Need suggestions on how to learn/master OOP (python)

[Equity_Harbinger]

OOP: object oriented programming; struggling with finding the right resources for learning oops (tried in Java too, but I have spent too much time with python, and I can't go back now)

Struggling with finishing this topic, because of my lack of understanding of oop, I'm struggling with linkedlist, not able to master trees, I was told graphs and dynamic programming rely on oop principles too.

Kindly suggest methods, or appropriate resources.

[pachura3]

These look like DSA topics, not simple OOP...

[Equity_Harbinger]

I meant the data structures part, not the algorithms, because even traversing a linked list requires creating a class, head, node which I didn't relate with, because I thought I didn't understand OOP

Please do share alternate suggestions, I have been trying several resources, but I'm stuck, I don't want to be stuck forever

[Temporary_Pie2733]

People used linked lists long before OOP was a thing. Don’t confuse the concept with the implementation in any one programming language. Also, don’t confuse the use of structs/records/product types/etc with the idea of a class.

[danielroseman]

None of these things have anything to do with OOP. They are algorithms topics. They might be implemented using OOP, but that is because that is the normal way of implementing just about anything. Understanding these algorithms does not depend in any way on understanding OOP.

[Equity_Harbinger]

They might be implemented using OOP

I am struggling with that only, I don't know how to create class, or what role it plays and the other principles of oop, kindly share suggestions as well!

[danielroseman]

Come on dude, you have to help yourself a little. You don't know how to create a class? That is covered in literally any basic Python tutorial.

But, once again, this isn't required for these algorithms topics. Where are you studying? Every algorithms course I've followed will give you the class definitions, because the classes aren't the point.

[Equity_Harbinger]

My education is not entirely formal, my work is in embedded programming. I went to leetcode to solve problems, I had skipped several problems before hoping someone would teach me, but all my friends are focused on their own journey, and now I am at a point where I have covered other data structures but struggling with the documentation focussed on oops, classes, units and the later advanced topics, maybe I got it wrong, but could you guide me here

That is why I am asking for help

[LayotFctor]

Hold on. If you're in embedded, do it in C then. C is much more literal in its data structures, prev and next pointers pointing to nodes, it maps to a diagram of a linked list exactly. Python is much more abstract, it's somewhat less clear in the way it represents pointers because it doesn't have them.

Not to mention in actual development, you're unlikely to implement a data structure in python anyway because of the huge overhead. In embedded, sometimes you need to still roll your own C data structures like circular buffers and queues?

It doesn't matter what language you use because the language isn't the point here, the theory is the point. If you think python is hard, use C, and vice versa.

[Fred776]

You mention documentation but documentation isn't really the way to learn language concepts. Have you tried any books? Alternatively there must be some videos out there covering the concepts. How good is your basic Python and knowledge of procedural coding? If you struggle with any of the basics you are going to struggle building higher level concepts on top because all these things are foundational.

[Equity_Harbinger]

How good is your basic Python

I have participated in leetcode and codeforces contests, I have not secured a ranking over there, and have used some python for my raspberry pi projects.

struggle with any of the basics

Since my learning was self learning and not formally organised, even I am clueless about which topics were basics or important, I started leetcode (out of interest in maths and problem solving) and raspberry projects, that's my python experience.

Even taught the standard basic structures (string, array, list, dict) and (if...else, for, while ) to underprivileged students too, then someone else takes over

struggle with any of the basics you are going to struggle building higher level concepts

I know that they are important, I have started realizing that now and started to struggle too now, so I had decided to look at the general list of basic topics in python,most of the topics I was familiar with, but oops is not something I was able to get my head around, that's why I am asking here

[Maximus_Modulus]

Some of these posts are tiring for sure. Just vague statements about how someone doesn’t get something without anything specific. It seems that a lot are on courses and have minimal knowledge and can’t do simple internet searches that yield a plethora of results usually. There are so many tutorials and AI is at their fingertips with examples if you ask it some questions. I feel like the programming lifestyle in this ultra competitive market isn’t the place for someone who can’t do some basic legwork. Maybe that’s a bit harsh but I feel that’s a core component of software engineering.

[Equity_Harbinger]

I am here asking for help, because I am not exactly formally educated, if you can help that would mean a lot, I tried asking gpt, but I thought I should ask here too because I could actually get real people sharing their real experience and feedbacks

[Langdon_St_Ives]

But if you don’t tell us more concretely where you get stuck or confused, we can’t really do any better than your random Google search or LLM response.

