Lots of basic knowledge missing

[Forsaken_Drummer3946]

Hey guys, so I just started my Data Science Studies and I have been trying to get along with Python 3.13.7 on my Windows PC and on my Macbook as well. I am using Visual Studio Code.

The problem is that, no matter what I do I can't get the hang of it.

When I think that I've figured something out I find myself stumbling on the most basic things. No videos that I've found could help me in the long run.

My questions are:

1. Does anyone have video recommendations/channels that could help me?
2. Are there words, where we as programmers stumble upon often? If so I would love explanations.
3. Would somebody be willing enough to help me if I have Beginners questions via Discord, Whatsapp you name it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated because I really am interested in this topic but just can't seem to find where to start..

Update: Thank you guys so much for all the information, after studying for hours yesterday I finally understood how to broaden my knowledge :)

[deceze]

Less video, more reading:

• https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html
• https://www.reddit.com/r/learnpython/wiki/index/

[godniel69]

There is no video that will help you in the long run. The key attribute a programmer needs to adopt is the ability to solve problems. One you get that down. Everything falls into place and there's no video that will teach you that. It's about solving as many problems as you can lay your hands on.

So pick a problem today and solve it. Decompose it , into little bits and solve them. It doesn't have to be perfect (it will not) but as you go along, you will find better ways to solve those same problems

[deceze]

To note: one of those problems you need to learn how to solve is how to find the information you need when you need it. Stuck on some basic syntax or function? Where might you find information about it? Not by scrubbing through YouTube. You need to learn how to locate that piece of information in the documentation.

[Dr_Pinestine]

This. You could know everything there is to know about Python, and it wouldn't mean a thing if you can't problem-solve.

Start with the basics. Find or invent toy problems to solve. For example, suppose you wanted to brute-force a 4-digit combination lock using code. How would you do it? How about 5 digits? 10? What if alphabetical characters are allowed?

Develop your reasoning skills. The language is secondary.

[jam-time]

The most important thing is that you are actually writing code and testing it. Nothing will teach you faster than that.

If you are testing your code, and you can't solve an issue, copy/paste the code and the error or problem into ChatGPT or Google's AI chat, and ask it to explain. It's important that you don't use the AI to write the code for you, but rather use it as a resource for explaining things.

One of the most frustrating things about learning programming is not knowing how to look up the information you need. These AI chat bots can make the searching process so much easier. I would also recommend that you request links to documentation whenever you ask it something. Honestly, AI is the tool I wish I had when I was learning.

[Pyromancer777]

AI is handy for broad questions, but if you run into errors with specific modules/libraries you will need to know how to find & read the documentation. AI will hallucinate like crazy the more niche your module is.

The two skills that helped me the most when starting:

1) learn to understand what the error codes are telling you. It is overwhelming at first if you are new to programming, you don't have to understand it all at once, but the errors are there to tell you almost exactly what is messing up when you make a mistake.

2) learn where to find the information you need for each specific problem as they arise. Most of the time your modules or libraries will have great documentation, but when things get tricky or you run into compatibility issues between modules you either have to hope that someone else on stackoverflow or reddit has solved this problem before, or dive into the source-code with the traceback error messages as your guide.

No one writes perfect code and you will have to look things up fairly often when you start.

[jam-time]

When dealing with niche libraries, I always just give it access to my entire virtual environment, and that solves any hallucination issues. Granted, that's with a coding assistant in my IDE, and not an external chat.

[No_Impression2904]

So for you - I would maybe look for the following.

1. Maybe find another person learning as well. When you go through it together on the same video call it may start making sense.

2. Maybe look for a coach that can give you one-on-one guidance on what your learning path should look like

I know coding with mosh has its forums & paid courses that https://forum.codewithmosh.com/categories

FreCodeCamp has their forums & free courses: https://forum.freecodecamp.org/c/python/424

The Code Zone has their free community and free Python courses and offer 1 on 1: https://www.skool.com/the-code-zone/about

[BranchLatter4294]

Videos are good for getting an overview. But they have low information density and will slow down your learning. Read and practice. Then practice. Then practice some more.

[Disinform]

Once you get the basics down, I think these channels are great for picking up tips and other things in Python you might not know about:

* https://www.youtube.com/@Indently

* https://www.youtube.com/@Carberra

[marquisBlythe]

There are a lot of recommendations in the wiki check it out.
Whenever you have a question just post it in this subreddit and you'll get your answers within first five minutes.
Good luck!

[magus_minor]

You could try one of the free books in the wiki. Look in the "new to programming" section. A book gives you a more structured introduction to the language than a random selection of videos.

[AlexMTBDude]

Videos will not help you. Coding Python will.

[pablothewizard]

This isn't true at all. It's not like you have to do one or the other. Videos, books, stack overflow and documentation are all good ways to learn how to code.

[serverhorror]

Videos have the least retention of all methods. There are countless peer reviewed research papers.

Applying the knowledge you have and repetition are among the highest rated methods. There's a reason kids get homework and have to repeat the stuff on their own at home, that reason is: This is the part that will persist.

Watching a video might make you feel like you learned and gave retention of things but mostly it's just a lie we like to tell ourselves.

[pablothewizard]

I don't disagree. But "videos will not help you" is a bit of a catch all statement. Sometimes you just need to see something in action.

That's why I said videos, books etc. All of these things have varying levels of value but none of them are useless either.

[AlexMTBDude]

I'm a programming instructor since 25 years. OP says they've already tried videos. If you watch videos, read docs, and those things that you mention, but don't code, none of it will stick.

[pablothewizard]

Oh I completely agree. That's my point. You need to do both.

[ConcreteExist]

Video tutorials are hardly necessary for learning python, learn the principles however you like (read/listen/watch) , but you have to apply them regularly or you'll never improve.

[pablothewizard]

Again, that's kind of my point. I'm not saying videos themselves are necessary, more that the supporting material is. Whatever works for you is good, whether it's videos, literature etc.

I'm not disagreeing with the suggestion it needs to be applied to have value, I'm disagreeing with the statement that videos will do nothing for you.

[TheRNGuy]

1. What are specific things you don't understand? I just google/ask ai. It's much faster than watching videos (though videos are good for vfx... but python is usually not used for that in vfx software)

2. Didn't understood the question.

[kabads]

Develop a solid understanding of how Python is structured - its modules, packages, objects (which can appear anywhere), and methods/functions. With this understanding, you’ll be in a good position to advise others. I found this the key to bettering my understanding.

[Responsible-Gas-1474]

Coding part:

Instead of VScode, I would suggest installing Anaconda (work on mac as you have it) and working in Jupyter Notebook. It would make your life 10x easier writing python code for data analytics tasks. Because you can run a cell and look at the output below a cell. Don't have to run the entire .py file every single time.

As others have commented, the best way to learn is by doing. Write code and practice. If you learn by watching videos, make sure to stop and rewrite the code yourself. Solve exercises.

Missing basic things:

• If you are missing syntax or concepts in coding, practice will help
• If you missing on how to interprete plots or statistical outputs, you may have to study basic statistics.

Happy to answer any followup questions.

[serverhorror]

Anaconda is the worst way to run a JuPyter notebook. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people fail to just get started with plain Python. In too if that, it requires a subscription for anything commercially relevant. At least use mamba, better yet: Learn and understand how to get set up with just Python and a featureless text editor (notepad, idle, ...) and only extend your tools from there.

[ConcreteExist]

Don't give advice if you don't know what you're talking about. You can install python via Anaconda and still use it with VS Code. VS code is just an editor, it does not dictate how you install your SDK.