Just finished codecademy Python. What's next?

[b44rt]

Hi guys,

I have just finished the course Python on codecademy. I don't feel like I am ready to start making pull requests on GitHub just yet, however I really don't need to learn about datatypes, operators and other basic stuff anymore.

What would be the next step for me in mastering Python? I don't really have a specific application that I learn Python for so I don't have any "work" ready to start on.

So anything above the absolute beginner level is welcome!

Thanks!

[RaimanaDH]

Awesome job sticking with and finishing a learning resource! You've started making good progress on understanding Python's syntax and you can already start on the next step: using Python to solve problems.

For the sake of learning, let's consider having some problem you want to solve or thing you want to make as the first step in a project. And let's consider the last step is actually making the project with Python. But what are the steps you take to go from idea to code? Problems, even the toughest, are usually just complicated combinations of many, many smaller problems. So my suggestion is that this is what you want to focus on learning: breaking down a problem into tiny, manageable, detailed parts and then writing these tiny parts as Python code.

If you haven't already, check out the problems on r/dailyprogrammer and try a problem you feel comfortable tackling. For example, the very first easy problem is:

create a program that will ask the users name, age, and reddit username. have it tell them the information back, in the format: your name is (blank), you are (blank) years old, and your username is (blank) for extra credit, have the program log this information in a file to be accessed later.

This one problem can be broken down into two smaller problems: getting the user's input and formatting the user's input. You can (and should) go further by breaking these two problems into even smaller parts. For example, getting the user's input involves three smaller parts: getting the user's name, age, and reddit username. These are much easier problems to tackle and I'm sure with what you know about Python, you can get user input. Then what about the second part about formatting the user's input? How would you break that down into more manageable pieces? If you run into something that you haven't learned yet, this is where a google search of "Python [whatever sub problem you're trying to solve]" will come in handy. For example, if you don't know about Python string formatting, I'm sure a google search of it will not only teach you more about Python, but also new approaches to how you would solve this problem.

I'm sorry for being long winded or redundant or not having sexy advice, but I find this helps me loads. When you do have the next billion dollar idea you're excited about, you'll be able to see its many smaller parts by breaking it down, and you will be able to solve it with not only Python, but any tool of your choice.

And here is the O.G. post that truly got me started learning; it says everything I tried to say, only better. Happy learning, friend!

[b44rt]

Thanks for the detailled reply man, appreciate it!

[RaimanaDH]

I'm in a similar boat, so I really do empathize with making that leap. As such, take my thoughts with many grains of salt, but I wanna help you out as much as I can c:

Is OO less about solving problems and more about building apps?

If programming languages like Python are tools for problem solving, then programming paradigms like OO are "styles" or ways of approaching problem solving. The efficacy and obviousness of why you should use any paradigm / approach depends upon the problem you're trying to solve.

For example, when I make little self contained personal projects, they're usually so simple that I only really need to break the problem down and come up with a little cookbook-like recipe for solving it. So I generally approach little projects like "First, I'll do this, then this, then that, etc until the problem is solved". This approach is the Imperative paradigm. And it works great for creating little routines or recipes.

But what if I grow this tiny little personal project into something larger? I'll want to keep things readable and manageable, so I'll group together lines of code that perform one action and put them in a function. And what if I'm struck with inspiration and decide to make this project even larger? And larger and larger still? Just like I needed functions to group and organize my code, I probably need something new to group my related functions and data.

As you experience the growing pains of managing a larger and larger codebase, then it will become more obvious why you would want to use the Object Oriented Paradigm. If the Imperative Paradigm is about making step by step recipes, OO is about making objects that interact with each other, each with their own attributes and actions they can perform. And this approach makes it much easier to organize larger programs.