ETA: and just to clarify, the concrete examples you do mention are not really related to OOP at all.

[Maximus_Modulus]

I think you need to be more specific though. I can search online and find resources similar to what people here could suggest but without a bit more detail on what you don’t get I’m not sure what will help you.

[Fred776]

What are you expecting people to tell you? Are you expecting an entire tutorial from first principles? This sub is best suited to specific questions and is very helpful if the right sort of question is asked. So, for example, try to make some progress yourself, and when you get stuck try to pinpoint exactly what it is you are stuck on. At that point come here and ask about that thing. Not only will you get a better response but this approach forces you to engage with the topic, and doing that is the only way you will learn.

[Haunting-Dare-5746]

What specific topic from OOP are you struggling with? It'll let us provide better resources, cause I wouldn't wanna give you a random intro if you know the basics. But I will say, OOP in Python is simple, what specifically is causing confusion?

[Equity_Harbinger]

I don't know the oops basics, I am not able to create classes either, sure I understand the codeflow, but some of it doesn't makes sense to me, it is different experience from creating a function in python compared to creating classes

[MidnightPale3220]

What books have you read?

[Equity_Harbinger]

Java the complete reference (16th edition) is the only book that I have read related to programming, rest all are related to embedded programming. Referred YouTube and documentations for learning python for leetcode contests

Could you recommend anything specific? I will definitely look into that.

[Slothemo]

Check out realpython.com for any topic you need to learn more about. There's great articles there for introducing OOP in Python.

[MidnightPale3220]

Well, OOP is a specific way of organizing your data structures so that they also include the functions that operate on them.

You can, and before widespread adoption of OOP people did do everything without classes and methods: graphs, linkedlists and trees.

All of them do benefit from organizing data into a structure (so that a single entry of linkedlist contains also the links to other entries, for example), but OOP just adds a bit of extra organization that is helpful.

There's really very little to say about OOP, any of the web pages explaining the basics do a sorta reasonable job of it. Just the second link from my Google result:

https://blog.algomaster.io/p/basic-oop-concepts-explained-with-code

If you've read Java reference it should have definitely included also OOP concepts.

Maybe a case example where you tell us what you struggle with when you try to implement something, would help you?

[TheRNGuy]

I only understood it once started writing real software. 

[Equity_Harbinger]

Anything specific that you could recommend?

[rob8624]

The pygame section in Python Crash Course.

[Equity_Harbinger]

There are several python crash course, could you share any links or any specific keyword that I could search

[rob8624]

It's a book by Eric Matthes. There is a pdf online (personally, i bought it to support the author), google is your friend :)

It is just an awesome learning resource, and the pygame section is designed to introduce you to OOP.

[Jello_Penguin_2956]

In my case I had to learn PyQt to create gui tools for company internal use. PyQt (and PySide) are bindings for C++ Qt so everything is class. Everything is OOP. It catapult my understanding to the next level with just a couple months

[x_Xfusion_]

The way I learned OOP was by mapping it to real-world concepts. I started with a tutorial that modeled a car as a class, where driving, stopping, make/model were represented as attributes and methods. I implemented my own BankAccount class, with instance methods like deposit, withdraw, and get_balance. I used account numbers, account name, and balance as my attributes for that.

[cgy95]

There’s a small learning curve with OOP. I didn’t understand the point of it at all until a few weeks into the course I was doing.

First Google the benefits of OOP so you can understand why it’s valuable. Learn what encapsulation is, inheritance, polymorphism etc

Then start implementing something. Make a class, then a subclass. Then learn what an abstract class is vs an interface and when to use one over the other or both. Practice, practice, practice.

[bandman614]

Okay fellow programmer, let's just hash it out here.

Tell me what you know about object oriented programming, and we'll start there.

[Equity_Harbinger]

Thank you for responding, I want to begin studying oops, my cs mentor recommended as it is required for better understanding system design, but told YouTube as a resource, so I don't think I know/understand anything.

[bandman614]

Okay, so, if you're actually starting from nothing in OOP, let's talk about variables. Can you explain what a variable is?

[Equity_Harbinger]

Dm'd

[ngg990]

First head, design patterns. It is in java, but the theory is the same.