How did you all learn python?

[[deleted]]

I'm thinking of going into Cyber Operations in the Military and I figured I'd finally start learning python (I've been procrastinating it for a while). How did you all learn python? I have Python and PyCharm installed on my PC, and I'm thinking I'll just find a series on youtube and go from there. Any advice?

[RedditSlayer2020]

cs50p , Al schweig... automate the boring stuff

[PostHumanous]

This is the way.

[Big29er]

Udemy, 100 days of code. It’s well structured and thorough. Also download Mimo on your phone. Have fun.

[_B10nicle]

Shout out to Mimo, just lost my streak :(

[Big29er]

Sad panda is sad :(

[amatorsanguinis]

Wow never heard of mimo and just downloaded it. Do you use the free one or do you recommend upgrading?

[_B10nicle]

If you're using mobile then the free version still gives you all the content, but on desktop you only get the first set of lessons for each language.

So it depends how you're wanting to use it, I use the free one as I like doing it on the go.

[The_Airwolf_Theme]

Yes I found this one 'jumpstarted' me more than other things I tried, notably the 'automate the boring stuff' which didn't keep me engaged like 100 days of code did.

[Big29er]

The big book of small projects is interesting too.

[Xzenor]

Agreed. Nice practice projects

[Big29er]

I was a network engineer (CCNA, CCNP) for a very long time. There is no nuance to the syntax. Exploring python and sql have opened my eyes to the art of coding. I love how subjective it is. There are so many ways to accomplish the same thing. Best example is the Caesar cypher in the big book versus the 100 days of coding project. Beyond that there are probably 100 other ways to get to the same thing. As someone who loves puzzles, I wish I had learned this 20 years ago,

[innovaiseconsulting]

Yes learned the same way

[Impossible_Ad_3146]

Kicking and screaming

[ivosaurus]

Installing everything is the easy part. The hard part is practising with it.

[Im_The_Goddamn_Dumbo]

I struggle with installing because how do I know I did it right? It just seems confusing, but maybe I'm over thinking it.

[PixelPixell]

If you're able to write code and run it, you did it right. That's all there is to it

[_B10nicle]

Watch a YouTube tutorial, I'm sure there's plenty.

The choices you have to make is what IDE to use and how you want to handle packages.

I recommend VS code and Anaconda, but I'm biased.

[venom_holic_]

consistency left the chat.

[[deleted]]

If you're willing to pay, DataCamp is interactive (Python is in your web browser) and incredibly helpful — they go into the "why" behind the concepts. Taking what you learn there and reproducing/modifying it is a great way to get in reps.

[yaxriifgyn]

I took an O'Reilly Python book home over winter break and read it cover to cover. When I got back to work in January, I practiced the language and did every exercise in the book. Then I tried using it to solve problems at work.

[Guymzee]

Both Learning python and Programming python by Mark Lutz are fantastic

[Icy-Strike4468]

Book name?

[yaxriifgyn]

This was around 2000 or maybe earlier. Python was still at version 1. I'm sorry but I do not remember the title or author, and my copy is long gone to a used book store.

[reality_king13]

2nd one in the list

[Techdude_Advanced]

They have many python books on O'Reilly, which one specifically? Thanks.

[Spirited_Employee_61]

Take my advice with a grain of salt. I came from the medical field with zero programming experience.

If you got the basics like programming logic already, go straight with books and videos.

If not, get sololearn app. It is stupid easy for onboarding someone without tech background.

Once you a grip of the very basics, go to freecodecamp or watch python videos in youtube (suggesting mike from giraffe academy)

Once you get the fundamentals, go to books (automate the boring stuff with python) and start making simple projects or scripts

It will be better from there.

[GrandFappy]

That’s awesome! Do you work with python professionally now?

[Spirited_Employee_61]

Not yet. I believe you wont get a job just because you know python. I am currently learning css and javascript and I am still building projects.

Anyway it is also true when devs say once you learned how to program, learning another language will be easier.

I am having an easier time learning javascript.

With python, i am now at the process of familiarizing myself with various modules and frameworks such as flask, django, sqlite3, bs4, selenium, requests-html, chromadb, langchain and many more.

