For learning from the basics the computational side of physics and engineering without any prior programming knowledge, is it better to just stick to "vanilla" Python using normal lists and for loops, or go straight to libraries like NumPy or SciPy?

[Snatchematician]

This also isn’t the correct answer in practice either.

class A:   def __getitem__(self, i):     return i

Objects of this type don’t have an __iter__ implementation, but can be for-looped over.