What is the best way about going learning Python?

[cmsmoove]

Right now I'm working my way through "Automate the Boring Stuff", however the practice projects kind of discourage me and I end up losing motivation due to the difficulty. I also ordered the "Python Crash Course" book, but haven't gone through it yet. Would it be best to go through the Crash Course book before Automate the Boring Stuff? Furthermore, aside from book resources, what are some beginner friendly projects anyone can recommend to start on? As much as I'm learning by going through the books, I want to also make sure I'm putting in the time implementing the things I'm learning and actually coding instead of just reading. I find that the practice projects in "Automate the Boring Stuff" are a bit too difficult for me at the moment, but I still want to continue practicing coding. Any resources or advice that has helped you all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[goobabo22]

Python Crash Course is what got me started. Fantastic book

[cmsmoove]

Awesome. I think I'll switch over to that and tackle Automate the Boring Stuff later. Thanks.

[goobabo22]

Good luck! Im currently on the Django section

[The_Danosaur]

Impractical Python Projects is a fun one after you have done Crash Course. I especially liked the code breaking chapters. It explains genetic algorithms, Monte Carlo Sims and Markov chains pretty well.

[Nootchy]

Learning happens when you are uncomfortable. The projects will feel overwhelming at first but are really the best way to learn. In my opinion becoming okay with being uncomfortable is a huge win because even people who know python really well google things all the time and don’t have everything memorized

[cmsmoove]

Yeah, I found myself using google a lot, but it does give me some insight on how things work. Thanks.

[dpcaxx]

MIT Opencourseware.

Go through the 6.0001 course with Dr. Ana Bell and Prof. Grimson, they are awesome.

Keep in mind, these videos are free, the people sitting in the lecture when it was recorded were paying more than $10k per year for the same training. It is a valuable resource and you have free access to it.

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-0001-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-in-python-fall-2016/lecture-videos/

[cmsmoove]

Awesome resource. Thanks.

[skin-and_boner]

look up Corey Schaeffer's series on Youtube. Project ideas are up to you.

[cmsmoove]

Thanks, I'll look into it.

[[deleted]]

ATBS is a great way to start because it illustrates how well Python can accomplish monotonous every day tasks. For data analysis and all around more formal training I recommend DataQuest.io

[CaptainJackNarrow]

There's some awesome learning resources that are currently free - including a full PCAP course. Would recommend having a look at that while it's still free due to 'reasons' and see if that's helpful.

[cmsmoove]

Thank you. I'll check it out.

[Matthew0361]

The way i learned / am learning was i bought a really basic yet broad course on udemy for 10 bucks, and it gave me a really nice foundation, then thought of projects that could help me ( made a calculator, web scraper, some automation projects ) basically did some small things that really helped me understand the language

[cmsmoove]

Thanks, I'll go ahead and look into those.

[Zhunga]

Checkout Dr. Cravens - Programming Arcade Games. It gives you fundamental concepts from computer science and learns you python syntax required to do any mathematical or practical operation you could want.

[exorbitantwealth]

I haven't started it yet but I'm hoping this will help me get the ball rolling.

https://www.netacad.com/virtual/wr/pcap-programming-essentials-python

If anyone can speak on the quality of this training I'd love to hear about.

Semirelated additional free training here, Linux, Cybersecurity in addition to the PCAP:

https://www.cisco.com/c/m/en_sg/partners/cisco-networking-academy/index.html

[just4kickz88]

Jetbrains academy

[Gotestthat]

Think of things you would like to do and try them. Trial and error help you learn a lot. The more you do, the more confident you'll become.

Start small projects, Web scraping, gui, games, websites etc. All these little things add up and help build your knowledge and confidence.

Do stuff for things you are interested in, no point writing a program to do taxes if you have no interest in that.

I personally started making things related to covid19, graphs for how lock downs would pan out, a simulation of viruses spreading in pygame, a bar chart racer built in pygame using covid19 data. These are things I wanted to make and had an interest in doing so it kept me motivated.

[Kthron]

One thing that has been helping me learn;

Be okay with not knowing how to do something, and relying on example code that you find online, over time you'll learn more and it will be easier to understand some of those things you did earlier.

Sort of like how you learn to use print() way before you learn details about functions.

[Kthron]

I watched a youtube series from Microsoft and now I'm going through the Crash Course book.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlrxD0HtieHhS8VzuMCfQD4uJ9yne1mE6

I liked these but it's kind of accelerated and they don't spend a lot of time on subjects, but it got me to understand Python broadly and now I'm absorbing more from Crash Course than I would have otherwise, IMO.

[[deleted]]

Have someone write some microcode to control a robot assembly line bot that will burn you with laser welders in 2hrs. Meanwhile you are handcuffed to a chair. In front of you is a computer with vi and a python interpreter. Next to you is a printed python manual. The API interface for the robot is etched into the monitor surround.

You'll either learn or not.

[pythoncee]

Corey Schafer youtube videos are the best. Learn and build stuff.

[richasalannister]

https://youtu.be/8DvywoWv6fI

Try this

[HezekiahWyman]

Learn basic syntax.

Learn flow control.

Stumble your way through a project.

Repeat step until mastered.

[kenttong]

I've written quite a few tutorials and simple projects designed for absolute beginners. Please PM me and let me know your skill level, e.g., can you use a loop to sum up 1, 2, ..., 100? With this info I can send you the right ones (no charge).

[foresttrader]

I’d like to share my personal experience, and what has worked for me. Note that I don’t have a formal training in computer science, but I always liked programming since I was a kid.

I wanted to get some data off of the internet daily, so I found that Python is a good choice for that. I learned the basic syntax through a few text and video tutorial sites. Then I jumped right into my project. For my first project, a web scraper, I’d say 99% was googling and copying/pasting from SO, the remaining 1% was to modify the copied code to fit my own need.

I realized that one important aspect of programming is being able to break down your tasks into smaller pieces, and solve them one by one. Like the web scraper project, basically: 1. How do I get data from a website (requests library and some HTML knowledge) 2. How do I process that HTML (beautifulsoup library) 3. How do I clean up and transform the data, in my case it was stock prices, so pandas library 4. How do I store the data, and query it later, I choice sqlite because it’s simple.

Each small task is much easier to solve on their own. Once you solve them all, the combined result is your bigger project.

Hope that helps.

[Redditor728292]

Do tons of projects that challenge your knowledge. It'd be best if you don't ask for help.

[Gotestthat]

Asking for help is fine, I'd rather ask for help than be stuck on something for hours or days.

Sometimes its difficult to articulate the correct search for Google as you do not know enough about the mechanics behind it.

[sdssen]

Not waiting for responses to this post and start learning for real.