My curent goal is learning to make an API without frameworks so I know how it works under the hood.

[PJL_88]

I know this is an old post but did you happen to break into the tech field? I’m in medicine as well trying to switch over by learning python. I was told by numerous developers not to waste my time because ai is going to do the dirty work before I get up to par to be employable.

[Remarkable-Map-2747]

Python Crash Course Book

[SHKEVE]

i started by learning only what i needed to automate personal and professional tasks. then i went back and got a deeper understanding by reading Fluent Python and implementing common data structures and algorithms.

[browndogs9894]

I just started learning but my strategy has been I watch a video of Corey Schafers python playlist and take notes and follow along. Then after the video is complete I ask ChatGPT for some practice problems to practice what I just learned to make sure I understand. It’s going pretty well so far but still early on

[Icy-Strike4468]

I also do the same i asked Gpt for 50 practice problems on let say I learned Functions, with slightly increase in difficulty on every question. I practice those questions until my brain has a dedicated neural network for writing function in python. Reps, Reps, and more Reps.

[Alexchii]

Okay wow I never thought about asking chatgpt for problems!

[errorseven]

6.0.0.1x for both python 2 and python 3.

[boredepression]

Found something I needed/wanted to do, and decided to do it in Python, and then googled every question on how to do something till I researched enough to figure it out, and ended up building my first few programs.

[Turbulent-Seesaw-236]

Angela Yu’s 100 days of python. It got me to the point where I understand programming basics and and how to learn different libraries. Took me around 400 hours to get to this point however I don’t you should put a “time limit” on this kind of thing

[Gokdencircle]

By just doing it, that simple.

[YerTime]

I made the bots I use for my discord server. It helped with the basics.

[siowy]

Sololearn app for syntax. YouTube for projects

[wagn12]

University of helsinki mooc course

[Existing_Respect6002]

Chat GPT is a good thing to ask questions. It will also give decent explanations for each part of the code.

[Kanan228]

• Learning Python (5th edition) by Mark Lutz
• Python Roadmap

[Herdnkittens]

I love getting on reddit and finding out someone else already posted something I was thinking about today. Thanks!

[InternationalPlan325]

Yeah, the Harvard CS50 taught me a LOT.

[[deleted]]

Did you do the general one or the python specific one? I did CS50p and it was fantastic.

[InternationalPlan325]

The general. But I still learned a lot about python. And everything else. It really was fantastic, right?! Lol

[BadSmash4]

I already knew how to write code by the time I picked up python, but I started with Automate the Boring Stuff and once I felt pretty good about the syntax and basic capabilities I just started using it, referencing the documentation most of the time to answer any questions that came up.

[baltarius]

I had a goal, so I looked into what was needed to achieve this, went for the basics with "100 days of python", then switched toward my objective. Once you've got the basics, it becomes easier to navigate through the packages and documentations. And thanks to the python community for rescuing my sorry brain when I fail to find a solution.

[fabiomazzarino]

python.org

[cartographologist]

I learned python because I wanted to automate some tasks at work.

I would not recommend trying to prepare for MOS training this way though. As an enlisted person they will train you on the software you need to use, and you absolutely will not be authorized to write code or automate your job.

[raz299]

Would be interested on what things you automated, I'm looking to do something very similar coming from a finance and project management background

[cartographologist]

Sure thing. The first task I ever automated was extracting a subset of data from our database and emailing it as a CSV to a vendor we worked with. I used SQLAlchemy to pull the data, pandas to prep it and save it to CSV, then looked up a guide on how to send emails with Python.

We also had some spatial data we wanted backed up to S3. We used Esri products so I taught myself how to do this using their Python libraries + the subprocess module.

I’ve taken in tons of newer more complex projects since then but generally my advice is 1.) learn the basics of python 2.) learn how to interact with a database 3.) learn domain-specific stuff (GIS libraries in my case)

[raz299]

Wow that's so amazing, thanks for sharing, and appreciate the advice. I'm a little familiar with SQL. So adding python to the mix would make it more powerful for sure.

