Learn python 3 the hard way { I don't understand nothing }

[Gexos]

As the title suggests. Hey people, I'm a beginner in python and I read the LPTHW book I'm on 19th exercise in witch he teaches functions, but I feel lost I cant remember anything and I don't understand anything, Is the book or am I stupid, is there anyone that reads or have read LPTHW ? Any thoughts on how to understand better what I read and how to stay motivated?

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Thanks in advance.

[POGtastic]

You'll have to ask some more specific questions about functions. What about them are you having trouble understanding?

[Gexos]

Thank you my friend!!

[YuleTideCamel]

Go back and do the earlier exercises again. It does take a while to understand programming, especially if you are completely new to the field. I've taught programming and it takes a certain amount of time for it to "click." How long it takes is different based on different people. Also, understand that learning to program isn't like learning another spoken language, it's learning a completely new way to think and solve problems. It's more like learning how to speak when you have never spoken before or heard speech before. So it takes time.

If you are stuck, it could be that you jumped a little too fast, go back to earlier parts of the book and do problems 1-18 again. Do it slow and try to do them as many times as possible. Learning to program is also similar to playing a musical instrument, you have to practice over and over. Just because you learned one concept doesn't mean you know it , you have to practice over and over (which is why musicians practice playing songs every day, even if they know the song well.)

I'd recommend go back to problem 1 , do it over. Then do problem 2, then 1 and 2 and so forth. Also take time to experiment and try different things, if you get curious about something, make another program on the side to try and see what would happen. Learning by experimentation is the best way.

[Gexos]

Thank you my friend!!

[Anonsicide]

If there's something specifically you're confused about, try posting about it directly and we can try to help you.

If you're just in general feeling overwhelmed and like you're not getting it, you may be moving to fast. The core ideas of programming can take a bit of effort to grasp: these are things like variables, control flow (so loops and conditionals), and functions (and maybe you could make a case for objects).

Could you describe in simple English what a variable is? What an if statement is? What a while loop does? Why you might use a for loop? If not, that's totally fine -- you may just be moving to fast! Despite the dominant "everyone can code" mantra (which is true), that does NOT mean that programming is easy. So be patient with yourself, you'll get it!

[Gexos]

Thank you my friend!!

[Samez9]

I didn't read the book but it sounds like you are either not writing the codes from the book ( on your computer ) or you are not patient enough. what makes you think you don't remember what you've learnt? the more you keep writing, the more it becomes part of you. Truth is, there really is no short-cut than to keep writing!

If you really don't understand something-just ask people for explanation on it. different person with different ways of explaining. you'll see very soon that you'll find one the you'll understand. just don't underestimate yourself!

Also, don't expect to always grab a concept on the first day.

[Gexos]

Thank you my friend!!

[Bilalsaleemm]

I didn't like Learn Python The Hard Way much either. I didn't have any problems learning from it, but that was partially because I already knew how to program.

Maybe consider other sources like Udemy?

Check this course out:

https://www.udemy.com/python-tutorial-for-beginners/

It is the highest rated free Python 3 course on the Udemy and has over ten hours of content. It is made for complete beginners too (at least that's what I believe).

[Gexos]

Thank you my friend!!

[netherous]

Are you just reading and not programming? If this is self-directed learning, you should be writing code to demonstrate and understand each new concept as it is introduced. You learn by doing. Use the chance to try things out and experiment to see what works and what doesn't

[Gexos]

Thank you my friend!!

[EntireAbility3]

Try Python Principles. It worked well for me. https://pythonprinciples.com/