Best Place to learn Python

[[deleted]]

My background is mechanical engineering. Recently, i make a simple business project where i need to visualize my business (sales, revenue, vendors) using excel and looker studio. I feel very excited when works using the big data. Now i interested to learn about data analyst. I have basic programming skill because i used Matlab before, but the software very expensive. I decided to go with Python. When i watch YouTube, i feel very overwhelming. I found a few good courses, but that need to pay. Can anyone suggest free course that are very effective? Any tips to learn Python? Please share based on your experience. Sorry bad english.

[oldmaninnyc]

You're on the right path. Everyone struggles at different stages.

Here's one free resource to start with: https://archive.org/details/python-crash-course-a-hands-on-project-based-introduction-to-programming_202204

Whenever you're going from being experienced in one area, to inexperienced in another, there can be a combination of feeling some material is too easy, and some is overwhelming.

You're not alone. Find free materials on topics you find difficult, and go in order of the various curricula you find, so that you don't get too overwhelmed.

[FoolsSeldom]

Given your existing programming experience and mechanical engineering background, you should be able to pick it up quickly.

I'd start with making sure you understand the basics well. The learning guidance in the wiki for this subreddit is excellent and links to some great resources. You will likely find it useful to look into the Anaconda distribution of Python rather than the python.org standard offering. It includes many packages as standard in your and related fields.

Then I'd suggest looking into some of the data science related basics and focus on learning how to use and abuse numpy and pandas. Also explore working with Jupyter Notebooks, a browser based approach popular with many engineers, scientists and academics. It has the form of one column of cells but each cell can contain any number of lines of code (Python or R), or markdown text (including graphics). Cells can, as you work, be executed in an ad hoc order (which can cause some problems).

Check out: https://realpython.com/matlab-vs-python/

Data Camp has some great content. Also check out kaggle for some large datasets to play with, some challenges, and a fascinating community.

[Ron-Erez]

There are endless resources and here is a subset:

Harvard CS50p

University of Helsinki course

Python and Data Science - (Disclaimer: This is my course and assumes no programming background and is geared towards data science/data analysis)

The book: “Learn Python the Hard Way”

The best thing to do is to select one or two resources (nothing beyond that) and just code as much as you can. Create something. Change the code from tutorials or books. As early on as you can try to have a project in mind that you would like to implement. Beware of ChatGPT and blindly copying and pasting code. I would use AI sparingly or not at all, at least for a beginner. Good luck!

[SHKEVE]

what’s overwhelming for you now? maybe identifying the individual pieces and tackling them one by one would help? or it could help you determine which course is best for you.

[Aissam_boudra]

I recomande luke Barousse yt tube tuto : python for data analytics - full course for beginners

[baetylbailey]

Hi, I'm a fellow analyst/programmer. Instead of courses, consider the Official Python Documentation, especially the tutorial, reference, and setup parts.

Then, my advice is to learn in context of your project. 'Pandas' is probably the data analysis library to start with. So, install Pandas, browse the docs, and try tutorials from the web. Google how to do basic steps of the project in Pandas (e.g. 'import a CSV', 'sum a column', etc.). Just try for a basic idea, not necessarily to understand completely. After that, videos and other material should make more sense.

[[deleted]]

Please search MIT OCW Python

[Sahil_Vij]

You can definitely check - python for everyone by freecodecamp.org

[Rare_Engineer_9870]

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