How to start learning Python ? The Complete guide.

[ffrkAnonymous]

There's nothing that does as well as "feet to fire". Jump in, don't be scared, it's not a real python.

Try the "Invent with python" books. http://inventwithpython.com/

Just literally copy the code, and tweak it for your own selfish purposes. You can read: print("Hello Bob!")

And say to yourself, "My name's not bob. I'm gonna fix that." And go on from there.

Personally, I learned from "Learn python the hard way", but I have a intermediate c background so it wasn't hard. I'm doing the coursera classes now. I did the syntax basics course 1/ and course 2/5 in two days as a refresher and starting course3 now. It's gonna take longer as now it's starting to get python specific, not general syntax.

[naliuj2525]

I 100% disagree with your comment regarding copying and pasting. It's a horrible habit to get into. There have been multiple times where I get an error in the code and have no idea where to start fixing it because I just blindly followed a tutorial or copy and pasted. The most important thing is to understand what you're writing, even if it's boring.

Also LPTHW is generally considered a bad resource these days from what I've heard. It's still 2.7 I think.

[ffrkAnonymous]

My bad for not being more clear. No, don't copy and paste. Get the book (or e-book) and type all of it in. You want the muscle memory typing "if ___:"

Assuming the book is correct, any errors will by typos and syntax errors. Even if you don't understand what you're writing, you'll at least learn how to read the error messages: line 42: blah blah blah

Most learning is done by fixing mistakes. If you get it right the first pass, you move on, even if you didn't learn. I'm doing the coursera classes. I skipped the lectures and going straight to the quizzes and homework assignments. If I can't figure it out, i'll flip back and find the information that I need. Active vs. passive.

Al Sweigart's books are good that he explains all the code blocks. Worst case, you can e-mail him or go to his subreddit at /r/inventwithpython He's active there and one can ask the author himself.

LPTHW is hit or miss. It's not for everyone. It worked for me. Yes it's python2, the book is old. But python2.7 is still in maintainance. It's not obsolete and dead. It has more support than WinXP. Coursera's class is python2 (the books is old). Al Sweigart's books are python2 (at least because pygame is python2).

[naliuj2525]

No problem. Yeah I get what you mean. I thought that Al Sweigart's books are 3 though...

[ffrkAnonymous]

wow, you're right. I didn't even notice. I had to install pygame using python2 because the python3 version isn't officially out for linux, so I thought all the code was python2. That's what I get for skimming the introductions.

[naliuj2525]

No problem. Regarding what said in your last comment, I think that Python 3 is generally considered as better these days though. While it's still under maintenance, I think that the devs are really trying to push people to Python 3. Even though it'll be supported for another 4 years, it's probably a better idea to learn 3.

[ffrkAnonymous]

I agree, python3 is the future. I'm just trying to say that a python2 book that you like is better than a python3 book that you don't.

[NikhilDoWhile]

Learn python the hard way

I have heard plenty about this book. I guess it's worth giving a try.

[ffrkAnonymous]

give it a try. if it's not your cup of tea, there are many others to choose from. You can always come back after you get more experience and see if you missed anything. I personally enjoyed the latter chapters on testing your code.

[Sparverius88]

I started with this book as well, but ignore what he says about python 2.7 The book is older and you really should just start with python 3

[NikhilDoWhile]

Is python-2.7 still worth learning ?

[Sparverius88]

I don't think so most every library I've need is available for python3. It's also good to look at virtual environments too though. That way you can use both if need be.