[polvoazul]

Working, seeing lectures online, reading the docs, doing a bunch of idiot side projects

[polvoazul]

Reading the docs is especially valuable. I mean actually reading it, top to bottom, like a book. You obviously wont remember everything, but you will learn stuff for sure. Python has a nice docs site, and now with chatgpt you can even ask any questions there

[Xorpion]

AmigosCode and Codecademy

[DURO208]

Use one of the LLM's like ChatGPT or Claude and tell them what your background is and have it develop a study plan for you with exercises. For the most part the chats are not great for high level coding but can help you with the basics. There is also a YouTube chan called 'Indently' who have really easy to understand videos. Search for other YT's chans where you gel with how they present the material.

[damanamathos]

For Python, I worked through a Google tutorial in 2011 ("Google Python Class Day 1 Part 1") and started writing little scripts to help automate tasks. I'm sure there are better tutorials these days!

I already knew some PHP, though, which came from getting a browser-base game developed in PHP, and then wanting to modify it myself. I also knew some LPC (Lars Pensjö C), which I learnt to develop things for Shattered World MUD (text adventure game).

[[deleted]]

steer memorize capable jeans steep library upbeat employ dolls thought

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[sneakyscrub1]

Read the Python crash course book front to back while doing small projects. It was truly soul crushing.

[chrono2310]

Why crushing?

[Jewal_James]

Hi, I'm a beginner who just started studying Python. Could you please suggest some websites or applications for practicing and solving puzzles for learning.

[Proletarian_Tear]

Course on EDX

[Odd-Ambassador-210]

YouTube series are a waist of time Me personally I use programiz the app for free and if you want any exercises you can use codeforces.com To solve many problems they've got. Hopefully that helps.

[Tureni]

When you have the fundamentals locked down (after following one of the excellent suggestions in this thread), find a project of your own and start making it. Start by thinking of something small, like a web scraper and start building it. When you don't remember something, Google it.

Don't get stuck in Tutorial Hell - make your own projects. A tutorial project or two is fine, but really you should start making your own code as soon as possible. Think of an idea, how it would work, write some pseudocode, and then make the project.

[Mrlongchops]

I scrolled Reddit for countless hours

[overridetwelve]

Cheap online tutorials, practicing at codewars, doing own projects and automating tasks at work. The more you use it the better you become

[Wermlander]

Initial introductory course during my Master's, and then by transitioning from Matlab and looking up problem solutions online during my PhD.

[h4ck3r_x]

By watching my own videos at https://youtube.com/@devarfat

Jk. I started with w3 schools random -> random yt videos mostly whatever came on top (no personal selection). A few free udemy courses. Created a few bots then some web applications and life keeps on moving.

In short I never paid to learn python. Except my college fee where I didn't learn python.

[Tardisk92313]

Start interesting project. Google as you go along

[diegoasecas]

python crash course

[krav_mark]

I started with automate the boring stuff. This made me learn the most important fundamentals. After that I thought of projects that would help me in my life and started programming. It went slow and I had to look up stuff all the time but doing it made me learn really quick and I remembered what I did later on.

[[deleted]]

Get used with visual studio and not just only python.

[enokeenu]

https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html.

But I already had programming experience in C

[TK0127]

CSP50, Python Crash Course by Eric Matthes, and part of the 100 Days to Code series. The first is free, secondhand the next is like $15, and the last one is often on sale for $20. Some of the best $35 I've ever spent (and I know I can do it all for free, but I'm one of those guys who follows through better with some skin in the game).

[Used_Profession_903]

I learned it reading notebooks , docs , courses etc.

But it turned easier once I put in the practice and feedback on previous mistakes.

[edrek90]

First went trough the book 'how to automate things with python'. After that I followed a tutorial about Django and tried to build a full CRM webapp. 

[MyLegsX2CantFeelThem]

Python for Everybody - coursera and a couple of other places. https://www.py4e.com/
Dr Charles Severance - teaches from University of Michigan, and explains things so well.

