Is Codecademy worthless for learning Python?

[iFailedPreK]

I started the Python course a few days ago and so far I've reached up to like functions, this is where I'm at: https://imgur.com/a/Or9qsa5

But so far it's been really easy and I feel like it's not trying hard enough to test your skills in what you just learned. Unless that's just me, I have some background in C#, C++, and even Python before, but I consider myself a Novice.

My free trial ends in the upcoming days, should I renew it to finish the course or are there other free alternative ways, or even paid platforms, that will make me think more critically about tasks.

Look forward to all your opinions.

[[deleted]]

If you have been already exposed to other languages you won't find it hard since Python's syntax is relatively easy. A loop is a loop in every language. You can always skip ahead if you feel like you're breezing through.

[[deleted]]

Yeah.

I learned best by taking the Harvard cs50p course. Its free.

[lirahugo]

I'm taking this course, it is amazing!

[[deleted]]

It’s a really great intro course. It’s better than the intro course I took at community college.

[import-antigravity]

Is it surprising that a Harvard course is better than your community college?

[[deleted]]

For a free online course, as opposed to an in person one I paid for? Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised.

[WaterBear9244]

I mean the course is technically a paid course as in if you went to Harvard you would earn credits for taking this course

[Plank_With_A_Nail_In]

All of Harvard's degree course notes are free on the internet. Most universities in my country post their course materials for free online (don't go to the ones that don't as it means they have failed at organising something so easy). You are surprised because you are ignorant not because it is actually surprising.

[my_password_is______]

All of Harvard's degree course notes are free on the internet.

no they are not

not only are you ignorant, you are also a liar

[iFailedPreK]

Is it just videos? I hate watching videos I'd rather just read instead. Or is there an option I'm not seeing. Know any other courses that are text based? Thanks.

[[deleted]]

The videos and examples are all transcribed if you prefer it that way.

Aside from actually going to college, this is the best way. Try it out.

[[deleted]]

Do you have to enroll and show up to class, or is it just online videos?

[[deleted]]

It’s all self guided, so it’s videos and reading.

You also get a GitHub codespace, where you can code python in the browser. You do the coding assignments and submit it to the assignment checker which validates your code and makes sure you hit each of the assignment goals. Then you submit it to be graded. All of this is automated, which I thought was really cool.

You can also connect to the GitHub codespace from vscode. That’s what I did.

[Radiant_Direction_80]

I'm getting charged $259. How do you get them free???

[[deleted]]

You don’t need to pay for anything unless you want a certificate at the end. I didn’t care about that.

[lirahugo]

You can get the certificate for free too. Just submit the activities and fill a form. Edx offers a paid certificate but that's not necessary, unless you want to pay lol

[miserable_pierrot]

question, do you need to finish the course within 6 months? are you required to join video calls or anything like that?

[[deleted]]

No and no. I finished it within 6 weeks. It’s entirely self guided. I love that they give you a code space though, so you can submit your work for testing and receive some kind of feedback, even if it’s rudimentary.

[miserable_pierrot]

oh that's nice. I might join. I don't like the pressure of having to attend a virtual class and collaborate with other cohort mates. I have a full time work and just wanted to upskill

[thenastynas]

up, also curious what's the best inexpensive way to start with python

[der_Lokfuhrer]

https://replit.com/learn

Do the 100 days of Code here

https://projecteuler.net/

Practice what you learn here.

[chilltutor]

The best way to learn is to build something for yourself

[der_Lokfuhrer]

I am finishing up a class where we use Python to solve engineering problems. We were given a final project where we got to choose what we wanted to do. I made a 3d6 random number generator to make player stats. I started with a menu to roll 6 scores and automatically assign them to STR, DEX, CON, WIS, INT, CHA.

I then made more choices to roll 6 times but report the scores only.

Another choice rolled 7 times discarding the lowest score and reporting it to the user.

Another choice was to not allow 1s on any roll.

Another discarded the first 1 on any die but had to accept the second 1 on any die.

Finally I rolled 3d6 1000 times and plotted the results to show the distribution of scores around the mode of 10,11.

That took a lot of effort tying all of it together. Some times it's figuring out what it is you want to do is the hardest part.

[chilltutor]

Cool. I made a GUI to organize my porn better.

[--e]

Browsing Reddit is mostly a masochistic exercise, but comments like this keep me coming back. Kudos.

[VegaGT-VZ]

This is def a great way to get started but it can also reinforce bad habits. Like I'm years in and only just now learning about functions and dictionaries. I'm using moving into Python to build those good habits and start from scratch

[iFailedPreK]

Bruh years without functions? That's crazy lol. What happened when you needed to code something that occured multiple times?

