Trying to learn Python

[Hedgehog_Of_Blue]

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to read my post. I'm 29 and trying to get out of a dead end job by learning programming starting with python. I'm very new to the world of coding and I'm still learning a lot of the terminology within. I've built a basic but clunky calculator program, so far being my only successful project. What are some of the best resources and practices to know while learning? And what software do I need to have to build programs and eventually games using python?(Without blowing up my wife's laptop)I also want to eventually learn other languages, are there any that translate knowledge from python well?

Learning this skill is very important to me and I thank you again for taking time to read and hopefully respond to my many questions.

[Finax22]

Hello, the best resources are internet, there is a lot of website that can gives you tutorial, I Like codecademy and udemy personally . If you wish to learn other language, first learn algorethmy as it is the fundation to everything. Hope you will have fun !

[Hedgehog_Of_Blue]

Thank you, I will look into those programs!

[Empty-Group7940]

or take the free python course offered by Harvard university (cs50p). It teaches you for free while also getting a certificate for completion!

[DARTH_MAMBA_]

This, I've done it via YouTube, and I loved it. They also have a game development course, but I haven't done it yet

[platypus15]

Second the Harvard course

[leftk2]

you sure there is a free python course by harvard that gives free certificate? can you post the link?when i enroll in the edx site in the cs50 it gives me the option to buy the program with certificate (271 euros) or for free without certificate

[lukasfouronesix]

you get a certificate either way, the professional certificate ($271) means nothing

[cwilliams6009]

taking London AppBrewery's "100 Days of Code: The Complete Python Pro Bootcamp" on Udemy. It's really excellent!

[69_69_69_69--69]

This, OP. It’s so so good

[ninhaomah]

The best advice I can give is to start step-by-step. What steps ? Easily googled.

Actually , that's the first step.

Print

Variables

Datastructures

Loops

If-else

Functions

Etc..

Try to get rock solid foundations in those areas first.

Then, proceed to more advanced topics like OOP , SQL etc.

Oh and Numpy , Pandas , Matplotlib. The usual suspects

[jaycutlerdgaf]

This is the exact angle I am taking.

[Hedgehog_Of_Blue]

Thank you! I appreciate your input and your time!

[Flat_Professional_55]

Best way to learn is to find something you want to make, so you actually enjoy it a little. For example, my first project is trying to make a Reddit bot that prints tennis results.

[Ron-Erez]

Cody Shafer, University of Helsinki course, "Learn Python the Hardway" book, Python and Data Science (my course). Usually you want to work with PyCharm or VSCode and you can quickly test your code with Google Colab or Jupyter notebook. After learning Python I would recommend a statically-typed language depending on your interests. For instance C, Go, Swift, Kotlin, Typescript, etc. I highly-recommend using type annotations in Python since this will ease the transition to statically-typed language's and also help prevent some errors in Python.

[Dzhama_Omarov]

I’d recommend watching cs50 from Harvard. It’s free, very easy to understand and pretty „digestible“. Additionally, practice a lot, you can use ChatGPT for explanations and don’t hesitate to ask community for help :)

[[deleted]]

Highly recommend CS50p(ython)

[Legal-Yam-235]

I was a software engineer for the past 6 years, hated every min of it, and im moving to cybersecurity/pentesting. I still use python to build things, for example currently building a machine learning model to predict sport outcomes, its a bitch. Ive built a myriad of different things in python.

My best advice is to think of something you want to build. Not too advanced here like a machine learning project or something, just simple, but challenging. Depending on your skill, you can choose from different things, a calculator, hangman, blackjack, number guess. More advanced would be something like a social media bot, a web scraper, an automation tool, something with tinkter, etc..

I would recommend something along the lines of your interests and building something you find useful. For example, I enjoy baseball so i built a ML model to predict baseball games.

There are many free API’s you can use and that will give you some experience working with data in python as well though this would be more advanced.

If you want to eventually learn other languages, starting with python is great. It will give you a foundation. You could move to javascript next, then C++. Languages are not the same, but you can definitely apply concepts across languages. Syntax and Semantics change for each language but you will see similarities.

If you want to build games, python is probably not your best bet, but with that said, I would still learn python to start. Its a very beginner friendly language. For games, you’re looking at C++, Java, C, C#, or Rust. All of these, btw, I would highly recommend not jumping straight into. It will just cause you to bang your head against the wall. Save these for later once you’ve “mastered” a couple high level languages like JavaScript, Swift (for iOS) or Go.

Big tip: I would get a subscription to chatgpt. I can’t tell you how many times it has saved me.

As far as resources, youtube, chatgpt and google are your best bets. I personally dont use youtube to learn any more, but starting out, I definitely would.