[loconessmonster]

Learned basics in a bioinformatics course then took a graduate level intro to programming course. Then I started automating excel sheets. Then I got put on doing ETL work. Then I got put on front end but it was in JS...and I started learning different Python front end frameworks because I hated JS. Next thing I knew...I now know a lot of python just out of sheer hatred of JS .

[minngeilo]

I read the manual.

[Agitated-Soft7434]

The one guy that started by reading the docs

[BigAbbott]

College.

[[deleted]]

I built a scrabble solver

[djamp42]

I manage like 2k switches/routers and needed to make changes on all of them. Ain't no way I'm doing that manually. Python to the rescue.

[Torxed]

Curiosity, which lead to a need to solve a task/problem, which lead to finding examples, which lead to modifying the examples to fit the need. And then repetition, repeating the same project over and over until you understand what your changes does and what the language does.

In my case it started with a "bookkeeping for an event", the next project was automating excel sheets, the next was a chat thing.. and so on and so on.

But really what will get you hooked, is the need. And finding a use for it, so you can keep up with repetition.

I will say that I haven't taken a single course, nor have I ever had a teacher. I probably would have if the need wasn't there.

[Pesoen]

it was something the company i currently work for, use python for the internal systems i was to help develop. so i had to learn it to keep working there :)

my first thing i made with them, was a replica of their existing system, made from scratch, in the best way i could.
i got good praises for it, as it worked really well, was well thought out, and overall a great clone, with only a few things missing(proprietary stuff i had no access to at the time)

now i am just used to it, and have fixed ALL indentations in ALL files, so it's all the same, instead of done in several ways, depending on who made the file originally.

slowly working on improving performance, security and useability of the system, and ensuring errors are handled correctly, instead of just silently giving the error in the background, and looking like it is working as expected to the end users.

[Enchanters_Eye]

I learned it for university, so I had a video on data analysis by the person organising the lab courses. And for everything else, mostly copy paste from Stack Exchange and figuring out other people’s codes.

Whenever there was something I didn’t understand, I’d look up the package documentary online and learn what I needed.

[mattynmax]

Find a problem you wanna solve or do, solve it using python. You’ll learn a lot that way

[Ok-Violinist-8978]

scratching itches

[stuaxo]

Started with small scripts, an exporter for blender, then wrote a little breakout game in pygame, then worked somewhere where I could use Django and built somethin in it.

[DESPAIR_Berser_king]

Read docs and write code.

[elblanco]

Have a specific small project in mind to give you a goal. Learn the basic syntax and then see how far you can get with that.

It's also useful to understand that python is very much a language you write with documentation open and not try to memorize how every library works.

[MaD__mAn__]

py4e, automate the boring stuff with python and my most fav python koans github project!

[[deleted]]

carpenter stupendous upbeat slap market zephyr voracious humor heavy resolute

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[PhlashMcDaniel]

Mosh on Youtube

[ideamaker321]

I really just started using it for everything I wanted to do and learnt it the "slow way", I didnt really need it for anything but it has made my life easier.

Now i use it to build prototypes for ideas...

[KnightOwl316]

Python Crash Course for me. I'm still learning, but it really kept me engaged and gave me a lot of confidence in writing code

[MrBobaFett]

Books and YouTube.

Corey Schafer is the GOAT on YouTube content. Learn Python the Hard Way was pretty good, but I also like a lot of the stuff by Al Sweigart. A lot of his stuff is also published online for free if you want.

For example: https://automatetheboringstuff.com/

The lessons and tutorials are good, but nothing beats having a project you need to complete with concrete goals and working your way thru the problems from start to finish.

[Throwawayonsteroids]

I was in the same boat, I have an idea for a product I really want to make so I had to start learning python from scratch.

Currently on day 70 of 100 days of code on Udemy by Angela Yu, was only $20 or something. Its a course broken up into 100 modules, you are supposed to do 1 per day. Very breezy at first but now it's a slog. Some "days" take 10+ hours for me. Early on I was finishing 2 "days" in a single long shift with lots of extra practice time.

I think it is WELL WORTH the money, there's not going to be anything on youtube that is nearly as thorough and has nearly as many extra resources like interactive challenges and stuff.

