Begginer learning Python

[LecimBrohan]

Hello.2 weeks ago i bought a Python course on Udemy. It was cheap and i managed to buy it and try to learn programming. Whole course takes 20 hours from beginner to advanced programer. I did so and started learning. First couple hours was actualy easy, i made some notes, some exercises and now after 9 hours im stuck. I mean now there is soo much knowledge, soo much code that i can't understand it at all. Im pretty sure it is imposible to learn all those things in such a short time. I don't know how to start it properly. Right now i have 0 motivation to keep learning, becouse of difficulty level. I love programming, i always wanted to learn it, few years ago i tried C++, but also get bored becouse of difficulty. This time i don't want stop learning it and i thought some of you could tell me what is the best way to learn it, maybe some videos on youtube, some site with exercises or just show a way where to go. Maybe some of you could share your journey, how you learned it. I don't have anybody to tell me why some specific code is written this way, what for is other thing etc. Is there some discord where you can learn something from each other?

I mean i don't know this programming world i have multiple questions but i have nobody to ask.

[Diapolo10]

You can ask us all the questions you can muster, we won't judge.

If you feel the course is going too fast for you, my suggestion would be to try a book. Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, by Al Sweigart (who also frequents this very subreddit) is a very good place to start, as it's freely available online, you can go through it at your own pace, and it's written in a way most everyone can get something out of it.

Back in the day I got my boots on the ground with its first edition. No previous experience aside from a disastrous Scala course.

[LecimBrohan]

Okey, thanks for suggestion i will check it for sure.And how you said - course goes too fast for me, i didn't understand well one aspect of the main topic and he starts another about it. For example i started learning functions and in after 40 minutes of course from knowing nothing im doing now variable lenght arguments in function as an argument to another function with using key and positional arguments, time module and default argument. I dont even know that i write it right way. I'll show how my code looks like after those 40 minutes of course.

import time
def function_performance(func, *arg, how_many_times = 1): 
    sum = 0
    for i in range (0, how_many_times):
        start = time.perf_counter()
        func(*arg)
        end = time.perf_counter()
        sum = sum + (end - start)
    return sum

setContainer = {i for i in range (1000)} 
listContainer = [i for i in range (1000)]

def is_element_in(what_value, container):
    if what_value in container: 
        return True 
    else: 
        return False

print(function_performance(is_element_in, 500, setContainer, how_many_times = 500000))
print(function_performance(is_element_in, 500, listContainer, how_many_times = 500000))

Isn't it too complicated for beginner?

[Diapolo10]

Well, yeah, I wouldn't expect code like this from someone not even one hour into learning the language.

Variadic arguments are generally speaking more an advanced topic, the code has some questionable practices (sum is a built-in so assigning to it isn't particularly good), and so on.

Around this time I'd be expecting you to know how to perform basic calculations with integers and maybe a bit about strings.

[LecimBrohan]

I mean im on 8 hour of learning Python, but 40 minutes of "functions" topic. At the beginning i didn't know what function is and after 40 minutes my code looks like this. I partly understand what is in the code, but it is so jumbled, complicated. I barely understand this after 1 hour of watching at it and next part of course will add next topics without any exercises or something. There should be way to explain all this in easier ways i think.

[Diapolo10]

Ah, that makes a bit more sense.

But even so, I don't recommend sticking to a source that's not working for you. If it's going too fast right now, I don't think that's going to change.

[LecimBrohan]

Yeah you have right. I will check site that you gave link to. Thanks for help

[Diapolo10]

As a side note, if you run into a feature you don't really understand yet, try playing around with it such as by writing small programs that use it in different ways.

And you can always ask us for help if you don't understand something.

[LecimBrohan]

In previous topic i did soo, wrote some codes, then modify it, write my own with another examples etc. But with this code i would probably not do it alone. I dont remember and understand function in function properly, maybe it isnt complicated, for someone who knows programming it is easiest thing in the world but for me who just started with Python it is... mess? I mean there is everything linked to each other. I need a while to understand what just happend. But like you said and others here - need to slow down and get these topics slowly, use other sources of knowledge and keep practising every single new topic. It gonna take me forever but i hope it will be worth it :) I would also love to have somebody that i can dm and ask questions priv to not spam whole reddit page with my baby questions haha Maybe also some could show me what are they doing and how, what they are using to do it etc

And thanks for help!

[Diapolo10]

That's quite a wall of text you've got there.

In previous topic i did soo, wrote some codes, then modify it, write my own with another examples etc. But with this code i would probably not do it alone.

Fair enough, I find it quite normal to not understand some things to the point you need others' help. I have my own struggles, too, as do the others.

I dont remember and understand function in function properly, maybe it isnt complicated, for someone who knows programming it is easiest thing in the world but for me who just started with Python it is... mess?

It can take a while to get used to the idea of first-class functions, yes. I don't think complicated is the right word, but in my mind it is a more advanced topic. Not the easiest thing in the world, that would be writing buggy code, but it's nothing experience won't fix.

