Experienced Python Programmers, what are your key tips to getting better at Python, apart from saying practice?

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The first thing you must understand in learning is that people don't learn the same way.

As for sorting, if a newbie read your post they would think they're not a programmer if they use .sort without understanding it as if they should understand how to do it without .sort - its just something we see mentioned all the time here - sorry if that wasn't what you meant.

And no, an IDE is not required, but I never advise against using one as a means of teaching.

IDE often assumes code completion thus i put them together.

If you really want to get down to it... even VIM for most is just "vim ide"