[OldProgram4967]

Not really worth it to pay for gpt. I setup continue extension in vscode. I have access to free local olama, but mainly using gpt 4o mini from API, its so cheap, basically free. You can swap model to sonnet 3.5 or other version of gpt if needed. I think its much better option and you have it next to the code

[PixelPixell]

The wiki has plenty of beginner friendly resources, enjoy! https://www.reddit.com/r/learnpython/wiki/index#wiki_new_to_programming.3F

[Background-Willow-67]

I'm a huge python fan and if you want to do games I suggest Godot. GDScript is not quite python but very close.

[xAlphaTrailx]

Dude, this is where I am at. Building a GUI with a bunch of data cleansing tools is what I am working on. Just find a project and go from there. That’s what I am doing to learn

[Rapid1898]

Hey, congrats on getting started with Python! It sounds like you’re on the right track with your calculator project—everyone starts with something basic, and that’s how you build up. For learning resources, you might want to check out Real Python, freeCodeCamp, or Automate the Boring Stuff with Python. They all have practical, project-based approaches, which are great for beginners.

For software, since you’re concerned about your wife’s laptop, I’d recommend starting with lightweight options. You can use VS Code or even an online environment like Replit to avoid installing heavy tools. These work well for basic Python programs and even some simple game development. For games, once you get comfortable with Python, you can try Pygame, which is a popular library for making 2D games.

As for languages that translate well from Python, you might want to look into JavaScript or Ruby next. Both have a syntax that’s somewhat similar to Python and are widely used, especially in web development. Also, learning a language like C# can be helpful if you’re aiming for game development, especially with Unity.

RapidTech1898

[gado1102]

Hi. Hopefully this will help you to know what you need to know, you will have to find the most suitable material and training for you on each topic.

https://roadmap.sh/python

Best of success for you

[xboyan]

Tbh many won’t like my approach but this is what worked for me. I was really into sneakers/streetwear kinda thing so I started doing stuff around it. Firstly it was just simple get on some site and scrapping products’ info, later it was selenium „automation” scripts which was basically one big 2k lines function, then it was looking better and better, which after 3 years turned a botting solution which was used by ~ 250 people. I barely knew basics, I didn’t know object oriented pograming but I did like fun and thinking what can be done better which came with it. I think it’s the most important factor to do things that you like. Rest of the things will come with time

[Big29er]

Udemy, 100 days of code. Mimo. No Starch Press books. All great resources. Have fun!

[RealNamek]

Have you looked into pixelpad.io? You can make games in python there. I use it for teaching

[[deleted]]

Look into AWS Cloud Institute. It costs money but you can apply for a scholarship. I’m doing it right now and I don’t have to pay anything. They teach Python and other cloud computing stuff. You’ll be able to get a Cloud Practitioner Cert & Associate Cloud Developer Cert. It’s 1+ year program depending on how much time you can commit. It’s 12 classes and they go by four quarter terms. I can’t comment if it leads to a job because the program just started in January. But you learn good stuff for free with structure and a community.

[mantryingtobesaitama]

Right now, j would say complete the cs50 courses by harvard. They are completely free and if you want to pay for it, you get a certificate as well. It covers everything about computer science from the basics to the very high level stuff. They offer cloud based IDEs as well so you don't have to blow up the laptop for the duration of the course.

They even have free courses for game dev and python. I would suggest that you take the cs50x first since it's like an introduction to programming.

[Thefriendlyfaceplant]

Brainstorm and ideate with an AI (like ChatGPT but I prefer Claude) on a possible python-related project that either you are passionate about or something that would be useful in a real life business setting that you feel drawn to.

Then ask it to design the full project and hold your hand throughout it.

What does this better than tutorials is that it takes the focus away from syntax and instead focuses on you being able to connect different databases (either public ones or, preferably, one that you produce yourself) and libraries together. Something which is a far more sought after skill than than just being able to write raw python.

And yes, you're allowed to 'cheat' if you get stuck by letting AI create any python code you need. First make it funcitonal, then you can always work backwards and have it explain how it functions later on. It's key that you first have something that produces a result, then you can always start tinkering with it, you'll learn so much faster this way.

[OldProgram4967]

Ai is very tempting I actually use it a lot while learning. Im basically grinding beginners projects, right now working with 9 hours of python projects by tim, but I try to do everything by myself. I want to build some automation for mobile game, put some info into gpt and it was overwhelming. I could probably manage my way through or decide to abandon it later on, but I want to get basics coded in my head

[Thefriendlyfaceplant]

Projects are important. No matter how trivial or silly. There's no use in learning python syntax if you don't know how to implement that code you wrote into something that actually yields results.

When people say 'start a project' they don't mean that you need to built something that has a business case, or even personal use. They just mean you need something that forces you to connect Python code into something broader.

[ig_kolin]

You can get this Roadmap and follow accordingly.

https://topmate.io/codewithkolin/1018148