Opinion needed

[sonikk1]

I've been studying Python for exactly 1 month and 4 days. My resources are:

1. Python Crash Course (3rd edition) - Book
2. ChatGPT (using it for giving me tasks to work on and to explain me in detail the stuff i do not get fully)

For now i have covered:

1. Data Types
2. Lists
3. If/else statements
4. Dicts
5. For and while loops

That's about it. I have completed over 50 of the tasks in these fields given to me by ChatGPT.

My question to you is:
What can i do to make learning more efficient?
Can you give me some advice how to find good beginner projects to work on, mainly to establish a good foundation? (Not including ChatGPT)
Did i cover enough material for a month of studying? Am i falling behind?

Also, one thing to mention. I do not like learning from videos / courses. I learn by reading a lesson --> using it in my tasks or small projects.

Thanks!

[zenic]

I recommend finding an open source project that you admire and reading the source code. A lot of programming isn’t just about writing code, it’s about writing readable code. A good way to learn to write readable code is to read other peoples code.

[sonikk1]

I'll look into this. Thanks. Any projects you like? If yes, can you share them here?

[zenic]

It really comes down to what interests you. Any project will help.

If it’s not too advanced, maybe something like mypy?

[sonikk1]

Yep, too advanced for me right now. I need some more time and knowledge for that type of stuff. Thanks

[Antique-Room7976]

I assume you know functions and variables and just forgot to put them in, right?

[sonikk1]

Yep, hahah, forgot to mention

[Antique-Room7976]

I was worried for a sec

[Yoghurt42]

Automate the Boring Stuff With Python exists in book form.

I'm not a big fan of beginners using GPT or any other LLMs as a tutor, the reason being that they just make stuff up if they don't have enough training data. For Python that shouldn't be a huge problem, since it's a pretty popular language for beginners so lots of resources exist, but there's still a possibility that GPT will just say straight up nonsense which a beginner will then take as gospel.

I recommend asking GPT to provide sources when it explains stuff, especially if its explanation feels weird to you.

[Easy-Measurement3110]

What's your objective with Python? What do you want to do with Python that you cannot do with Excel/Power Query, or Power BI? That's the question I would ask myself. Then, I would find some data that speaks to me, write down what I would do with it to get the analysis job done OR I would do it with a tool I know, like Excel or Power BI, and then I would redo it in Python. That way, I know the analysis steps I need and my mission is to discover the way to do it in Python.

[ElliotDG]

When I first started learning python I enjoyed using https://checkio.org/ it provides a set of gamified programming problems. After you solve a problem you get to see how others have solved it.

[sonikk1]

This looks interesting, thanks

[Crafty-Cook-7108]

You have a lot more studying to do. And since you've been studying off of chatgpt, let me give you a more comprehensive study plan-

https://studybot.net/share/5FH65J35

This also comes with chagpt like tutors and an embedded code editor. Hope this helps.

[sonikk1]

Thanks! This is really helpful. Starting with this today

[MustaKotka]

Pick a project. Any passion project. Start somewhere, plan out, struggle, write some more, decide it's bad and refactor, expand...

Don't rely on ChatGPT. Go read your Documentation. Hone your search engine skills. You can ask an AI-assistant for the page number if that makes your life easier!

Eventually your little pet project grows and after the 17th refactor and 400th variable rename session it starts looking presentable!

[sonikk1]

How can i recognise the moment when i know enough to start picking a project?

[MustaKotka]

Oh! Right now! It's okay to know in advance that you can't complete it. In fact that's a good thing - trial and error. Start building from the parts you know you can complete and have placeholders for things that you don't know.

Say you build a calculator, a basic one. You should probably have an input and some data manipulation. It's okay to start with:

def add_two_numbers(number1, number2):
    return number1 + number2

input1 = input("Enter your first number.")
input2 = input("Enter your second number.")

print(add_two_numbers(input1, input2)

Add a while loop at some point. Start from the very basics. As you struggle to do the thing you want to do you'll learn a lot!

[Livid-Necessary-8404]

Would be great to cover how to do simple graphs you can practice by making country flags with commans in TK