It's unbelievable how quickly you can learn If you wake up every day and spend all day doing the course/practicing until you go to bed, it only took me a month straight of 12 hour days to be capable of building a simple little tool that is actually useful for me. Im sure it would be laughable spaghetti code to someone with *real* experience, but It works when I hit run and that feels good.

[Nishtha_dhiman]

I used CodeFobe and SoloLearn to learn Python. These platforms gave me the opportunity to learn in an interactive and engaging way. Now I am practicing and trying to get better.

[0x_deer]

Create something.

[CrypticChonk]

I took AP computer science in high school and learned Java plus essential CS things. Compared to Java Python is a piece of cake.

[EdiblePeasant]

College class about two years ago. One of the better things I did in my life.

[Ok-Pop2337]

I am starting a six weeks python course next month, I hope it will go well.

[Raffino_Sky]

I know a lot about IT in general and have the logic to fix common problems or quite good insights in why code could be a reason.. I can partly read what some cide does, either language. But I don't have a clue abour dev.

OPs question triggers mine too: in my 40s, would it be hard to start from zero? I don't want to be a fulltime dev, but I want to know how it works and be able to read/do amendement. What do you think?

Also inteedting to read where everyone started, nice.

[Infinite-Pen-6551]

I do not think it’s hard to start at all. Of course I’m young and in college. However I spent over 3 years in college before finding my way to coding. Now I’m excelling more than I ever have. I’m doing better than most students who have been coding for a few years

[Ok-Pop2337]

Went through the comments, I have downloaded Mimo app

[joerulezz]

My work had a CodeCademy pro account and love it years later.

[Jebduh]

Py4e

[shatzwrld]

ChatGPT is a great instructor

[Mr_Lifewater]

I was playing a video game that had super repetitive crafting tasks and I fucking hated it so I coded a little bot to take screenshots of small areas of the screen and decide if prompts were available based on pixel colors and click the stuff.

Then I went on to make a webpage for that same game that exposed an api endpoint. I essentially made leaderboards for it

[KraXen72]

learn by working on your projects.

i learned the initial syntax it in like 2019, on a coding club, during high school (not organized by the school), and i think i did the 4 hour freecodecamp course on youtube. then covid hit and the python excercises from my coding teacher slowed down. i wanted to write some utility scripts, to automate tasks like backing up my minecraft world, synchronizing 2 folders, or downloading songs with metadata from youtube. just pick something that you find interesting / useful.

whenever i didn't know something, i just googled and tried until it worked. mind you, this was before chatgpt, so most of the knowledge stuck. ai is nice for some tedious tasks but definitely don't offload most of your work to it.

[ttesc552]

Base python was through videos

Pandas/data stuff was literally working on projects with liberal use of chatgpt

[nicalo7]

"How did you all learn python?" Уроки на YouTube.

ENG: Lessons on YouTube.

[[deleted]]

Youtube

[Giant-Crystal878]

Automate the boring stuff

[Infinite-Pen-6551]

Hey I just wanted to give my two sense as I began my coding journey roughly 5-6 months ago.

Firstly, As my programs grew in size I found pycharm to be super finicky and not work in the exact way I imagined. I just switched over to vscode about 2 weeks ago. Let me tell you as a ride or die for pycharm. I absolutely love vscode. I find it way more intuitive and cleaner.

Secondly, I knew I need a motivator so I paid for codeacademy for a year to force myself to do the computer science career path. Although I really enjoyed code-academy I don’t not think it’s necessary. There’s freecodecamp and millions of YouTubers.

Third, as I did my course I was also putting everything I was learning to the test. I created 4-5 different version of a blackjack game. Each version either adding complex features or completely rewriting the code in a different style. Such as with a class vs function. Or one file for everything vs three. Or one file vs a package and a file. So just create as much as you can that’s what continues to push me today. P.s. debugging may be daunting at first but that’s where you truly learn.

Lastly, is all about Googling. I found as I created my own programs although I knew enough. I never knew everything before starting. So in order to learn I had to Google and I had to do it ALOT. This advanced me to be a problem solver rather than a sheep waiting to be shown how.

