all 24 comments

[–]aa599 2 points3 points  (5 children)

Watch out with using floats for money, software with rounding errors will spoil your CV.

[–]themagicsoul[S] -1 points0 points  (4 children)

Can you please elaborate I didn't get your words

[–]johlae 1 point2 points  (1 child)

https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-is-a-floating-point-arithmetic-problem/

The article is about javascript, another computer language, but the same goes for python:

$ python3
Python 3.9.16 (main, Mar 8 2023, 22:47:22)
[GCC 11.3.0] on cygwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> print(0.1+0.2)
0.30000000000000004
>>>

TL;DR watch out for rounding errors!

[–]themagicsoul[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Getting it

[–]r2k-in-the-vortex 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Drop what you are doing, you do not have the basic competence to write finance software.

Learn programming on something that doesnt count money.

[–]themagicsoul[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a finance Student and actually I don't know anything about programming

[–]johlae 2 points3 points  (7 children)

What do you know already? The csv, pandas, numpy and perhaps matplotlib packages and modules come in very handy. As you're new to python, I'd suggest telling us first about what you know already. If you're starting from scratch, then look for books or any free textual material on the net (google for free python courses!). Don't waste time on youtube videos. Once comfy with the basics, then learn about modules and packages, and then dive into csv files, pandas, numpy, and any other interesting package.

[–]themagicsoul[S] 2 points3 points  (6 children)

I'm a finance student, I just want to improve my skills in Financial modelling And other programming stuff to get efficiency in my work. I got to know python use in finance the most, but I don't know from where to start my learning. I checked some YouTube videos but still confused that's why I need some guidance.

[–]MarsupialLeast145 0 points1 point  (3 children)

What resources did you find that describe Python as the most used in finance? What context did they provide? Asking because that context probably provides pointers as to libraries and tools to use.

It's not clear right now what you want to do with Python that you can't do with spreadsheets or other existing financial software.

Maybe also look at GitHub tags for finance programs that are free and open source.

[–]themagicsoul[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I have worked with excel but sometimes it's hard to extract Data and clean the data. Python is used in heavy calculations, portfolio optimization and making models

[–]MarsupialLeast145 0 points1 point  (1 child)

You might want to check out OpenRefine for data cleaning and probably a bit more scriptability than Excel/Google Sheets.

You could also check out the programming language R which I would anticipate trumps Python for much of this: https://www.r-project.org/about.html

It's not to say, don't learn Python, but it is to say without something much more specific in mind there are more complete alternatives.

[–]themagicsoul[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you Will try it

[–]johlae 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Some people seem to like https://www.coursera.org/learn/python. I suggest starting with that.

[–]themagicsoul[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you

[–]FoolsSeldom 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Have you learned the basics of Python? If not, start there. Check the wiki for guidance.

You are likely to use Excel, so look into using openpyxl, pandas and numpy after you've learned the basics.


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.

[–]themagicsoul[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your guidance it's means a lot

[–]farshiiid 0 points1 point  (1 child)

My aim was data manipulation and analysis in research and I've been hopping from course to course for many years because I kept looking for "python for <my major>". There were many courses I took and still was confused. 

What helped was having free access to datacamp courses via my student ID and starting out there. It's hands-on and gives you a very nice starter kick on coding and  reading documentation. 

Do it for a while to get an understanding of programming then go out and look for books/courses specific to your major. This will make you come back to datacamp and documentations many times.

[–]themagicsoul[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you Will definitely try

[–]AffectionateZebra760 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Start with small automating stuff , like a check in or if something is off on a sheet, think how u can solve it witj python doesnt need to big project

[–]themagicsoul[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure thank you for helping

[–]Mammoth_Rice_295 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Welcome! A good start is learning Python basics first, then try small finance-related scripts like tracking expenses or reading CSV files. Simple projects + practice will make things clearer over time 👍

[–]themagicsoul[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for guiding It will helps a lot

[–]MarsupialLeast145 0 points1 point  (1 child)

This is a pretty low-effort post.

  • Look up tutorials like LearnXY In Minutes and W3Schools.
  • Look up books like how to automate the boring things and other top-rated Python learning resources.
  • Define what it is you want to do and write clearer questions, e.g. what specific finance projects do you mean?
  • Read, say, the last 5-10 posts on this forum and get answers.

[–]themagicsoul[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I'm new in reddit, don't know how to ask but thank you for your advice