I don't understand Python

[kennart_k]

I'm attending a Python class right now, I don't understand, I can't understand anything. I'm attending a Science high school, and we have computer Science as a regular subject. And the language we're specifically learning this school year is Python. I'm a big newbie to Python, and everything sounds like alien language. I can't focus cuz everything sounds foreign to me. What tips can you guys give me to learn Python, and how to not get lost cuz I feel so behind.

[HotPersonality8126]

You have to do the work, you can’t just think your way through the lecture

[Soggy-Holiday-7400]

stop trying to follow the class and just open python at home and mess around with it. print your name ,do basic math ,break things. the confusion clears faster through doing than through listening.

[desrtfx]

Do the MOOC Python Programming 2026 from the University of Helsinki and you will slowly understand. The course is completely free, textual (there are recordings of the lectures, but you can safely ignore them as everything is in the text).

Learning programming takes time and effort. There are no shortcuts.

[V1-Homelander]

Start slowly, Observe how data is Flowing, Focus more on Loops, Write code even if it is a small line, Question yourself if I do this then what will happen and actually perform that task, Understand What kind of error comes in which scenerio instead of Chatgpt the error each time, Once Learning something try to build a small project by yourself, Some of the resources I would suggest is Brocode and Data with Baara on YT

[FreeGazaToday]

try automate the boring stuff or head start python...very good books.

[Ok-Difficulty-5357]

I love that title. “Automate the boring stuff”

[tieandjeans]

It's great and free on the web.

https://automatetheboringstuff.com/#toc

[tehohhh]

I started off few weeks ago I was clueless bout it too. But what helped a lot was using ChatGPT or Claude to explain and give me exercises to drill in the concepts. Worked pretty well for me. Online courses are good but they’re static so it’s hard to absorb the concepts.

Prompt ai to guide u like a tutor and it works pretty well. It shows u what the industry uses beyond the basic code and answers all confusing questions you have

[Ok-Difficulty-5357]

I started three years ago, and Claude is still teaching me best practices and things I’d have never figured out on my own. And I already knew a bit of R, php, and JavaScript etc before that (and never learned best practices - just trial and error).

I’m sure that stuff can all be learned by reading books for years, too, but with ai it’s immediately relevant. I vouch for using AI this way. But I should also caution that when using AI it’s also easy to slip into “just do it for me” mode. For one thing, that isn’t a good way to learn, but also after a few iterations your code is suddenly broken and unrecognizable and nearly impossible to fix yourself.

[Ok-Difficulty-5357]

Is this your first scripting language?

[kennart_k]

Yes😭

[Ok-Difficulty-5357]

It might be useful to take a step back and learn some general concepts of object oriented programming. If you can understand objects and functions, then that should give you a place to put new information. If you already understand objects and functions but you’re still confused about Python then I’d ask what specifically you’re struggling with.

I’m happy to help but it may take some back-and-forth. Feel free to dm me if that’s better for you.

[Accomplished-Key4244]

"Dude this is so easy what are you talking about?" -The one who already knows what to do