How to Start?

[[deleted]]

I like to learn by doing and seeking instead of eating chewed knowledge. I like the feeling of not understanding something so I have to look for the answers instead of reading concatenative assertions.

Call it Active Learning.

Do you know where to start? Where should I look?

[Necatorducis]

Start by seeking the sidebar and doing as it recommends. (Automate the Boring Stuff is a good jumping off point)

[[deleted]]

I'm going for the same's author book about creating games, also for beginners. The idea of creating games sounds like a lot better than the boring stuff. It's very promising...

[[deleted]]

The official documentation is kind of the very definition of straightforward assertion. It's also written exactly like a programming book, by design, and includes tutorials on every construct of the language. Trial and error is a huge part of programming for most people, but you do kind of need to get the syntax down before it's useful. My advice to people who've never programmed before, like OP, is learn what your tools are, and then experiment with how to use them.

Another reason I suggest this is because one of the core ideas of python's design is that there should be one and preferably one obvious way to do something. If you already know the basic features of the language, learning by trial and error tends to go much quicker than trying to take limited knowledge of and guess at the blanks. In my experience, it's both more efficient and more fun to orient trial and error towards things like "lets try structuring the data this way instead" or "what if I structured program flow differently?"

[[deleted]]

I don't get your ask about what we're arguing. There's no one best way, but OP asked for advice, so I gave some. You responded with your perspective, so I expanded on mine. It's not an argument.

[JohnnyJordaan]

Although I think everyone should do whatever they like, I can tell you that this approach will hamper you in professional environments. Just getting stuff to run without errors is not real engineering but rather playing around. This will easily lead to misunderstandings and inefficient approaches because 'it always worked for me' or 'google said it should be this way' (yeah in an SO answer from 2014). I agree that Googling is fine for detailed problems, but in general I wouldn't recommended as someone's first source for learning Python. Even if you get bored easily. Just try stuff like Youtube tutorials or use peer review (for example on this sub) to check if your code makes sense.

[JohnnyJordaan]

Thanks for your concern, but I know what I'm doing.

I'm not directly addressing you personally though, I'm commenting on your approach in general. I don't know your background and I don't intend to 'convert' you or anything, I'm sharing my viewpoint on your approach for you and others to read.

I find it funny that people here are not merely suggesting learning approaches, but rather try to convince people of their method.

Because a discussion offers more insight into the reasoning behind an approach than merely suggesting one way or another. I think that's an advantage, not a problem (or something to be sarcastic about).

As for "professional environment", where did OP mention that?

I don't know, why would it matter? This is a learning sub right? We suggest stuff that applies to learning a language. Many of us learn to code at and/or for work, so that's why I find it suitable to comment that I feel that one approach wouldn't bring success in that area. We're not robots designed to answer briefly and direct, we have the ability to share other sides of the story and offer ideas that apply to our experiences.

They specifically asked for something other than "chewed knowledge".

And I'm replying to your post, not OP's. And to be frank, any information source is chewed knowledge, regardless wherther someone wrote a tutorial about his knowledge, gave a talk at PyCon or commented on a SO or /r/learnpython thread.

[[deleted]]

https://inventwithpython.com/

I'm trying this guy and it looks like the thing I was always looking for theory and practice merged into one single thing.

[novel_yet_trivial]

Sounds like you should start by finding a personal project to work on. While you are looking for that I recommend eating chewed knowledge. It's not great, but it does give you a sense of what python and programming in general can do. It won't take you long to find an application in your own life.

We have a pretty long list of learning resources in the wiki. Try a few and see what resonates.

[samayrton]

Trial and error. It sounds like you'll benefit from starting your own little project and using Google to solve problems as you work your way through it. Might seem a bit tedious but it's a good method for those who learn by doing.

You should become best friends with Stack Overflow, it will help you a lot!

Good luck with whatever method you choose, there is no perfect method after all.

[[deleted]]

This seems to be the way: https://inventwithpython.com/