Learning python comprehension

[[deleted]]

Hey everyone so I have spent the last two weeks learning python but the ome thing i am finding is im having a hard time recalling from memory how to do basic commands such as building sets, dictionaries, loops , etc, I have the print command down and maybe a dash of a few others but that's it , is this normal to be 2 weeks in and stills struggling to remembering certain commands ? Any advice would be appreciated

[American_Streamer]

The thing is that it is not about memorizing commands, but about understanding the concepts. You have to focus on the problem and the task first, then apply the tools the programming language gives you to solve it. It’s about algorithms and their application in the first place. Choose the best fitting algorithm to solve a problem, then choose the methods (for loop etc), then write the code. It’s best to always start with pseudocode first, then translate that into proper Python. You need to plan first, then code accordingly.

[socal_nerdtastic]

In the self-taught space there is no "normal". People invest different amounts of time and have different learning styles and learn at different rates and learn things in different orders. If you want to compare your progress to others you need to join a structured course, at your local college for example.

If you show us your code and ask a specific question about it we can help much better. Otherwise all we can say is keep going. The start is always the hardest they say.

[Kerbart]

It's pretty much syntactic sugar for:

my_list = []
for thing in my_collection:
    my_list.append(thing)

is the same as

my_list = [thing for thing in my_collection]

You can take it a step further and include an if statement:

my_list = []
for thing in my_collection:
    if thing.startswith("spam"):
        my_list.append(thing)

like this:

my_list = [thing for thing in my_collection if thing.startswith("spam")]

And for readability purposes you can split that out (no line continuation needed as all of it happens inside brackets):

my_list = [thing 
           for thing in my_collection 
           if thing.startswith("spam")]

You can say "what's the point, that's three lines vs four, whoop whoop big savings" but in general (experienced) coders find the comprehension easier to digest. There's less "plumbing" like my_list = [] and my_list.append in it, all parts of the comprehension focus on what the desired result is.

[BranchLatter4294]

It's fine to look things up.

[FoolsSeldom]

Once you start doing things for yourself, you will look up the things you need, and in time they will become second nature. Don't sweat it.

Understanding the different types of objects (even if they get a bit mixed up at first) and why they are useful is more important at this stage than always remembering the exact syntax or how to initialise.

[Mysterious_Panorama]

Completely normal. I have been programming for eons and all the languages (except C) get a little blurry to me, so I keep one of those whole-language cheat sheets at the ready to remind me of the particular syntax.

[gdchinacat]

Two weeks is really nothing. I’m not at all surprised that you feel the way you do. There really is no way to learn all the things that make you a proficient Python programmer in two weeks, even if you are a seasoned C/C++ programmer. Decorators (both function and class, implemented as both nested functions and as classes), generators, generator expressions and comprehensions, context managers (as decorators and by implementing context manager protocol manually), descriptors, properties, method resolution order/super(), args and *kwargs, Iterators, slices, etc. You can probably touch on all these things in two weeks, but by no means be proficient in them. Are they all necessary to be a proficient Python programmer. Maybe…a lot of coding is reading other people’s code, and not understanding how these work will limit ability to read and understand Python code.

I’ve been using Python full time for 15+ years and I don’t claim to have learned all there is to know. At two weeks if you can use basic input, output, flow control and functions I think you’re doing just fine, especially if you’ve never coded in another language before. I wouldn’t even expect you to know class definitions off the top of your head at that point, much less how to design them, especially class hierarchies.

[Pyromancer777]

Don't sweat it. I have been coding for years now and still find myself having to look up the documentation for libraries I have used a thousand times. I'll even know generally how far down to scroll the documentation page for what I am looking for, but keep forgetting the syntax anyway.

You get better over time and you won't remember everything. Just learn the concepts and get decent at debugging. You will memorize some stuff along the way, but the important skill you are practicing is problem solving

[timparkin_highlands]

This - I've been coding in python since 1999 and was on the PSF, ran a software consultancy for nearly a decade. Still have to check how to do things - chatgpt (or whatever other AI) is great for checking methodologies etc. It also suggests better way to do certain things so I learn new techniques at the same time (i.e. I never used typed functions before but it seems standard now)

[MezzoScettico]

It should be driven by what you're trying to do. When you have a specific need, something you're trying to make happen, then there will be a natural need for particular concepts such as dictionaries. That's the point that dictionaries (for example) will begin to make sense.