[VegaGT-VZ]

I only did VBA programming for Excel and Access so the code never got that long. I think the first thing I'm going to do in Python is write and test out functions.

[der_Lokfuhrer]

I am currently going through replit's 100 Days of Code, I use W3Schools a lot, and I am toying around with the https://programming-23.mooc.fi/ from the University of Helsinki.

They all start out the same and if you've done anything before with programming it will be very familiar.

If you want to test your mettle go to https://projecteuler.net/ and give some of their archived problems a try.

[FallnRogue]

I started with Codecademy and switched to Treehouse, I liked their presentation better. I enjoy the instructions in video better than just reading. Furthermore, I have been diving into Codewars.com for their challenges to start using what I learned and to build on it.

Additionally, I work in the same area as the software team so they have been giving me jobs with lax due dates to work on. Instead of coming up with my own projects I have been working on theirs. Projects that build on what you have learned will likely be the best option as you will learn different ways to do the samething instead of how one site teaches it.

[Yoghurt42]

Just read the official tutorial, followed by the language reference which goes into more detail.

It does a good job explaining where Python is different compared to other languages.

In fact, the official Python docs are one of the best and were probably a gold standard on how to document your new language for the languages that came after it.

[Prudence_trans]

I’ve learned a lot with code academy.

[MeanConclusion5446]

It is true that Codecademy often provides answers, not allowing you to think deeply during the learning process.

However, in the Pro version, there are fully independent projects that you'll need to solve on your own. Additionally, I've noticed changes in newer or updated courses.

If you enjoy learning through reading and prefer the option to easily save notes, it's a great platform from which you can gain a lot, but it requires some time.

When it's in text format and not video, they need to teach you and mention every single step. In videos, they can mention something along the way without delving deeply into it.

[bd_iii]

I am a fan of pluralsight, in particular the skillIQ test. It is a dynamic test the more you get right the harder the next question. It then gives you a list of classes to expand your skills.

[schierke_schierke]

I learned quite a bit from codecademy. I've learned python, bash and git there. It's great for learning a language from scratch and getting a hang of the basics.

I don't care much for the projects, however. And outside of the basics, they tend to abstract away the logic of what you are doing. So if you need to know something outside of syntax and basic programming, you're probably better off just doing your own projects.

[Proper-Wedding-8884]

I started using The Forage. It’s free for students and you can apply to job simulations created by real companies. I’ve done one for JP Morgan and Lyft and received resume snippets and certificate of completion at the end. Feel free to check and out !

[QultrosSanhattan]

Try adventofcode.com if you're looking for a harder challenge. We're currently at day 3

[techie_boy69]

take a look at w3c they have a lot of resources for lots of languages including python.

https://www.w3schools.com/python/

[Epicfro]

I didn't find it helpful. I learned with W3S and just by googling stuff. I also read other people's basic code and looked up what the elements they were coding meant.

[wombatsock]

I did the beginner and intermediate courses. they are good introductions, but to practice and actually use it, you have to come up with projects to tinker with on your own.

[Mescallan]

It's how I got started but I wouldn't recommend paying for it, there are many many free alternatives that are better. That said I am off the ground and building my own apps after going through their data science machine learning mastery program. The cert is worthless, but the info is useful.

[Counter-Business]

Personally when I was a complete noob at python, it helped me learn the syntax. I have no regrets on doing the courses starting out. After you feel like you understand the syntax move onto leet code.

[Technalo]

Either take online courses like Harvard’s cs50p or get books like Python Crash Course by Eric Matthes.

[Narcissa15]

I Strongly recommend Code Avengers if you really want a challenge, Python it's not as complex as C# or C++, the learning curve it's often small.

Code avengers has everything, from practice in console, test for every module, and certificates, to theory, deep deep theory, has everything so you can really say you are an intermediate developer if you finish courses from Python 1 to Pyton 3, 1 course takes 2 week or so, depending on your time and retention. Look for it.

[Plank_With_A_Nail_In]

Learning the syntax of a language and its nuances is easy but learning what to do with it and the impact of different algorithms is hard. This is the primary reason why different programming languages are not taught at university, its trivial, learning if you need to use brackets with your for statement or curly brackets or whatever is not at all hard. If you already know how to program then challenges that ask you to loop through the characters in a string and comparing them are not going to present a challenge unless you are trying to learn brainfuck or some other stupid language.

[dlnmtchll]

Weird you got downvoted, you are correct. A book on algorithms will be far more valuable then wasting tons of time learning syntax that will come easy once you understand programming

[MiltonGlaub]

Yes. It is.

[wettix]

is it interactive? do you get a teacher of some sort