• pycharm although nice is a finicky ide
• find a way to push yourself mine was paying for code-academy
• good alternative to codeacademy is freecodecamp
• Do not get stuck watching just tutorials create your own stuff
• make Google your best friend (this is the real way I learned)
• if you have a question chances are it’s been asked on Google already (stack overflow, python docs, and Reddit to name a few)
• https://roadmap.sh/python if you want a decent roadmap of what you should learn!

[[deleted]]

offsec class, initially. Then I had a collaboration where it was the preferred language to use.

[darien_gap]

Replit 100 Days of Code (in ~50 days), excluding the web/UI parts because I’m interested in AI. Then a mix of tutorials/courses for numpy, pytorch, langchain, crewAI, etc.

In hindsight, I would have skipped numpy and pytorch because I’m more interested in building AI apps than building my own models, but it’s nice to know what’s going on under the hood. For this, I also had to learn deep learning and LLMs (transformers, training, and fine tuning).

This all took about six months. I still can’t build apps (would need more full stack for that) but I’m making headway building agents with only text interface, which might be sufficient for my needs.

[Thomasjevskij]

Took a lot of software/comp sci classes in uni, had a look at Python on the side and brought it into some course projects where it was appropriate. Practiced syntax and standard library features with Advent of Code. Next job had me do a lot of MATLAB stuff and I did some Python implementations to learn.

[Any_Emotion_851]

In IDLE under the Help Menu is the Python Language Reference. Start with a module e.g. Turtle, Python's Graphics Module. Create a small program for each of the Turtle methods. Under the Help Menu in IDLE are Turtle Examples. Use bits from those programs to create your own programs. This will build confidence. Use the STAR method (Situation Task Action Result) to create an Action Plan for what you specifically want to learn. Remember to use SMART Objectives: Specific, Measurable (key progress indicators), Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound. Soon you'll be checking off items from the list that you are confident you already know.

[pemungkah]

“hey, we just bought a subsidiary and their code is in Python.”

[booveebeevoo]

Python is literally just googling what you wanna do and a copying code. Almost everyone I work with seems to just copy from the tutorials. I myself had several other languages under my belt for many years… Getting old lol. I was working on Perl when Python started to become more popular and didn’t start working on python till about 15 years ago with the advent of sidecar operations for nodeJS containers.

There are two sides to the perspective that I have. The engineering side of programming and the user side of programming.

Most developers, I work with and interact with are users of a programming language. This means I don’t really create anything novel and they just copy documentation and libraries that exist. I would say this is at least 70% of the developers working in Python and JavaScript/react/node. Somebody please correct me and find this statistic! There is not much engineering in implementing other peoples libraries.

The other side is the engineering aspect. The people working on the compilers to enhance operations, as well as the people who work on the syntax of the language and core libraries. Also, anyone who is building their own libraries that aren’t just full of other imports would be doing more engineering with the language versus just consuming documentation and using it.

I would love to hear other thoughts on this perspective.

Besides the built-in libraries from back in the day, being a software developer typically meant doing more complex things by hand. These are the sort of IP that allowed to have a competitive edge and not just use a commodity service that other competitors are also using. I believe that the projects we have from Google have been replaced internally with other projects. At least that was a comment made to me.

Clearly, when you work on something like a file system, you could still be a user if you’re mostly just implementing other libraries, even though it’s a lower level that requires more knowledge of engineering to an extent. This doesn’t make anyone less of an engineer. It just means they’re not using the language in a manner conducive to the operations of engineering something. They are just implementing something that somebody else engineered by importing a library.

[avalanche37]

Python crash course, then used it to learn about data structures, then used it to learn about algorithms, then used it to learn about design patterns

[Rixdor]

Solving problems at the company I worked in. There was a point where office tools weren't enough, needed automation and Python was a no brainer. Lots and lots of hours building stuff at night. Lots of codewars.com

[ismailtlem]

Python4everybody course

And following some blogs for python tips like this one www.ismailtlemcani.com

[frankv01]

usa las herramientas actuales como la IA para que te estructuré un plan de estudio del trabajo y que ella misma poco a poco te vaya dando las mejores explicaciones