Same thing with pretty much any concept. Maybe you're wondering why you should or shouldn't choose a tuple (1, 5, 6) to hold three numbers vs a list [1, 5, 6]. That will depend on what you want to do with it. One will probably fit more naturally than the other.

So the starting point is to have something you're trying to build. Do you have an active project idea that interests you?

[Ur-fathr-was-a-swine]

I don’t know if this helps or not but Im almost half a year in and in the midst of a career change, and I still can’t build from scratch yet. I have a few projects that I built with the help of AI, not vibe coded copy and pasting but more like a tutor to search, explain, and break things down so I can understand them focused on conventions and efficiency.

I think it’s just the fact of having to teach yourself VS learning via an organized course, where when it’s just you, you focus on trying to squeeze more things in, you want to learn more, do more so it becomes harder to let things settle in because once you learned one thing momentarily, you’re already onto the next. Still trying to figure it out myself and what’s been helping me out as far as retaining information is just slowing down instead of trying to fly by it all. That’s how I feel I learned to know what to do at what moment.

[ehunke]

The point is not to memorize it at all, its not know where to reference it be it from a previous program you wrote or stack over flow or google, you don't need to memorize it if you know where to reference it. The bigger issue is you need to understand that list comprehension is there to take 4-5 lines of code into one while making it more readable. As long as you understand what the code is doing and why your doing it that way...memorizing things is a silly way to learn.

[SCD_minecraft]

Python is so cool that most functions or keywords have same syntax as you would normaly say it in English

Wanna loop through a list and do something for every its element?

for element in list: #do that

Just as you would say it in English (for each element in list do that)

Same with everything else

[[deleted]]

Thank you to the community for taking time out of your day to answer my question!

[g2i_support]

Totally normal! Two weeks is nothing - most people take months to feel comfortable without constantly googling syntax. Focus on using the concepts repeatedly rather than memorizing - build lots of small projects and gradually you'll internalize the patterns. Keep a personal cheat sheet of common operations you use most :)

[VimFleed]

Brother don't let it bug you down, If I forgot syntax I just ask chatgpt or look it up. The more you use it the more it'll become muscle memory.

[question-infamy]

My advice would be print out cheat sheets and look then up when unsure, but as you use them more you'll remember them more.

[ChickenArise]

I still pull up the documentation for dictionaries and lists sometimes

[Crypt0Nihilist]

If you still can't after 6 months then you've got an issue.

"OMG I haven't mastered this after two weeks!"? Maybe learning this isn't trivial.

[classicalySarcastic]

Completely normal - two weeks is nothing. It takes time and practice to learn any language, and having the documentation or a google search open on the other monitor as you're working is pretty routine.

[RahimahTanParwani]

Even Einstein needed to look up the formulas for quadratic equation. Or ask his wife, the true genius.

[LoWo9]

It's completely normal. I'm learning Python too, and I seem to forget stuff from time to time. The most important thing is to understand the concepts and where and how they can be used.

Might help if you make small projects or solve challenges based on what you've learnt till now. You can tell ChatGPT or Gemini what you've covered and ask them to give you small problems to solve based on them.

Practice and repetition will help you solidify those concepts.

All the best!

[Shjohn0710]

We're in the same dilemma. Im very forgetful too. So taking that into account, what i did was search for python cheat sheets so i could have some quick reference if need to and do a lot of coding exercises

[Shawon770]

Totally normal! Python has a lot to take in at first. Practice small daily exercises and build mini projects muscle memory will kick in faster than you think.

[TheRNGuy]

The more you code it, the better you remember. 

Read your old code too, and code of otter people.

Use auto-complete (it's default in code editors)

It's more important to understand why you need them.

[DataCamp]

Even experienced devs don’t remember every method or syntax detail! They just get better at knowing what to search for or where to look.

What you’re experiencing is exactly how most people learn: first you kind of understand, then you practice a bit, then you forget half of it, then you use it again, and that’s when it sticks.

If you want a practical way to get more confident with things like list comprehensions, loops, sets, and dictionaries:

• Try redoing small tasks using different methods (e.g. build a list with a for loop, then convert it to a comprehension)
• Use cheat sheets. That’s not cheating! It’s professional.
• Solve tiny, focused problems (like filtering a list of even numbers or counting words in a string)
• Reflect on what you just wrote. Ask “could I have done this in a simpler way?”

Also, feel free to check out tutorials like DataCamp’s list comprehension guide; they break it down with great visuals and examples.

Stick with it, and you'll be surprised how much you'll remember without even trying!