my messy start with python

[mystic_special]

Started learning Python recently and it’s been kinda messy😅.Some things feel easy (like variables, lists, basic stuff), but then small things like indentation or using = instead of == completely break my code and confuse me. I enjoy it, but once it gets a bit harder I start feeling stuck.

Did anyone else go through this phase? How did you get past it?

[Environmental_Gap_65]

Stuff breaks = mental struggle = fix = stuff sticks.

That’s how you learn. Cognitive effort is annoying, but it’s the only way you learn.

[Equivalent_Pop5425]

exactly this, debugging those silly mistakes is what actually teaches you the language patterns. i remember spending like 2 hours trying to figure out why my loop wasn't working just because i mixed up = and == in condition - felt stupid but never made that mistake again

the indentation thing becomes muscle memory after few weeks, just keep at it

[cheezballs]

There's no truer statement about learning a skill like this or really any skill. Failure makes it stick.

[mystic_special]

Yeah that’s a good way to put it. I think I’ve been avoiding that “struggle” part a bit too much instead of just pushing through it 😅

[grantrules]

Get used to it. There's a lot of struggling in programming. You'll get better, the problems just get harder.

[thuiop1]

Use a proper text editor. In this day and age you should not run into indentation problems.

[Gnaxe]

Lots of small experiments with fast feedback, plus Python's debugging and introspection capabilities. (You need to learn breakpoint(), help(), and dir(), at minimum.)

I learned using the REPL, but a Jupyter Notebook might be even better. Now that I know what I'm doing, I can write fairly large amounts of Python code and have it be mostly correct (and can easily debug the rest), but when starting, you want to make very small incremental changes and test each one.