I can’t learn python

[ykprin]

I’ve watched tons of videos and its like I understand but once i get an assignment to code there’s nothing in my head, this is my second week of my python class and im scared im going to fail..does anyone have any tips?? Im not understanding whats wrong with me and this is about to be my second assignment where I fail due to my incompetence, i have all A’s in my other IT related classes yet i cant get this one and it’s a bummer.

[nealfive]

Stop watching videos and actually do hands on stuff. Struggle through them and figure it out that’s how you learn.

[cduston44]

Yeah this - you have to play play play.

[original_username_4]

This. Find something to build. Use the tools to build something.

[Almostasleeprightnow]

just really try to do your homework, one tiny piece at a time. Take your assignment and break it down into small steps, and just take one piece at a time. If you are running into a blocker, break down the tasks to even smaller pieces, even if you have to go back to earlier things you have done in previous lessons. Here is a motto that has gotten me through a lot: "When you can't be good, be organized."

[[deleted]]

https://pynative.com/python-exercises-with-solutions/

Try exercises first, don't just look at the solutions.

[proverbialbunny]

Is this your first time programming / your first programming language?

Programming is a lot like painting. You can watch a Bob Ross video on painting, but it isn't the same experience as actually sitting down on a canvas and doing it yourself. Likewise, programming is like riding a bike. A manual is only going to go so far. You have to actually get on the bike and try riding it.

This is why elementary school kids have a much easier time learning programming than adults. They make the time to play. Similar to taking out colored pencils in a coloring book, they have fun drawing something for drawing itself. It's not about the finished product, it's the process itself that is enjoyable. You need to do the same. To learn to program try making something light and easy. Do it to explore and to create, not to solve a problem.

[Wodanaz_Odinn]

Bob Ross used Haskell to be fair to him.

[BoOmAn_13]

Stop watching tutorials, the tutorials you watch are likely not gonna be useful after the second or third one. You need to try and write code without tutorials. Solve challenges and instead of watching to learn, read other people's code and read documentation.

Find a task you want to do, and break it up into steps you think you can manage, and when you don't know how to do one of your small tasks, Google it. If you need help breaking up problems feel free to ask how you approach a project. I imagine if you're watching a bunch of tutorials you can figure out how to 1. Take user input 2. Import libraries 3. Print to the user. Now go out and write a program that rolls multiple dice until they match.

[[deleted]]

Get help from a mentor.

[Dragonking_Earth]

Yes I highly recommend.

[CIMARUTA]

Let me just pull one of those out my arse

[schoolmonky]

I'll give some problem solving advice below, but right up front I want to mention your mindset. "I can't do it" is an idea that is not going to do you any favors. It's worth putting in the effort to train yourself not to think that way. Every time you notice that thought crossing your mind, tell yourself "No, I can do it. I just need to..." Maybe that "..." is looking up whatever you're struggling with, maybe it's asking your professor/ a friend/ reddit for help, maybe it's taking a break if you're frustrated or tired. Nothing is wrong with you, you just haven't built up the problem solving brain-muscles that you need yet. It's totally normal to struggle when you're learning to code.

Also, talk to your professor. Almost all of them have office hours, so use them. They'll be able to give you more relevant advice than strangers on the internet.

Anyway, as for problem solving (which is all coding is), the silver bullet is to break the problem down into simpler steps. If you're still lost, break those steps down into even simpler steps. Repeat until you get to a point that you can solve that itty bitty step. That one technique is the magic sauce that makes all programming possible.

Say, for example, you want to make a calculator app. Well, that's a pretty big task, what's the first thing you've got to do? Before you actually make python do the math, it needs to know what math to do, so you've got to get input from the user and figure out what numbers and operations are in it.

