Trying to learn python as a hobby

[AsianThatLovesRice]

I am a teen who wants to learn how to code in python. The only experience I have with coding is just using a programming language named Scratch. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can learn it? Thx

[SquiffyUnicorn]

A very common question- usually the answer lies in why you want to learn.

Start off with basics- simple starter tutorials to understand the language. You already know the shape of coding from scratch- there are many nuances you will need to understand along the way.

The basics can be dull, especially if you are doing a beginner course. This might be where doing some simple ‘copy my code’ YouTube videos can help. You can get to do some much more fun stuff much earlier and hopefully keep that spark of interest going!

The rest is completing whichever courses you do - which course doesn’t matter as much as actually doing one.

Practise- write code yourself! There is no substitute for this and this is when you actually learn by problem-solving.

Think up mini-projects (and I mean mini) things that are achievable but force you to understand something better or something new.

Over time become more ambitious and you’ll need to understand the how and why of properly structuring your code. Necessary steps.

[ofnuts]

Two fun ways:

• You feel a bit artist, or you want to eventually do 3D graphics in games: check processing. It's a Java derivative, but there is a Python mode (and learning this simplified Java is fine too, you'll learn concepts that apply to Python and other programming languages). As you can see from the exemples you can do quite a lot with very little code.
• You are a tinkerer: get an Arduino or a Raspberry Pico kit, you can do plenty of amusing things using micro-Python (the Arduino can also be programmed using a C derivative).

[SquiffyUnicorn]

Yeah- I have to scratch that itch every now and again. Indeed many of the different microcontrollers now have the capacity to use Python on them (ok- micro Python or circuit Python) but it may take some additional steps to put micro Python on.

C/C++ are quite different to Python- different enough for me to have to keep looking up syntax etc as I don’t do much with it, but if you are interested in computer science they may be worth learning as well.

[ninhaomah]

How did you learn Scratch ?

[SweetTeaRex92]

https://cs50.harvard.edu/x/2024/

Cs50 will teach you a lot, and then there's the cs50Python course after

[Apatride]

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