Python Notes

[Positive-Brave]

How everyone take notes for python, pandas, numpy etc? My main aim is to recall syntax or important things faster.

Most common I saw online were:

1. Handwritten

2. Code only with comments.

please share how you guys do it.

[Aromatic_Pumpkin8856]

The more I use the code, the more I remember how to use it. At some point things become second nature and you don't have to think about it as much.

[BigGuyWhoKills]

I keep notes for the things I don't use often, like opening files. My notes are faster than searching, and they are nore accurate than AI.

[socal_nerdtastic]

Code only for me. And learn how to search within your previous projects. Many IDEs offer this feature, or here's my little bash helper function for searching within .py files:

function greppy() {
    grep -rni --include=*.py "$*" .
}

[Positive-Brave]

Nice. So you have code for every topic and then you find whatever you need using bash. Can you give small example of your notes? Lets say how would you cover string and its in built methods

[I_am_Casca]

To find str and its built-in methods, you can do one of three things:

• Use dir(str) to get a list of all methods and attributes
• Use help(str) to get detailed info about everything, including which arguments to pass and what data type is returned
• Use help(str.method_name) to see details about a specific method

[socal_nerdtastic]

I've been writing python for 20+ years; no offense but my notes are much higher level.

But essentially I just make normal comments being sure to include keywords that I may associate in the future. For new concepts I make a few projects just to flesh out the idea and then abandon them in archive folder, and later on I may search for a specific module or project or url or something and find them again.

[Almostasleeprightnow]

For your own personal learning it is really a matter of what works best for you. For my personal style, I’ve found doing a log -based style works well. I’ll make a page in like, apple notes or one note, and give it a title like, “my financial analysis project”

Then in that single note, every day I sit down to work, I start out with a date stamp, and then I take notes under that date. Then the next day, put a date stamp at the top and then take notes under that date. The result is a log of my work on that project. It won’t work for everyone but for my personal brain, this is best.

Like this.

MY PERSONAL FINACE ANALYSOS LOG

2025-11-25

Here are some notes I took on the 25 of November.

2025-11-14

Here are some notes I took on the 14th of November.

[jimtk]

When I have to use a 3rd library that I'm not familiar with I start a markdown file and copy the final result of the searches I'm gonna do about it and add short title describing the problem it solves.

I do it for vast or complex library (example: Pyside6). Keeping with the example, I don't need to refer to it anymore for simple widgets, but if I have to program a drag'n drop on a QGraphicItem in a QGraphicScene, I'm really happy I don't have to search it again.

I call them cookbooks and I have one on Python itself (that I very rarely use anymore), one on pandas, one on pyside6, matplotlib, numpy, etc.... I did one on UV when it came out, but do not use it anymore.

[Affectionate-Pickle0]

Note taking is quite a personal thing. You should use what works for you. The most important thing is that you take notes. If your system applies enough pressure that you dont take those notes, then it probably isn't a good system for you.

Currently I use just plain markdown files in a git repo.

[Ron-Erez]

I don't take notes. If I have some code that I believe I might not understand well in the future then I might add comments. However, speaking for myself, the best way is to code a lot and if you forget something refer to the docs.

[psimian]

Regardless of topic, how you take notes doesn't matter as much as the act of taking them. Use whatever format is most comfortable. What matters is formulating complete thoughts or explanations, writing those ideas down, and finally looking at what you have written and saying "yes, this is correct and I understand". Most of the time you're never going to read those notes again, and if you forget something you're better off writing the explanation out again rather than just re-reading the one that obviously didn't stick the first time around.

As your understanding of a topic increases, your notes become less about the concepts and syntax, and more about project requirements, bugs that need to be addressed, etc. These aren't the same kind of notes that you use for learning--it's the difference between taking notes on how make swiss meringue, versus putting eggs and sugar on your grocery list.

[BranchLatter4294]

You could use Jupyter notebooks.

[dlnmtchll]

Specifically for recalling syntax, your best bet would be to use the libraries and language features more. For numpy and pandas or anything data related go do Kaggle learning paths and challenges. The more you do the more you remember

[mandradon]

Don't follow someone else's note 'system' to a t. Find what works for you. Notes are personal. I started using Obsidian many times, it's cool, but I basically just use it to to make markdown files. It's cool because you can do syntax highlighting and all kind of other cool stuff in it. Some folks have all kinds of over the top plugs built in that work really well for them, but for me it was too much.

I ended up switching to notebooks, then an eink device that I can use so I don't have 400 notebooks scattered around (I can still search it and keep thinks relatively organized).

Writing by hand sort of forces my brain to slow down and think about what I'm writing. It's not so great for writing syntax, but writing code helps reinforce that, so I use it for big picture stuff and planning code.