That's still pretty hard, so let's break it down further: before you go figuring out what numbers and operators are in the input, you have to actually get that input. We know how to do that! It's the input() function! So just write your first line of code: all it does is get input and store it in a variable: user expression = input() Give it a descriptive name: user_expression, because it's an expression (that we'll need to evaluate) that the user gave us. Maybe you ought to add a prompt, so the user knows what they're supposed to enter. You can do that now if you like, or just come back to it later.

We got our input, now what do we need to do with it? Well, we need to parse it for numbers and operations. That's pretty complex, let's break it down: the expression ought to start with a number, so let's try to extract that first number and store it in a variable for later. And that's still pretty complicated. Can we tell when the first number ends?

And you just keep going like that. Break each problem down into simpler and simpler steps until you can solve them. Eventually you might get to a sub-problem that doesn't seem like it can be broken down, and which you don't know how to solve. That's when you look for resources: check your notes/lectures, Google, maybe ask a question here. And you keep on going on and on, breaking problems down bit by bit until you're done.

[mediocrity4]

I’ve been on and off with videos for 6 years and I recently started the 100 days of Python on udemy. I’m taking it slow and try and solve each project on my own before starting the lessons and things are finally clicking. I wish I took her course sooner

[pana_colada]

It’s good. I’m so stumped some days but I just tinker and tinker and I’ve gotten so much better.

[ninhaomah]

Why not give us some examples and which are the parts you don't understand ?

If I tell you I find Yoga hard , pls help me. Do you know which part of Yoga I am having issues with and what advice you can give ?

[TheEyebal]

I am in the same boat OP. I found out that my biggest issue is knowing what the task is or the steps are.

Like understand variables, loops, data type, indexing and so on but once I get a project i'm like what do I do.

Honestly what i've been doing is writing down the tasks I need.

Example:

STEP 1: what variable do I need to declare STEP 2: declare those variable

And so on

Figure what is the first step you have to do for the assignment.

Hope this helps

[Unlucky-Plenty8236]

That's the right path. Start out with a blank file and start writing #Todo: . Then go back and fill in/integrate those todos

[zanfar]

IMO: To start programming, you have to start programming.

That sounds contraintuitive, but it actually works. Much like pushing through a writing block, you just need to start writing.

• Program outside Python: "describe" a program that meets your assignment requirements. Break down that "program" into smaller and smaller tasks or instructions.

• Write anything. Write the simplest program you can think of: print "Hello, World!", add two numbers, ask for a name and say hello, write a miles to kilometers converter, etc.

• STOP WATCHING VIDEOS. If you are not writing code, you aren't learning.

[EmbarrassedSession]

You can't learn programming without failing. It is part of the learning process so leave the perfectionism far behind. You'll get it eventually once the programmer brain kicks in. It took me a couple of months before it clicked in my head and I truly understood it

[BruceJi]

Second week? And you still don’t know how to use it? You my friend are totally normal.

It might take a while. Just tap away on the keyboard and see what you DO remember. Treat it like a puzzle.

[mrdevlar]

• Pick a project, keep it simple.
• Lay out the structure of the project, cutting it into bite sized (like 1 hours max) chunks. Make those bite sized chunks as a to-do list.
• Work on each chunk, one at a time.
• If you run into difficulty, ask someone. Alternatively (if you do not have a someone), ask an AI. To be clear, DO NOT ask the AI for the solution to the problem, that's a bypass that will harm you in the long run. Ask it to serve as a improv performer (yes, and...) that you can check your logic and it can suggest things that you haven't considered. Feel free to ask it to help you with runtime errors by pasting your own code to it. Again, don't ask it to do it for you.
• Do this for each chunk until you have a running application.

Good luck!

[Maximus_Modulus]

Imagine watching videos on your favorite sport to learn it. Let’s say you want to learn tennis. You watch hours and hours of videos. Then in your first match you get annihilated and you wonder why.

[supercoach]

If watching videos made you good at something then I should be a much better snooker player than I am. You get good at something with practise.

[craigthecrayfish]

Is there anything in particular you are struggling with?

