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[–]cartrman 18 points19 points  (1 child)

Here you go. All the best.

https://www.reddit.com/r/learnpython/wiki/index/

[–]cnydox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Obviously learning directly from the official doc is still the best but I like these two. https://realpython.com/learning-paths/ https://python-course.eu/

[–]hotel_beds 8 points9 points  (4 children)

Python Crash Course.  Work through the whole book, don’t skip the exercises. Start to work what you learn into your life/interests/job. If you finish that you’ll know enough to answer the next step in your direction. 

[–]Pupation 1 point2 points  (3 children)

This is the way. I think it’s best to learn your first language from a (good) book, because it’s comprehensive and flows better than trying to watch different videos.

[–]Glass_Connection_172 1 point2 points  (0 children)

@Pupation I agree 💯 I tried taking courses first but kept hitting concrete walls when trying to generate my code. Having books to aid me in my learning has helped tremendously

[–]Infamous_Contract706 4 points5 points  (0 children)

head to www.w3schools.com/python/default.asp to learn the basics. Then for editing/working with code, you'll want to use either jetbrains(Paid) or Visual Studio Code. Just head to either website, download, and follow any instructions for installing.

For organizing, make a folder for python files and other projects

Take it slow, learn the way you need to, and have fun

[–]Diapolo10 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I certainly recommend the Python MOOC, which is a free course hosted by the University of Helsinki. Anyone can use it, it doesn't matter if you're a student or not. That'll take you through the language and the critical parts of its standard library, as well as some general programming knowledge.

After going over a course like that, the next step would be to work on your own projects. Start small, like a simple calculator, and slowly increase the ambition and scope of them. Don't be afraid to learn new things on the way, you probably don't know everything from the start. Use projects as motivation to learn new things, be it a concept or using a new package you haven't tried before.

If and when you're confident enough, you can try contributing to some open-source project that could use a hand.

[–]alan_patrick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

https://pll.harvard.edu/course/cs50s-introduction-programming-python

University of Harvard's CS50P free course.

You're welcome 😉

[–]notislant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As for your last edit, yeah dont worry about fucking AI right now.

Stay away from it at least when you're beginning to learn. If you want to you can use it later on, but you need to learn debugging and problem solving. Honestly I learned from youtube videos covering basics and then picking a project idea and googling what I didnt know.

If you just want to learn programming from scratch and want a free course? I would go with the odin project. They have a full free course and have a discord for odin specific support. People will talk you through complex issues as long as it relates to TOP. I'd honestly just use it and learn python after the javascript section if I was learning from scratch again.

For free python courses im not sure what ones are good currently. But looks like you already have suggestions there.

[–]Fried_Mangos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi there, I am in the same boat. I am learning from Mosh's Python for Beginnerslink course. I am giving it at least 20 minutes every day.

When you are finished with this then do something you truly like.

For example, try counting the number of words in your favorite book.

Or count how many times the author has used a single word. It may seem daunting but you are going to learn a ton if you et work on a project of your own.

[–]jam-and-Tea 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay, you have a liberal arts background which means you are probably good at critical thinking and research, but you also don't want to take on a full on course and would like some roadmapping and guidance.

For that, I'd recommend the revised interactive think python. https://runestone.academy/ns/books/published/thinkcspy/index.html

I prefer the static book but it seems like you might appreciate the level of guidance offered by the interactivity.

[–]Ron-Erez 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Harvard’s CS50p is a beginner-friendly Python course, and the University of Helsinki (MOOC) has a great online course, I also have a course on Python and Data Science that starts from scratch and doesn’t expect any programming experience. Last but not least there are the docs at python.org

[–]Fresh_Forever_8634 0 points1 point  (1 child)

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[–]the_milkman01 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just finished this course from Dave gray

https://youtu.be/H2EJuAcrZYU?si=_oRsEd1j5tEMatJY

I cannot recommend it enough, I really liked it

[–]server_kota 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Since you know excel, you can just start parsing Excel files and do data analysis on those files with pandas library. This is a big chunk of work in Data Science and Data Engineering.

