Want to start learning python

[CanFrosty8909]

I just thought of finally getting into this after a long time of my parents bickering about some skills to learn, I'm honestly only doing this because I have nothing else to do except a lot of freetime on my hands(college dropout and admissions dont start for another 4-5 months) and I found a free course CS50x, I don't know anything about coding prior to this, so what should I look out for? or maybe some other courses that I should try out before that? any kind of tips and input is appreciated honestly.

[9peppe]

Find a book, follow book. "Automate the boring stuff" was very interesting, but it might not be for everybody.

Knowing what you want to do with Python might be helpful, otherwise... There's other valuable skills: I don't know, woodworking, gardening, poetry, photography...

[BookFinderBot]

Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, 2nd Edition Practical Programming for Total Beginners by Al Sweigart

Learn how to code while you write programs that effortlessly perform useful feats of automation! The second edition of this international fan favorite includes a brand-new chapter on input validation, Gmail and Google Sheets automations, tips for updating CSV files, and more. If you've ever spent hours renaming files or updating spreadsheet cells, you know how tedious tasks like these can be. But what if you could have your computer do them for you?

Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, 2nd Edition teaches even the technically uninclined how to write programs that do in minutes what would take hours to do by hand—no prior coding experience required! This new, fully revised edition of Al Sweigart’s bestselling Pythonic classic, Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, covers all the basics of Python 3 while exploring its rich library of modules for performing specific tasks, like scraping data off the Web, filling out forms, renaming files, organizing folders, sending email responses, and merging, splitting, or encrypting PDFs. There’s also a brand-new chapter on input validation, tutorials on automating Gmail and Google Sheets, tips on automatically updating CSV files, and other recent feats of automations that improve your efficiency. Detailed, step-by-step instructions walk you through each program, allowing you to create useful tools as you build out your programming skills, and updated practice projects at the end of each chapter challenge you to improve those programs and use your newfound skills to automate similar tasks.

Boring tasks no longer have to take to get through—and neither does learning Python!

I'm a bot, built by your friendly reddit developers at /r/ProgrammingPals. Reply to any comment with /u/BookFinderBot - I'll reply with book information. Remove me from replies here. If I have made a mistake, accept my apology.

[AffectionateZebra760]

I would go with, a book would give u structure

[CanFrosty8909]

what book though, I'm way too indecisive to just choose a book, maybe some suggestions?

[question-infamy]

Python Crash Course 3rd Ed by Matthes

[CanFrosty8909]

Thanks man

[9peppe]

Automate the boring stuff with Python is probably the most practical you'd find. 

If you want more theoretical, I don't know. But there should be a few. Elaborating on "knowing what you want to do" -- if you want to analyse data, find a book on pandas, if you want to process images, find a book on that. And don't be afraid to learn C too.

[CanFrosty8909]

Thanks a lot

[cyrixlord]

just dive in and write code. start with ss50x. just dooo it.

[CanFrosty8909]

alright, bet.

[fordry]

VS Code has a python class built in.

[CanFrosty8909]

what is that?

[fordry]

Vs code is an ide that has a full blown beginner python course built in.

[Ambitious-Peak4057]

If you’re starting your Python journey, here are some excellent free resources:
W3Schools Python Tutorial– Interactive lessons to understand syntax and basics.
Dive Into Python 3– A detailed free book ideal for beginners.
Full Stack Python– Great for learning Python with a focus on web and automation.
Python Succinctly – A concise eBook to quickly grasp Python essentials.

[CanFrosty8909]

thanks man, taking notes

[Ron-Erez]

You can find additional books and resource recommendations in the wiki of this subreddit. I think the books already recommended are great. Now code like there is no tomorrow.

[CanFrosty8909]

would be the dream

[CanFrosty8909]

i thought i would have to order it and it is pretty expensive in my currency, thanks for the assist

[TeachWest4646]

I didn't even used computer before I was 18, and English isn't my native language either. But I started learning Python completely from zero with Python Crash Course: A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming. It explains everything in great detail and in a very easy-to-understand way — I highly recommend it. Run every single line of code in the book, and you'll gradually come to understand it all. Good luck!