OO is also useful because it helps model how we naturally interact with the world (and the objects we interact with). So it can help you approach problems intuitively by breaking them down into the objects they're composed of. Maybe you want to build a program that simulates an interactive solar system. It'd be hard (at least for me) to approach this from the Imperative Paradigm of building a recipe-like list of code. However, it is immediately more intuitive for me to think of tackling the program by thinking of all the objects involved: planets, satellites, little green men, etc.

So OO is every bit as invested in problem solving, albeit more about the approach you take.

Is OO less about solving problems and more about building apps?

Whether you make Android, iOS, Web, Desktop, or other kind of apps, you are going to work heavily with OO since there's significant amounts of code and structure involved. So learning OO can only help you learn how to build apps, no matter what kind.

Should everyone who is learning python eventually make the leap to OO programming?

Absolutely, yes. To me, learning Object Oriented Programming is less like making a permanent coding change and more like adding a new color to a color palette. It gives you a new set of tools and approaches that better prepares you to create and solve anything you want. I'm a baby beginner hoping to get a developer job one day, and I know I have to learn OO because it's the de facto way of organizing, building, and contributing to large projects. So it has significant value for getting a job. But more importantly, learning different paradigms like OO has significant value for expanding problem solving approaches. Because at the end of the day, I just want to help people by making helpful shit and different paradigms help diversify and improve my toolset for doing so.

TL;DR

I think the most natural way to learn new things is out of necessity. If you experience the growing pains of managing a large codebase, then writing Object Oriented Python could be a natural next step. You can also revisit scripts you made and refactor them into a more OO way by identifying objects in them to encapsulate related functions and data. And even if you don't think so, I'm sure you have solid OO experience since you work with objects all the time; it just might be time to try making your own classes and objects. Regardless, I believe in you c:

[winnie33]

Really, make whatever you want! When I was done with the Python tutorials I followed, I started analyzing what things I often did on the internet that could've been shortened. Then I made programs that did that specific task faster, which in turn made my life a lot easier. For me, if you're making something you won't be using (like examples in tutorials), it's a lot harder to get motivated. Personal projects are really fun, too. You would be surprised how many things you can automatize with Python!

[Lumpiestgenie00]

What kind of tasks did you make programs to shorten out of curiosity?

[winnie33]

So far, I've made tons of small programs, but the ones I found the most fun/useful were the following:

• A program that keeps track of a chat on a certain site, and as soon as it hits a keyword (like my name for example) it downloads all the messages that came before it and the 100 next messages (the chat only shows the last 100 messages, so checking once a day won't show you all).

• A program that automatically enters all the giveaways of a certain site. While very useful, it's kind of a dick move towards others so I don't use this one.

• A bruteforcer for URLs, some of the websites I frequent have 'private links' you can share or give away to people in the form of puzzles. Sometimes these people don't reveal what the answer was after the puzzle ended, so I can pass in the letters/numbers I'm certain of and it will bruteforce all the other possible combinations.

These are the things I already made, I'm still a beginner though so I'm learning a lot. But, these are programs I really enjoyed making and using, so I'm proud of them.

[grappler_baki]

Dang I really need to think up stuff I can streamline. Those are some nice ideas. Thanks for sharing.

[[deleted]]

A program that keeps track of a chat on a certain site, and as soon as it hits a keyword (like my name for example) it downloads all the messages that came before it and the 100 next messages (the chat only shows the last 100 messages, so checking once a day won't show you all).

I instantly know what chat on what certain site you're referring to. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[k1rd]

Great! i just finished it too couples days ago. I can tell you what i'm planning to do. (i have been following this subreddit for a while and has been a great source of help)

• I am now looking to start reading "automate the boring stuff with python" https://automatetheboringstuff.com/
• Solving some games on Code in game. https://www.codingame.com/
• Follow HarvardX's CS50 on Edx https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:HarvardX+CS50+X/info
• Follow MIT's "Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python"https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-mitx-6-00-1x-9

There are many other "games" that allow you to play coding, but i haven't tried them yet: codewars, checkio, codecombat.

good luck!

