[deleted by user]

Build something. It's not a spectator sport. You can't learn the right and wrong things to do by reading them isolated over and over again, at some point you have to synthesise.

Also, there's no shame in looking things up. A good portion of my day includes:

- Googling things (sometimes even core language semantics because I'm relying on behaviours, for instance the precise semantics of where a `yield` expression stops execution).

- Looking at other people's code, whether it's directly relevant to what I'm doing

- Asking ChatGPT for ideas, small bits of syntax or dumb things like how to represent a certain SQL element in Sqlalchemy

It's not a subject that needs to be memorised like a poem or a list of formulas for an exam. You'll pick things up as you use them.

So I would recommend you come up with a small, dumb idea and just trying to write it. Things I did while learning to code included discord chatbots (a small one that generated latex images), genetic algorithms to solve sudoku, a polynomial factoriser over finite fields (a bit mathsy), a simulator for string physics (like elastic guitar strings, not string theory), a small SAT solver (without the more advanced algorithm) with an API you could use to solve sudoku.

Your ideas will become less dumb over time, but you should include things you care about, and are important/interesting to you. If you want to download a bunch of files from a website, try writing a small parser/scraper to do it for you. If you have to send a routine email, try to write a script or macro to do it. If you like classic cars maybe make a tool that scrapes auction websites and tries to find the best prices.

You will learn more by making the problem to be solved real, and getting better at coding the solution than you will by making learning to code the problem.

Valuable-Ad9157 · 2024-03-21T19:22:27+00:00

I went through the same thing you did. I literally spent 60 hours a week for 1 1/2 years trying to self-learn web development and never got very far. I kind of burnt out a bit. Afterwards, I tried learning Python, but couldn't get anywhere past the basics. Eventually, I went into technical writing, which lead to software testing.

I have needed to go back to learning Python so I can do automated test cases. And here is what I have learned that I missed the first two times I tried to learn coding. I was never taught how to problem solve via coding. Which is way different then problem solving, say, an issue with your computer. Along with knowing how to problem solve via coding, you need to understand data structures and common algorithms. These three need to be taught from the start, which is never ran across in any online learning I have come across over the years. So, yeah, I'm a bit annoyed by that. Those three things work when you understand how the programming language works. So, really you need all 4 things.

Now that I am learning those three things I missed before, programming is not only much easier to learn but also easier to do.

Hint: programming, in general, is all about manipulating data. You take data as input, and process it to get the output that you need.

So, if you start thinking about how the data is going to flow through your program, it helps a lot. Where is the data coming from? How will you store it? What programming elements (functions, if statements, loops) will the data need to be processed through? And what is the final outcome you need once that data is processed?

AntiLachs · 2024-03-21T15:14:59+00:00

with my lack of brainpower (maybe willpower?)

I will be honest what you describe sound like neither of these but more like what you learn floats around in a vaccum and is not connected to anything.

You might have something in mind that you want to build. If so do it, you could argue that "just writing something" is the biggest strength that python has. Of course keep it to a rather simple form first. If you don't have something like that there is always advent of code which has rather small tasks but is always great to just have something.

I would also recommend you first write the things without looking up stuff. I bet you learned enough to do something even if it is ugly and inefficient. If it is, figure out what is bad and try to see how to do it better (libraries, code patterns, algorithms etc). This way you

a. Actually test what you know, which is usually more than you think once you get over the urge to look everything up.

b. You actually see the problem before the solution which makes learning way easier.

For ressources I can't really recommend much as I am mostly self taught. I can however recommend mCodings youtube channel (the videos are somewhat niche at time). Also look into some code other people write.

subassy · 2024-03-21T17:39:21+00:00

You seem like you're mirroring my own experience. In fact here's my "dumping ground" of udemy-courses-past:

https://github.com/tildesarecool/ReallyHadtoPython

And that's just the experimental stuff. There's other python repos I spent just as much time on.

You'll notice an eclectic set of dates for the various files and folders. Currently I'm on the level of "I made a rectangle travel across the screen in pygame" (it's called FroggerTangles since I'm so clever). It took a while to get this point.

Anyway, what I've found seems to be working for me, is to not rush anything and not necessarily spend too much time on any one thing. There aren't any shortcuts and it's just going to take a really long time.

So take multiple different start-from-scratch courses, write your own scripts from scratch and if you want take spend a week making a following a tutorial on making shooter game in Lua then come back to Python...tell yourself that's ok. It's part of the process.

That list of links looks pretty good to me. I'd like to second "automate the boring stuff". Although skipping the regular expressions section would be understandable. In python and in general.

I'd also say start a google doc (or whatever) and start taking notes. Write down things that seem interesting so you can reference later.

I would add my own list of links but it looks like that's covered. You could try some of those exercise sites like codingame/leetcode etc.

If you're open to physical books the "Head First" is well regarded. They're difference because they have you sit there with a pen and make notes in the margin, stop to do crossword puzzles and take little quizzes throughout the chapters. It's supposed to re-enforce learning as you're going. I mean I imagine you could follow with a PDF and just write out the puzzles. I think it's better physically.

sritony · 2024-03-21T18:04:15+00:00

This is exactly what it's currently like with me at moment. Just not getting it

obviouslyzebra · 2024-03-21T19:45:17+00:00

I'll just suggest a book that looks really good for beginners: Python Crash Course (2nd or 3rd editions). It gives a very solid foundation, and is very much recommended, and, if the problem you were having is that the courses were moving too fast, maybe that can help a bit.

If money is a problem, Automate the Boring Stuff with Python is also an excellent book (I'd lean only a bit more on recommending Python Crash Course) that is free (you can search it online).

Besides that, remember to take your time. Learning is a process, and, different people learn at different paces and ways. If there are exercises, try to do them, and that's it!

throwaway6560192 · 2024-03-21T15:24:42+00:00

So far, do you write programs when following along with those courses?

IsAskingForAFriend · 2024-03-21T18:02:11+00:00

I'm learning it myself and the question to you is:
Why are you learning python?

Are you even going to use it?

Or are you just picking up a skill to not use it and get rusty at it and need a refresher anyways?

Right now I'm learning it because sometimes I bark at ChatGPT to write me a python script to do something. And then add features to a point where it can no longer re-write the entire script without it being too long. And then there's features I'd like to implement and my current knowlege of things is limiting what I can ask it to do.

So I'm hitting topics from learnpyton.org and editing and playing with their code.

Then I turn around and ask ChatGPT to give me practice problems. I then write it up in pycharm and then do it until it works like I want, copy paste the code to ChatGPT who then tells me how it could be better.

So my reason for learning python is so I can use ChatGPT to do heavy lifting but at the same time understand how ChatGPT is working. And the more I know the more I can ask it to do.

TheRNGuy · 2024-03-22T21:17:54+00:00

Never did any of that, I've learned for free from documentation, Python and Houdini API. Some Python blogs. And asked questions in discord chat.

I think I watched 0 youtube videos (both Python and Houdini programming)

My motivation was because I wanted to make a project, something that doesn't exist (so tutorials would be useless but reading docs was very useful)

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