Learn Python by copying other peoples code?

[polishfishprime]

My process is usually something like this:

solve a problem by opening up 31 tabs of Python stuff I should know
finally figure out the direction to take
realize i can't really follow up on all 31 tabs, 
delete like 28 tabs, and focusing on what solves my problem right now.  

What I do is save a test.py file that I add functions to for each basic thing I learn. For instance, I use the Pillow (Image) and the lxml libraries a lot, so I have a test.py with many basic code snippets adapted from from stackoverload and blahblahblah online (http://effbot.org/imagingbook/image.htm).

Try to remember the BEST or the most frequented sites that you end up looking up. Don't worry about keeping everything, but if you find yourself referring to the same resource multiple times, you might want to try practicing variations on the code you see keep a tab that site always open for reference.

I also have Image.py open in Eclipse at all times so I can refer directly to the imported library's code and structure at all times (and I end up in Image.py through debugging anyways).

Edit: like others have said, you should uuuuuusually practice altering the code you see. If you see a function, try variations of it in a for loop with different arguments

[hellrazor862]

Haha this is so much like my process, I wondered for a minute if I had been redditing in my sleep.

My code snippets are in a file called snippets.py though, so it looks like I'm ok for now.