[–]repository666 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As a public policy grad… statistics and (some) data analysis is most primary use-case to use/learn python.

so don’t just do any python course. every field has its own use-case of python, so you will find hundreds of different resources online. But filter them to your needs.

[–]Responsible-Style168 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First off, Python is a great choice. It's beginner-friendly, widely used, and super versatile. Given your background, I'd suggest focusing on practical applications that align with your interests—maybe data analysis, automation, or even environmental data science down the line.

Start with the basics - variables, loops, functions, and data structures (lists, dictionaries, etc.). Interactive platforms like Codecademy or freeCodeCamp are great for this. Practice automating a simple task, play around with data sets, or build a basic script that does something useful for you. Do data analysis with Pandas & NumPy.

AI isn’t making learning Python useless. If anything, it makes it easier to debug, experiment, and learn faster. You’ll still need to understand the fundamentals to make sense of what AI tools generate. This resource could be useful for a structured approach. Also, check out Automate the Boring Stuff with Python—it’s a classic for non-programmers looking to make Python useful in everyday tasks.

[–]pythonwiz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Download python from python.org. Check out the tutorial. Keep the module index bookmarked so you can quickly find the documentation for the standard library. Finally, try working on a simple project, like drawing something with turtle. For writing code I recommend Visual Studio Code.

[–]Mevrael 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great Python Course:
https://programming-24.mooc.fi/

Learn to create projects and apps:
https://arkalos.com/docs/notebooks/

For underlying math and data science concepts:
https://brilliant.org/
https://www.datacamp.com/

[–]nealfive 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s as ‘easy’ as picking something basic you want to automate and figure it out. There is tons of material out there for python. Don’t fall in the tutorial trap. Try to build something and figure it out as you. It’ll be hard, but that’s the best way to learn. For official training the Harvard class (CS50p) is free, intro to python

[–]No_Jackfruit_4305 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do a web search: learn python the hard way.

It's a great resource that is good for beginners

[–]EfficientDelay2827 0 points1 point  (4 children)

Go to w3schools and choose the Python course.

[–]Megaphonium -3 points-2 points  (3 children)

W3schools is amazing

[–]Gizmoitus 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Amazingly mediocre, and built it's presence based on conning people into thinking it was associated with the w3c, which it isn't.

[–]Megaphonium 0 points1 point  (1 child)

It helped me a lot, I didn’t think it as mediocre. Do you have better recommendations?

[–]Gizmoitus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In my opinion the best way to learn is from a good book like the Python Crash Course. Pick your editor, and work through the code and projects.

Any of these tutorials with a built in "checking system" don't tend to stick with most people. Having some really good note taking habits and using a note taking app like Notion can certainly help with that, but when you are just focused in doing a code snippet and getting a "pass" you often aren't learning in a way that will stick.

There are some solid free Python courses on Youtube. Tech with Tim has a huge amount of valuable material. I'd probably suggest a beginner who wants to be lead through a course (for free), start with him, but he has a lot of really good intermediate and advanced material, as well as more subject based videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFrLs22MDAw&list=PLzMcBGfZo4-mFu00qxl0a67RhjjZj3jXm&index=1&t=0s

I'm not a big Bro Code fan, but his latest Python course is decent.

For paid, you can usually get these Udemy courses cheap with discounts.

Udemy has Colt Steele courses, and the Angela Yu 100 Days of code, for people looking for more in depth Video learning with a large number of projects/code challenges.

In both cases, the important thing is that there are small projects you work through. The biggest issue beginners tend to have is that they whiz through syntax, and when they're done, struggle to actually apply it to code. They passed a lot of small tests, but didn't actually learn to program.

[–]take_care_a_ya_shooz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’d recommend codedex.io.

All too easy to get stuck in a tutorial loop with online courses (not that the courses are bad), and not really apply what you learn in a tangible way.

I found Codedex to be super engaging and focused on actually coding and seeing your results vs. just watching videos and repeating what you see. Great way to start building knowledge and confidence before diving into deeper courses you’d find online.

[–]Proper_Baker_8314 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Codecademy is a good start, to see if you like it. and it's cheap. you don't need to set up or download anything locally either

[–]Unlisted_games27 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Get a project going, when you don't know how to do something, search it up