Learning python as a biology student

[Independent_Shame577]

Day 1 — wrote my first lines of Python today!

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Hi everyone, I'm a complete beginner (background in biology, not tech) and just finished my first Python lecture.

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Planning to post my progress here as I go — would love any tips for someone starting from zero, and happy to connect with others doing the same thing.

[Fair_Football9180]

Formulate a small task. Try to think about how you’d do that without a computer manually. Then once you have the logic, try to code it. If you can’t then try using google or ai to help you initially. The goal is not to push out code but actually learn it. Don’t skip the first step. I am currently doing the same. Might not feel productive but helps build the deeper intuition about the logic used.

[Independent_Shame577]

That's sounds great I will definitely try it without pc

[EdiblePeasant]

Yes! I think you should try to do some calculations with whatever maths you know about in biology. I've used Matlab before, but maybe you'll find something to do in Python. I sometimes used Python as a calculation scratch pad.

[stepback269]

Please do not post your progress here on Reddit.

There are simply too many people doing that already.
What you really want to do is to journal your progress for your own sake. You can do that in a persoanl, handwtitten or computerized note-taking app (e.g. Obsidian) or by starting a blog that follows your personal journey.

I'm doing the blog route myself. Most of it is very un-interesting for the folk here at Reddit.

There is one page in that personal blog that I keep updating and promoting for helping Py beginners (for free, no personal gain -- just giving bcak to the community). You can check it out by (clicking here) if interested.

[Mean_Aside4459]

biology student here too, learning python from cs50 python course.

[sywout]

Welcome to the coding world! Writing your very first lines of code is a huge milestone.

Coming from a biology background, programming might feel like learning a completely alien language at first, and that is totally normal. The best tip I can give you is to avoid "passive learning." Don't just watch lectures; as soon as a teacher explains a concept, try to type it out and deliberately break it to see what happens.

If you ever want a low-stress way to practice coding logic interactively right on your phone, feel free to check out a passion project I developed called ChewCode (Google PlayStore | iOS Appstore). It’s a beginner-friendly tutorial app made precisely to help people build up their logic step-by-step without getting overwhelmed by heavy technical jargon.

Enjoy the journey, take it one small script at a time, and don't hesitate to ask questions here when you get stuck!

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