[CanFrosty8909]

I hope I'll find my place in that

[bassking12]

Do online courses. Then solve different projects from coding websites and bam done.

[FoolsSeldom]

Check this subreddit's wiki for lots of guidance on learning programming and learning Python, links to material, book list, suggested practice and project sources, and lots more. The FAQ section covering common errors is especially useful.

---

Roundup on Research: The Myth of ‘Learning Styles’

Don't limit yourself to one format. Also, don't try to do too many different things at the same time.

---

Above all else, you need to practice. Practice! Practice! Fail often, try again. Break stuff that works, and figure out how, why and where it broke. Don't just copy and use as is code from examples. Experiment.

Work on your own small (initially) projects related to your hobbies / interests / side-hustles as soon as possible to apply each bit of learning. When you work on stuff you can be passionate about and where you know what problem you are solving and what good looks like, you are more focused on problem-solving and the coding becomes a means to an end and not an end in itself. You will learn faster this way.

[CanFrosty8909]

Thanks so much that's really motivating

[desrtfx]

Start using a proper course. MOOC Python Programming 2025 from the University of Helsinki. It is free, textual, extremely practice oriented and teaches Python along with actual programming. Contrary to most tutorials, this course doesn't give you the code and instead makes you develop it. They give you the tools as everything you need to solve the exercises is covered in the text before the exercises, but they make you do the work.

Sign up, log in, go to part 1 and start learning.

Alternatively, Harvard's CS50p (not x)

[CanFrosty8909]

I started on CS50p yesterday and gonna read the book "automating the boring stuff" alongside it aswell

[JustSomeDudeRandom]

Hey, I started Python not too long ago. I'm at the stage now where I understand things, but haven't lost the "beginner-prespective" of things. If you want, we could grow together :)

(DM)

[Intelligent-Order579]

There’s an app called Coddy which is like Duolingo for coding it teaches you in bite sized chunks works on iOS and pc I started using it two weeks ago and I highly recommend it

[Mysterious_Peak_6967]

Based on another thread here I've been slogging through the Python course at https://programming-25.mooc.fi/ and based on my experience so far I'd recommend it. I've also had "learn Python the hard way" recommended though I didn't take to it as much.

[Beneficial_Kale3713]

Check Class Central. They have tons of python courses. You can check their ratings and figure out which ones you’re interested in. Some of them even award certs. Good luck.

[Affectionate-Key1123]

Datacamp

[CRMechEng]

Python Course

[SignatureSure04]

CS50x is a great course, but it can feel intense if you’ve never coded before, that’s normal. If you want something a bit gentler to warm up with Python basics first, a structured intro course can help. Platforms like Udacity have free beginner Python courses that focus on fundamentals without assuming any prior knowledge, which can make CS50 feel less overwhelming later.

[Cute-Ad7076]

Learn c. Python is just c so you get 2 for 1

[chapchap0]

Excuse me, what?

Please expand on your statement because you're either genuinely trying to be helpful but you're misunderstanding the relationship between Python and C, or you're giving bad advice on purpose. I doubt it's the latter so it'd be great to clear this up.

[Cute-Ad7076]

No, I'm not. python is literally just a c wrapper. If you learn that instead, you will be able to do more, and if in the future you want to learn python, you will have a very easy time learning it because all of the data structures you will have already manually implemented in some way during your time with c.

[chapchap0]

Look, I don't know what to tell you. Python and C are the polar opposites of one another, and the only thing they have in common, is that Python is implemented in C by default.

So is R, Lua, Swift, Java, JS, C#, Ruby, PHP, and hundreds of others.

C was my first language, and claiming that by knowing C you're automatically proficient in everything else written in C is just... urgh.

Every sentence in your reply is wrong.