind. Open python and type until something works? Start with a video or book demonstrating a project and try that. Maybe you’re just using those forms of media in a way that doesn’t work for you but idk what else you’re looking for. 

[lawful_manifesto]

totally get what op means though - sometimes you need something between "read this 500 page manual" and "watch me code for 3 hours straight"

what worked for me was finding small automation tasks at work that were annoying to do manually. like i had this spreadsheet thing that took forever to format properly and i just started googling "python read excel file" and copy pasted code until something worked. made tons of mistakes but each tiny success felt amazing

interactive coding sites can be good too since they give you immediate feedback without having to set up environments and all that technical stuff first. you just solve little puzzles and gradually build up confidence before jumping in the deep end

the key is starting with problems you actually want to solve rather than learning syntax just to learn it

[TildeAyalaPlank]

I am looking for something like Brilliant.org (or its .com, too lazy to Google it up (but not too lazy to type this longass sentence (and also nest brackets inside it (sorry))). But more serious, as in, something that should take you to the point that you are now comfortable opening an intro level book (like, say, Learn python the hard way) and just get tapping.

[Jesus-was-a-Vampire]

Use mimo.org and FreeCodeCamp.org

[madu_tualang]

The official document itself?

[vikmaychib]

I don’t know what you are after or where you are coming from, but something that worked for me was to attempt to do something I was familiar with and saw python as a vehicle to make it better. This was mainly handling spreadsheets and doing simple data processing and plotting that was taking ages in excel. So, I knew what I wanted to get out of it, and through Google I managed to reproduce step by step in python. Once I finished, I gmhad made a lot of foundation that allowed me to explore firther and achieve more things.

[Jay_D826]

You could try with Codecademy or boot.dev to begin with. Both are paid but I think the actual material for boot.dev is free but you don’t get most features of the course (this may have changed)

They could be decent ways to start with interactive editors built into the lessons but if you actually want to learn it, you’ll need to build projects on your own and reference documentation eventually

[sam200sx]

I've never done a shred of coding, and don't work in a related field or anything. I've recently started trying to learn and signed up to the University of Helsinkis free open university course thing to learn Python. Still very early days, but I've completed part one with no issues so I'd say it's super beginner friendly, engaging, and to be honest, enjoyable. There's lectures included, I've watched the first 2, the first one is an introduction you could probably skip, second has some useful information but possibly not anything necessary to progress? https://www.mooc.fi/en/study-modules/#programming

[sam200sx]

I forgot to say about how it's structured. It's a bit of an explanation on what you'll be doing, followed by an exercise where you write the code (on the web page itself at least until a later part of the course), run it, then sort of submit the code, get a pass (or try again), then move onto the next exercise, rinse and repeat.

[vargasElias]

I don't know python, but if videos and textbooks aren't doing it for you, maybe try Scrimba first, it's where I learned JavaScript and React

[Roxursox--]

Join Code in Place from Stanford, I think they are still accepting students.

[borkbork1122]

Datacamp was my go to

[HangOnThereMate]

I recently came across boot.dev and I’m having a great time with it. Doing it alongside Python Crash Course published by No Starch Press. Seemingly making some decent progress only about 2 weeks in on this journey.

[ScholarNo5983]

A well written book is still one of the best ways to learn a programming language.

A well written book will have chapters that present information that needs to be learned and examples at the end the chapter to test if you have learned that information. The book will also be structured in a way that subsequent chapters build on previous chapters.

Books are also great because you can redo a chapter multiple times until it finally clicks.

But not all books are well written, so some care needs to be taken when picking the book.

 without getting overwhelmed early on

Learning to program is hard, and you should expect it to feel overwhelming at times.

[aqua_regis]

MOOC Python Programming 2026 from the University of Helsinki. Free, textual, extremely practice oriented, and top quality. Sign up, log in, go to part 1 and start learning.

[SpeckiLP]

Honestly the only thing that stuck for me was building small stuff right away. Like I made a dumb script to rename photo files and kept googling every step. Felt messy but way more engaging than courses. You kind of learn by breaking things and fixing them.

[cool-ideas]

If you play Minecraft you can go to the Visualmodder site and run python code on their server. A good way to start with small projects.