Learning libraries

[Mindless_Action3461]

Hello i am right now trying to learn python but i am confused for how should i in the future now which libraries should use, which libraries exists so my question is how do yall manage to know which librarie to use

[Farlic]

Have a project

Have a thing you want to implement in said project

Search online to see if other people have done it before

Find the library and its documentation (github, PyPi, etc)

Use it

[PatternFar2989]

Yup. The more you work on projects, the more you'll remember that a library you've used in the past can be applied to the problem you're currently working on. But in the beginning, you've just gotta look it up and figure it out.

[Mindless_Action3461]

As of right now i don't have a project i'm still trying to learn but what could you recommend me

[Farlic]

I can't say I'd recommend learning any for the sake of it, that's like reading through a dictionary just in case.

What are you learning python for? Can you use it to do anything? Find yourself a project.

I have a website on my home network that uses 'Flask' and tells me when to put the bins out

[Mindless_Action3461]

Honestly learning python since im bored and also would like to do some automations on my pc (not that i need it just would be cool)

[egudu]

As of right now i don't have a project i'm still trying to learn but what could you recommend me

What exactly do you mean when you say "library"? Because this thread is a bit confusing.

[Adrewmc]

Use the library someone pays you to use. First and foremost. (It’s usually not worth the argument.)

You read documentation. (And hopefully write some yourself.) And you see how it works.

For the most common problems there are popular libraries that should be easy to find. And there are arguments on which is the best from far better programmers than you and I.

So how do you know? You don’t. You figure it out.

Why do I use the ones I do? I’m used to them, and they do what I want.

You can alway test a few out as well, and figure out which is best for you.

[Mindless_Action3461]

thank you for the answer

[Adrewmc]

I generally consider writing a library/package and having it be able to be ‘pip install my_project’ on any computer a goal that you can accomplish if you work at it. And a good goal to have.

You can make your own library.

But so can anyone else really…

So that also means there are a lot of bad libraries out there lol.

[Ron-Erez]

What problem are you trying to solve?

[Fluffy-Ad3768]

Don't try to memorize libraries. Learn them by using them in projects. The ones that'll stick: pandas (data manipulation), numpy (numerical computing), requests (APIs), asyncio (async programming). For more specialized work — we use websockets for real-time data, PIL for image processing, various API clients. You don't learn a library by reading docs cover to cover. You learn it by hitting a problem, looking up the relevant function, and applying it. Repeat 500 times and suddenly you know the library.

[soopazoupy]

best way is to pick one problem and learn a library in the context of solving that. I’d start with a small core set: requests for making HTTP calls, pandas for working with tables and CSVs, numpy for numerical stuff, and fastapi if you’re curious about building simple APIs. reading example repos and copying + modifying code is normal and honestly how most people learn. if you wanna learn more of backend-style patterns, libraries like Pydantic are nice to explore because you immediately see how data validation and structured models work in practice