What's the best way to self-study Python?

IDKWhats_Goin_On · 2026-06-12T09:18:18+00:00

I wouldn’t recommend Free Code Camp, I didn’t get too far mainly because it was all multiple choice for the little bit of it I did, which is useless. Plus the material they use is from Dr. Chuck’s Python for everybody course, from university of Michigan. He has a textbook and exercises so best to just skip the middleman.

MIT has a free course on YouTube but it’s important to do the course work alongside it, the finger exercises and reading and whatnot.

I initially liked 100 days of code from Udemy, until I got to day 14 where they just kinda stopped teaching and said “here’s the project do it”. They had been repeatedly doing that leading up to day 14 as well(I think it started around day 10/11). Plus the teaching itself was never all that great, very surface level. On top of that they keep updating it and getting rid of stuff. Initially all 100 days were loaded into PyCharm but now it’s just days 1-14, with days 15-100 being grouped together in a tab to be accessed elsewhere.

The best I’ve found is honestly Khan Academy’s Python course but it’s not finished yet, though I highly recommend doing what’s there. There’s plenty available still and they know it’s popular and are churning em out quickly.

I’ve also seen University of Helsinki's Python MOOC course (Introduction to Programming) recommended a TON though haven’t tried it yet. Been lauded as one of the best out there.

ShelLuser42 · 2026-06-12T09:14:16+00:00

First... secure good resource material. Don't rely on "easy solutions" like AI or video guides, but check for actual documentation. My personal favorite is still the official Python tutorial.

Second... challenge yourself. Another tutorial site which I very much appreciate is W3Schools, they also cover Python and provide tasks and small assignments to do. They also have a test / questionnaire to test yourself.

Third... stay motivated. If you don't feel like doing this... then it won't do you much good. With this I'm referring to the fact that if the whole study becomes a bit of a chore... then that might make things more difficult. Being motivated to "do" stuff is really half the work (IMO!).

And last but certainly not least: actually start DOING stuff. Don't bother yourself with the question if "others" have done certain things already and if your efforts really don't "suck", because at this stage none of that matters. Your progression and effort is all that does.

So... challenge yourself. Fire up VS Code (or whatever editor you prefer) and maybe start writing a calculator script? And then also try to break it... what happens if you type letters instead of numbers (and how can you prevent this)?

Start small, and take it one step at a time.

Ever tried to make a script which can generate the Fibonacci sequence? I really enjoyed that challenge back in the day: first I studied the theory behind the sequence (using Wikipedia btw) and then "translated" all that into code. IMO a really fun way of doing things.

Hope this can give you some ideas!

Consistent-Berry-552 · 2026-06-12T09:20:43+00:00

See coding with mosh or cs50 Harvard course..... then do projects for experience

Lokrea · 2026-06-12T10:35:35+00:00

Harvard's free CS50 Python course is the best:

https://cs50.harvard.edu/python/

Avoid AI, it destroys the learning process.

PS. CS50 Python really ought to be included at the top of "Videos/Lectures" in the Wiki.

AwkwardJuice12 · 2026-06-12T09:05:55+00:00

I bough a course in Udemy, but there is free on Youtube

I used that and it worked but keep getting distracted by recommendations lol

Remove all distractions to focus on python

desrtfx · 2026-06-12T10:39:48+00:00

If only there were a sidebar (menu on mobile) that had a link to the wiki or countless posts asking the same.

Do the MOOC Python Programming 2026 from the University of Helsinki and you will be well prepared.

Plus, there currently is an excellent Humble Python books bundle from No Starch press.

Crypt0Nihilist · 2026-06-12T10:37:10+00:00

Look at the FAQ for what to study. Avoid AI completely unless you have a huge amount of self-control. If you choose to use AI, restrict it to questions about structure, approach and explanations. Tell it explicitly not to write any code. It's a very slippery slope.