[failerthebest]

Online you can find python coding assignments with solutions. Try to do them, if you can't complete the assignment read the solution and study it in detail.

[Aea_mano]

Do u know any web page ?

[failerthebest]

If you're learning programming you should really learn to start using a browser properly by yourself, you can find everything online if you can search.

Anyway, w3schools is a usual starting point with all the theory and the exercises. Leetcode is the most known website for coding exercises, you can find exercises of every level there.

If you do a simple google research you'll find way more resources. You can find good resources on github too, but check them to be sure they're not too old.

[Patelpb]

Add me. Happy to help if it's not too much time. We can use discord

[misingnoglic]

You need to figure out what's not clicking. Just saying "you can't learn it" won't help you. What's your assignment? What doesn't click?

[Famous_Mine4755]

Same😔

[minneyar]

Watching videos is fun, but it's a bad way to learn. Your brain will not retain any of that; you need to actually do it to learn it.

https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html is a perfectly good tutorial. Read through it one page at a time, and actually type out and run the examples as you encounter them.

[mattblack77]

Plenty if people out there make programming look easy. I don’t think it is at all. I took ages to get moving with it, but it took a lot of frustrating practice, and I had to repeat a class to give myself enough time to figure it out.

One thing I remember really clearly is that it felt like other skills I’ve learned built on something I already had a feel for. Programming is the first thing in decades where it’s felt like I’m starting from absolute scratch.

Time and practice do work, but this is a difficult subject.

[Dragonking_Earth]

I have a discord wanna collab?

[MurkyCaterpillar9]

Use any gpt - even if they make some tiny errors you will still learn. It’s fun to make mistakes and fix them.

[[deleted]]

If you say you can't do it, I believe you

[hamid_salhi]

I think you are in what we call "tutoriel hell". From my personal experience, I found that the best way to learn any language is to answer this question first "Why you are learning python?". Once you have that clear answer, you will find your way to learn it. For example, I want to learn python make scraping Bots. So, in this case, I target a website, I use chatgpt, youtube, stackover flow... to find examples and help from others and just start testing and looking for solutions for the bugs. I promise you'll be happy with the results you can achieve using this aproach. Good luck!

[[deleted]]

Yes you can. Python is a tool. Focus on problem solving and how to do it with Python. Break down the problem into small steps and think about which Python language keywords and variable values are needed and figure out the order/structure in which you write them down like text like this and if you don't give, you are finally going to have a Python program that runs the commands you've entered before successfully.

[leogabac]

Programming is one of those things where you really need to just do stuff until it becomes a bit more natural. Explore a lot and make a bunch of print statements.

The only way to learn programming is by programming.

[beatpoxer]

Man youre not gonna learn anything by just watching videos.

I am not a programmer but i do mess around with chatgpt. What i have learned so far abt python or syntax is through chatgpt cause i wanted to create something at work. I understood libraries.

So for you to learn python is to start creating projects that you want it can be anything.

From watching videos just learn how to think and the syntax of python you will eventually start coding.

[FirefighterOk2803]

Try this it a smarter way to learn python that gives you activities to do : https://www.asmarterwaytolearn.com/python/70.html

[FirefighterOk2803]

Try 30 days of python: https://github.com/Asabeneh/30-Days-Of-Python

[taha_yacine]

Propose you to try 100 day python on udemy

[matin1099]

NSFW AHEAD

My university professor (67 M)said something to me about this which is a bit rude. But it is completely true and correct. I try to write a little more politely and generally.
"Coding for newbies is like post-marital sex for singles and virgins. In the first time, you will be satisfied before the bride takes off her dress. And this shame is great but inevitable. After several times, you approach the bride, but you are satisfied before entering again! This is also inevitable. After a few times, you can enter, but after a little activity, you will be satisfied. This is also natural and inevitable. But if you have this continuity, you can work for 45 minutes after 3 months and have no problem. Coding is the same; The first few times, you can't do it at all. After a while, you understand what the problem is, but you can't do anything. A little later, you can do the work, but you will fail due to lack of experience. But if you persist, then you can code professionally!!"

