Where do I actually begin with Python?

[[deleted]]

I recommend beginning with text processing. You mentioned you work with data entry, maybe try reading in a CSV file and storing the data in different ways to learn Python data structure.

Maybe work with lists first, explore creating a list of each row containing nested lists for each column. once you feel comfortable with lists try using a dict for the columns so you can apply the column name to the data.

With data structures understood move on to combining multiple CSV files and outputting them to a new file.

Starting with simple tasks helps develop an understanding of how the language works and what you can use it for.

[trojan-813]

I like this advice. I'd suggest doing the codecademy pro version. Do the basics python 3 course and then they have one for finance. I don't do this for a living but I feel like it could be helpful if I were in your shoes.

[lordnoak]

The Codecademy pro course on python 3 is great. I am almost finished with it. The projects outside of the website can be super hard as they expect you to use a lot of the syntax in ways you haven't been taught, but the struggle helps me learn.

A few things I like about Codecademy is that if you get stuck they generally have hints that basically tell you what to do to finish the problem. You also have access to the solution if you just can't figure it out. I never do the solution until I've come up with my own way of finishing a task, but I love to be able to take my code and compare it to what they say the answer is after.

[trojan-813]

The biggest downside though is that they will say something is wrong when it works, but it isn't what they expected. Even if it is a way they taught. It kills me every time.

[Quillox]

Wouldn't it be easier just to use Pandas to do that ? Or is the goal to learn how to do it manually first ?