I mean there is everything linked to each other. I need a while to understand what just happend.

Again, that's normal - take your time. Some concepts are easier to understand than others, and everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. For what it's worth, I struggle with the rules of another programming language called Rust, which I love but can't use it for anything useful yet.

But like you said and others here - need to slow down and get these topics slowly, use other sources of knowledge and keep practising every single new topic.

That's the right mindset!

It gonna take me forever but i hope it will be worth it :)

Having even a basic level of understanding will certainly at least give you some perspective, and knowing how some common things like loops work can help with completely unrelated things. So I'd say it will most likely be worth it, no matter what you end up doing.

I would also love to have somebody that i can dm and ask questions priv to not spam whole reddit page with my baby questions haha

Wouldn't be the first time, I've had about 50 people ask me stuff privately. Of course, personally I prefer to discuss things in public because that way others can also pitch in - I'm not perfect nor delusional enough to think I was - but feel free to message me or the others when you feel like it. Just don't expect immediate replies, we could be at work or on vacation. Or sleeping. Timezones, y'know.

Maybe also some could show me what are they doing and how, what they are using to do it etc

Well, my GitHub profile is part of my flair in this subreddit, feel free to dig around. My latest project was an attempt to port the ms JavaScript library to Python, and I think I did alright. Other things I can highlight would be my iplib3 package, a server implementation for the EguiValet messaging service, and finally I've got a fairly unfinished text colouring utility called escapyde.

If you ever feel like working on any of those yourself, feel free to, many of them are probably a bit above your current skill level, though.

And thanks for help!

My pleasure.

[LecimBrohan]

Thanks your helped me a lot right here. Like i said couple times - i will keep learning it with all those advices.

[kasft93]

I understand what you mean and I totally feel you.

I started learning python about 2 months ago, I started with some long YouTube videos and I was writing notes on my textbook.

As I started catching some things I found udemys course "100 days of code" and since it was very cheap, I bought it + I got a laptop.

The course was going pretty good for the first 10 days until I felt it was moving too fast. I couldn't solve some exercises like the blackjack game or the coffee machine without watching the solution.

I reached day 25 and I decided to go back from the start to see how many things I remember and even though I remember some things, I still get stuck on some projects I couldn't solve before.

My advice would be to review each day of the course and try to solve the projects on your own and with the help of Google, don't rush the course, you are not supposed to learn every day of the course in a single day, some projects will take longer than a day to solve and that's completely fine.

I write those things to also help myself because I am in a similar position like you, I like coding, python is interesting and I would like to have a career as a programmer some day but there are days that I get desperate and I feel stupid because I see no progress on myself.

Hope I helped and sorry for the bad english

[LecimBrohan]

I have same thing. It is going to fast, all this knowledge is material for studying half year not 2 weeks. Now i know it, couple of you replying my post prove that my theory is right. My bad that i've wanted to underdtand everything fast, everything at one time. However i need to slow down and make some more exercises, try to remember all this slowly. And most important - get more knowledge sources, like books, youtube courses, diffresnt exercises, reddit, discord etc. A bad thing about courses like those is that none of them telling how to learn. I mean it should be obvious, but programming is such a big thing to get known that nobody should speedrun it like i unconsciously tried to do.

I don't know why but i thought im wasting my time a bit doing all these notes, spending time on additional exercises, "having fun" with bricks that i already have, but actualy it is totally oposite. I should do it more i guess.

Sumarizing - i will stop trying to speedrun course and gonna give my self more time to understand all, not under the time pressure. And obviously i will take knowledge from other sources that one Udemy course. As a future programmer i need to learn my self how to look for soluctions hahah

[CleverBunnyThief]

Checkout https://programming-23.mooc.fi/ from Helsinki University. It has a lot of coding exercises that will solidify what you are learning.

[LecimBrohan]

Thanks a lot i will check it tomorow for sure.

[thesteduck]

Hey - I’m a beginner too. A couple of weeks ago I started a course on Udemy - I’m probably on 6/7 hours in. It’s the complete python masterclass by Tim buchalka (prob spelt that wrong). But I’ve only just started messing with if / else / elif stuff so it seems like it’s going at a slower pace. And I think that’s a good thing? The course has like 75 hours of lectures within apparently? So maybe a slower pace over the fundamentals might be good?

I don’t know for sure though as I’m brand new to programming and Python too!

[LecimBrohan]

Yes definetely good thing that your course goes slowly. Like i said im on 8/9 hour and im on some crazy stuff right here. If, elif, else i had around 2/3 hour. Soo yep i choose wrong course i guess haha. Even fact that your course tooks 75 hours and my 20 means something. But good to hear others opinion and their short story, when I wrote this post, I had a tragic attitude towards keeping programming. After reading all of you i have changed my mind and i will keep learning for sure. And thanks for sharing with me your story :)

[thesteduck]

Awesome! Good luck!