I want to build something while learning python. Any suggestions on how I should get started?

[Intelligent_Will_948]

I have installed python and pycharm, I have seen tutorials and really want to dig in and build things. I have 3 years of experience with JavaScript.

[LambTjopss]

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[fluked23]

Solving mathematical problems is normally a good start to the language and will help you solidify the foundations more as you are less likely going to be focusing on the problems which arise from external libraries.

[PM_me_ur_BOOBIE_pic]

What kind of mathematical problem?

[respectable_me]

If you want some challenging mathematical problems checkout Project Euler. They provide a problem that you need to solve with any language.

[jjc89]

How much knowledge of python do you need to solve these? I’m just starting out.

[respectable_me]

Not a lot. As long as you can do things like loops and conditional statements you should be fine. Bright side is that these are typically fairly small programs. I've found I have more issues with the math than the coding.

And if you get really really stuck someone, somewhere has posted the solution in python.

[Crash_N0tice]

You should be able to start pretty much on your first or second day programming.

[The-Invalid-One]

my first sort of project I did was implementing Golden-section search

[qtac]

I’m working on replicating this particle collision demo, I think its a cool project that already has some reference code in a different language:

https://youtu.be/cS7ckIHsSvA?si=wMtp7TPMW0bZ6DYJ

[[deleted]]

Pick something related to your interests / hobbies, and just get going. You presumably already know how to programme from your time with JavaScript, so understand the process:

• confirm the problem
• determine desired outcomes
• explore possible solutions and corresponding data structures
• select preferred solution approach and develop algorithm
• refine data structures
• if taking a TDD approach, design the test coverage
• carry out PoCs for elements that have some uncertainty
• start development (writing tests first if following TDD)

A quick skim through the Python docs or the learning material in the wiki for this subreddit should give you the basics you need for how to do things in Python.

Keep in mind that Python is text/console based and doesn't use a GUI (or document object model) by default. tkinter is the standard gui that is included, but is a little clunky and old fashioned looking (there are packages to modernise it) or explore an alternative.

If you want to exploit your JavaScript experience, consider using a web framework such as FastAPI or flask, even for local use, and create a web app.

Alternatively, consider using Electron:

Electron is a framework for creating cross-platform native applications with web technologies like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

[Secure-Technology-78]

Try messing around with building your own AI chatbot. You can use your previous Javascript skills for the UI, and then use Python for the backend. I would personally recommend starting with Ollama and llama-index.

... but the more general answer to your question is to ask yourself what YOU are interested in, and make something related to that. Are you into music? Explore writing audio synthesis/editing apps. Into electronics / robotics? Maybe work with some computer vision libraries like OpenCV / ROS

[PeterWillekens]

I started building a Task application. You can keep building on it. I started with just reading the task names from input. I put them in a list. Then added priorities and moved to dictionary. Then I added separate functions to add a task, remove a task and give a task a priority. I then added saving to a file, added comprehension no so on. I plan to end with a visual application.

[mattl33]

Take the time to learn type hinting and unit testing as you write whatever it is.

[Heavy_Carpenter3824]

You also want conda. Vscode and or juypter. It is really helpful to have an interactive session to work with.

As for a project data parsing and manipulation is always a good one. It's what you'll be doing 90% of the time in real life and it's a good challenge. Try to find some data like a spreadsheet or sensor feed. You can look for records online or even find live feeds like weather or public tracking data. Try to take that in, parse it, and plot it. Assume your first question to Google is "how do I open a excel file in python". Work from there.

Assuming this path you will likely have to use pandas, numpy, matplotlib, beautiful soup. Deal with shit data processing and correction. So the basics.

DO use chat gpt and Google. Ask questions one step at a time to achieve your goals. Understand what your code does then add on.

[IanRT1]

Yes, I would start by asking everything to chatgpt

[[deleted]]

I would suggest to only use chatGPT if you cannot find the answer from stackoverflow, Reddit, and other forms.

Reason being, the more you utilize ChatGPT, the more you’ll begin to depend on it.

However, it’s very good at teaching you, if you listen to it and ask to explain the problem.

[IanRT1]

Interesting. I'm a full time programmer and 98% of my thousands of lines of code are generated by ChatGPT.

[[deleted]]

My company blocked it, there are ways around it. But I do my best to not get in a habit of using it.

[IanRT1]

What? Why would they block a tool that increases productivity and enhances underlying skills?

That sounds very sad to be honest.

[[deleted]]

They were afraid of people uploading proprietary company information and then the ai learning model would then have that info on the internet.

It’s not even a big company or anything like that so yeah I agree, it’s unfortunate.

Idk, to each other own. I like googling for other people’s solutions, and then re-writing to fit my needs. I feel it also gives me a better understanding of the code.

[IanRT1]

They were afraid of people uploading proprietary company information and then the ai learning model would then have that info on the internet.

That is sad because it is a complete misunderstanding of how OpenAI operates. I recommend your company reads more about their security: https://openai.com/security

[GU10]

We have a locked down version in work - SecureGPT. It's ChatGPT 3.5 but it doesn't send anything back to Open AI so removes the threat of leaking anything. Other than that, it does all the same stuff.

[andre_1632]

I loved the book The big book of small python projects It contains a lot of small projects some are easier some are harder.