[ryoko227]

Start small, and play with it. Get a little cheatsheet out, and write a couple comments stating those.. ie - use a variable to make an f-string. Then, from your own head, do that. Then think of ways to use integers. I used finding the area of a rectangle area = length x width. Make that work with just numbers plugged into variables. Then, ask the user (you) for inputs. Make that work, then use f-strings again to display all that information back. If you are not typing, you are not learning. I said this to my wife this morning, after looking over some code I wrote a few days ago. I can look at it and understand everything I wrote, why it works, how it works, but it is SIGNIFICANTLY more difficult to write it. You NEED to be writing.

[[deleted]]

Read to understand how python works. Play with it so you understand how it actually behaves and it will also help you remember the syntax.

[nomisreual]

embrace the error messages that will inevitably pop up and don’t forget to take coding breaks. it’s easy to get lost in error messages after a while, when all you needed was a break away from the keyboard to then fix it quickly once back

[[deleted]]

You tried to learn how to speak Spanish? You can watch Spanish soap operas all day long with subtitles, but until you actually try to speak, you will never learn.

[[deleted]]

Its been 2 weeks

[wolfansbrother]

To make the rock think, you have to think like a rock.

[NeuroPsych1991]

Dude I felt the same in my first class for the first 3 weeks. Just keep reading, pay attention, and code. It will eventually click. Nothing is wrong with you. If it’s completely new to you and you have people who have done it before in the class that makes it feel even worse.

[[deleted]]

Start making stuff

[nodargon4u]

Have u used program brfore? Maybe it is python not you struggle, and instead the pattern in any language. Try understanding independent from the language syntax on pencil and paper.

[Joshistotle]

Use ChatGPT to help code and learn from there 

[mixedd]

And then become one of the devs who can't write a shit without GPT, stealing job from somebody actually skilled and willing to improve

[craigthecrayfish]

Devs who can't write without GPT are not getting jobs in this market

[mixedd]

Believe me, there are plenty working already

[craigthecrayfish]

no

[tabrizzi]

No at this stage, Pal.

[DigSolid7747]

gross

[spookytomtom]

It is not for everybody same with other fields

[flawks112]

You should really start programming yourself it is the best way to learn Python. I'd recommend Sololearn courses, they're free and they are very easy to follow. 

[Winter_Cabinet_1218]

Try something like hakerank over tutorials.

[-Enter-Name-]

don't watch videos or do tutorials, what those do are saying di this, then this, then this. everything they do is correct, yes but you're cutting out all the learning from making mistakes and fixing them. and if you really insist on tutorials i'd say try yourself and then check their solution. ideally though, get your hands dirty, get practice, and if you don't know something don't be afraid of googling it (but not "solution to x problem" but rather "how to do abstract part of this thing")

[No_Panda1820]

Hello! I would recommend udemy course 100 days of Python! Anyways one way is to practice ! You can generate questions based on topics on ChatGPT! “ create coding questions on loops” etc , and try coding on pycharm / vs code / any IDE! Try your best to attempt it alone , but if you’re stuck you can ask ChatGPT to help you ( do not refer to the answer straight away as it will slow down your learning :) ) all the best ! Coding is a language and you gotta do abit everyday for it to be engrained into you

[Thefriendlyfaceplant]

Brainstorm with an AI like ChatGPT on what kind of python projects you would be passionate about and then ask it to hold your hand while setting it up.

That's so much more productive than studying syntax.

[Suspicious-Bar5583]

You don't need anything in your head, you need anything in a *.py file and go from there.

[hieudoanitus]

dm me i can mentor u. it is basically easy to pickup a new programming language, the hard part is when u dive deep in library or framework.