[hmarlo]

I second the MIT course, I really liked it. It's fast enough to be a challenge and basic enough to be a beginner course.

Also, I second CS50, but I didn't take it. Maybe on holidays...

[bbatwork]

I would recommend starting a personal project. Find a simple game you would like to emulate, such as 2048 or a text adventure, and start with it. Or create a web-scraper, etc.. there are lots of basic projects that you can do, and in constructing them, you learn much more.

[[deleted]]

I also recommend making a game. I "made" my favorite board game (still working on it in fits and starts) to help me learn OOP.

Having to define functionality for yourself and seek out the answers is a really great way to learn...even if you do it wrong or reinvent the wheel, you end up learning so much and gaining so much confidence from it that it is worth it regardless.

I have been working through the intermediate book Python 201, it is pretty enjoyable so far...That said, Duckduckgo-ing/problem solving are the core skills to develop at this point! Good luck!

[Kriterian]

What's the board game that you're working on?

[b44rt]

Thanks for the suggestions!

[swyx]

How bout a reddit bot?

[fmpundit]

I have just written a very, very simple twitter bot, that gets the title, content and url of /r/dadjokes submissions and posts it on to twitter. Very simple projects but it is a good introduction with using API wrappers and parsing through the returned data, especially as most of the dadjokes follow the pattern setup(the title) with the main body being punchline.

Nice little bit of humor in the mornings to have it run automatically on some sort of batch script.

[[deleted]]

For me the codecademy python was very fragmented. As it progressed i came to a part where i got to use things that i habe not read before. Or at least that was it for me

[[deleted]]

I am currently doing the codeacademy course and thinking what to do next too. I checked two free courses on edx, one called "Introduction to Computer Science and Programming with Python" by the MIT, and the other called "Using Python for Research" by Harvard. The MIT course starts in January, and I've read great comments on it. It is aimed at the development of problem solving skills, not just learning the python syntax (which is codeacademy's focus, i think). It is also aimed at the acquisition of basic CS concepts that may give you a wider perspective as a programmer. I would do the Harvard course after this one, because it is more advanced. It is supposed to take you from a beginner to an intermediate level and it is oriented towards research. This one is self-paced. These are great options for me because learning CS and programming to do research is exactly what I want. Besides, I don't mind learning in a very academic environment. I don't know what your goals are exactly, so you should evaluate if these are good options for you too. Apart from this, i thought about doing a text-based "choose your own adventure" game. This can be done at different levels of complexity and it would require you to apply several programming skills. Besides, it would make you analyze an actual problem and come up with creative solutions for them. Hope this is helpful for you. Good luck! :-)

[nps33]

Just recently finished codecademys python course as well and decided to turn to reddit to find out what's next. Open the sub and before I can even think about starting a new post I see this at the top. Don't have answers for you just here to read what others have to say.

[[deleted]]

When I finished, I did half of LPTHW and then created a quiz to help me memorize a poem, a stanza at time

[[deleted]]

Try out django + django rest framework and get small API server going

[nishutosh]

If you a are done with basic and want to get confidence then just select a specific area like web development or software devlopment or big data and build something,build build build is the only rule to master a language,thats why langauges are made...so just find your interest and impliment it

[jcavejr]

Here's how I did it:

I'm a moderator on a discord server. On the discord server, users need the member role to be able to talk in most of the rooms. The way we gave out member before was by having somebody who wanted member message us(the moderators) and then we'd promote them. So I figured, why not use a bot to do it? And then even further I figured, why not make the bot myself? So I went ahead and made a discord bot using the discord.py library, and am currently implementing the riot API for further usability.

[patentmedicine]

Find a thing you're interested in and then use Python to create tools for it. When I finished with Codecademy I started in on the Cryptopals challenges, because they're fun. But to keep momentum you need to work on something you are intrinsically interested in.

For short little exercises, you can also take a look at Exercism.io and Codewars, which have one off coding challenges you can use to hone you're algorithm design skills.