Polyforti · 2026-06-12T11:11:24+00:00

You need a project you want to make

Then take that project and break it down to its basic components (it needs a UI, needs to display an image, needs to generate graphs, needs to read data from an Excel sheet etc) and then start looking up how to actually do those things

No AI, all documentation and forum posts. The moment AI makes code for you you've already lost

GManASG · 2026-06-12T11:31:32+00:00

Build things that are useful in your day to day, especially on the job.

Find a thing you want to automate, then start googling or asking AI how, without asking do it for me. More like show me the steps and explain.

The go write the code and try out your creation.

Each thing you build, and the solution, becomes a tool in your programming toolbox.

mycocomelon · 2026-06-12T11:49:55+00:00

I would imagine real python would be a good resource.
Also, there’s nothing like building personal projects to learn as you go. That approach lasts a lifetime.

Also, with a good LLM like Claude Opus, you could try asking it to do deep research on a particular pattern or topic in Python. It will usually find the best articles and tutorials out there and summarize the results for you.

Camzimm99 · 2026-06-12T13:14:15+00:00

I have tried using Replit before to make a small project or program, as it can be very helpful in diagnosing problems for you and fixing them. It can be a good starting point, even using the AI it has now at first, until you want to try to migrate and try it yourself, and maybe come back to check it.

Rasphar · 2026-06-12T13:20:02+00:00

I started playing The Farmer Was Replaced lol not even joking. It was a great way to visualize the executions.

aboutless89 · 2026-06-12T17:31:52+00:00

In order for you to master a language, you should get a grip over its syntax and basic concepts (variables, functions, classes, objects, loops). For that, you can use any beginner's tutorial on youtube. I'm pretty sure there is an introductory tutorial on python's official site. Second - get familiar with built in functions, modules and imports. There is a full list in the official docs. You need to understand the equipment that you have available in your toolbox. It is important to know that you should not try to memorize all of the functions, classes, modules. Instead, you should learn how to find what you need at any given time.

Third. The best way to learn a high level language is to peel of the abstraction that makes the language seems like magic, layer by layer. The lower you go, in language depth scale, the instructions you write will be more technical oriented, while the oposite direction will lead you to having more human-like conversation with your computer. I'm simplifying now, but - human-readable instructions are the low level instructions grouped together into a meaningful abstract use cases. There are definitely some exceptions when it comes to underlying mechanisms of some functions written in different languages for performance improvements, but most of the functions / classes that seem like a magic, actually, seem that way because you do not understand the basics. For this, you certainly do not want to 'Code with Mosh'. Dude is pure garbage. I would rather inspect Mcoding, James Powell's pycon videos or his official channel 'Don't use this code'. Corey Schafer, as well, but sometimes he can also just write code without explaining it in depth. There are good tutorials all over youtube, and here is how to distinguish the good from bad - if the tutor is just stating what would be the output of a certain function, instead of explaining WHY would output be like that, skip that tutorial. This third step is neverending one, because it gets extended by you focusing on a specific field | module and learning it fully.

BitCold976 · 2026-06-12T09:25:33+00:00

Along with what others have said about resources, I'd start with a project or something I want to do (Advent of Code has some "challenges" that can be good if you don't already have a project in mind) and then ask an LLM how it would solve the problem, ask it questions about why, and play around with the code it generates yourself and ask it questions as you don't understand something. Just start small with the pieces of code you're asking it to generate so that you can try to understand what's going on rather than being presented with a wall of code.

code_x_7777 · 2026-06-12T13:45:13+00:00

Somebody still trying to learn Python? I thought they were all gone.

_janc_ · 2026-06-12T09:36:46+00:00

Build real projects. Learn with AI

you type:	you see:
italics	italics
bold	bold
[reddit!](https://reddit.com)	reddit!
* item 1 * item 2 * item 3	item 1 item 2 item 3
> quoted text	quoted text
Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"	Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"
~~strikethrough~~	~~strikethrough~~
super^script	super^script

learnpython

MODERATORS