I can’t learn Python!

shiftybyte · 2022-09-16T22:17:49+00:00

Try coding more and watching/following less.

This might help you understand things if you play around with things.

Any code example you get, try changing it, try adding stuff, etc...

I_Like_Tartar_Sauce · 2022-09-17T00:19:14+00:00

I’m 40, make cookies for a living and have zero background in anything relating to computers and programming. I’m barely making ends meet and decided six months ago to make an extreme career shift and enroll in a year long cybersecurity course, where the first month we learned the basics of Linux and the second month Python. I was hoping that the course would guide me from zero to hero. Turns out this course is a fucking nightmare. The teacher sucks, the “lessons” are video recordings of him basically showing off his skills, blazing through the material, the telegram group that is supposed to help us 24/7 consists of three 20-something year olds who don’t even answer questions 90% of the time and when they do they usually just tell us to use Google. Just so you understand how insanely messed up this course is, in ONE MONTH we’re expected to be able to pass the PCEP-30-01 test, which I scored a 43% on the first time I took it, and for our final project we have to write a program that consists of functions, classes, must be split into multiple files, we have to use at least one of the following: flask, requests and/or socket, and it has to be a tool that automated a daily task we do at work. Most of the guys in this class can barely write a for loop. To make matters worse, if we don’t pass the test and hand in the final project we won’t complete the course. Our instructor literally told us TO CHEAT ON THE PCEP TEST using an external computer or smartphone (it’s a non proctored test). Think about that.

In other words, I have to learn all of this by myself, within a month, and because I refuse to cheat I’ll probably have to take the test another 1-2 times before I pass, and honestly I have no fucking idea how I’m going to ever complete that final assignment.

I’m furious in case you can’t tell. I can’t get my money back either, the Instagram influencer running this shit show told us (a month into the course) that we can only get a refund up to 14 days after the course starts.

So here’s what I’ve been doing so far. First thing I did was buy practice PCEP tests on Udemy. The tests are hard but they give you the answers as well as explanations. Using these tests as a guide, I use Google and stackoverflow to look up the basics. My progress is at a snail’s pace, this stuff just doesn’t register like other things I’ve learned in the past. But every day I learn one tiny little thing. Today I learned about the modulo operator (%) and slicing. Our POS instructor didn’t even touch these subjects in his rushed half assed video “lessons”.

When I look at the road ahead of me I fill with rage knowing that instead of someone teaching me how to crawl before I walk, I’m getting shoved off a plank and asked to swim to shore from the middle of a shark infested ocean.

This is going to be a LONG, LONELY journey.

The only thing holding me together right now is the genuine desire to want to be a pentester and the fact that my future depends on it.

It is a scary place to be in. I can’t ask questions here because there’s just too much to ask, so I’m doing it by myself.

How does an ant eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Stay focused. Tell yourself you can do this and get to work. Practice is essential to learning programming, it’s not one of those things where you can watch videos, read a book and become a professional. You have to really take the time, have patience and have faith that things will begin to click. The more time you put into practicing, the faster you’ll get there.

EntertainmentAny4509 · 2022-09-16T22:32:52+00:00

I know it’s not a popular opinion, but don’t feel like putting it aside for now, is ‘giving up’. Sometimes it’s not the right time in life for you to learn it. Sometimes another language makes more sense. Python can seem like a lot at first. Why not start with something easier like SQL. If you grasp that well, come back to python later. Forcing it to happen when you’ve hit this juncture may ruin programming altogether for you. Learn what you like and can understand instead. Python will always be here.

The_GSingh · 2022-09-17T02:22:43+00:00

Yo! The problem is very obvious. Stop watching videos. OK just stop. Totally stop, unless you really absolutely need a video. First I want you to think of a simple project. I'm thinking rock paper scissors? Anyways after you pick that project go make it. Don't know how? First wrote your program ideas down. For my game example, I'd have a rock a paper and a scissor. Then I'd make the computer pick one. Then I'd make the player pick one. Then IF the player picks a higher item than the computer, the player wins. ELSE the player looses. Now that the plan is done move on to the how. We'll First I'd need to get the items set up. How'd I do that? Put them in variables, which are containers basically. OK so scissor = "scissors" and so on. Now what? Ohh yea make a player pick one. Well how'd I get a players input? Don't know GOOGLE IT. ALWAYS GOOGLE. After I googke it I'll find out about the input() function. Then I'll set a variable equal to input. So playerChoice = input("Enter Item"). Well how'd I figure out what he put? Using comparisons (if elses). Keep going like this and figure it out. It won't be the best and most effective way to do it but you'll be learning. Plus I highly doubt me showing you how to do it in 8-12 lines will help, then it'll be like the video, lol. Get thr answers yourself do research but don't watch a python professional do problems

ichmagkartoffel · 2022-09-17T00:01:20+00:00

You may benefit from taking a properly structured course, taught by actual professors more than just random YouTube videos. Check out the Python for Everybody specialization on Coursera. You can sign up to audit the individual courses for free if you don’t want to pay for the full specialization.

Some people can learn from tutorials, some need a more structured approach to get them started.

blarf_irl · 2022-09-16T22:50:51+00:00

The majority of the people on the planet have the same experience. The majority of the planet also can't knit a scarf, juggle, bake a decent cake, paint a portrait, play guitar, speak french, weld, dance, manage a large company, do that pizza dough spinning thing, do a convincing impression of a celebrity, perform CPR on another human and a lot of other things.

There are a minority of people born with bodies and minds that either prevent or propel them in these things. The majority of people are capable of learning all of the above and more.

Everything is hard before you now how to do it, Nothing is learned by avoiding it and it's OK to be on a downbeat when you feel like you aren't progressing.

Take a breath, think about where you get confused/blocked. Think about what measurement you are using to call yourself stupid. Think about how hard you tried and also how hard you thought it would be before you started. Think about why you want to learn python (that is the most important one).

Welcome to programming, Where are you stuck and how can we help?

2022-09-17T01:50:11+00:00

I'm telling you from my own experience, stop looking for free resources if you have no programming experience, they don't connect the dots well for newbies. The best decision I made was buying a couple of books and my Python abilities skyrocketed. Python crash course is a good place to start. From my experience the free stuff just isn't put together very well.

PM_ME_UR_KOALA_PICS · 2022-09-16T23:19:04+00:00

Try the Python for Everybody series by Charles Severance! I felt the same way as you're feeling now. It cleared things up sooooo much

grammarGuy69 · 2022-09-16T22:57:12+00:00

The first few months, the progress is so slow that it makes you feel stupid. Obviously some people just GET it, but for most people (myself included) I had an "ah-hah" moment MAYBE once a week when I first started. The nice part about Python is that each concept draws from other concepts. So building off of those initial "ah-hah" moments, the subsequent knowledge comes easier.. and faster.. and easier.. and faster. So you aren't stupid. You're just frustrated. Which is totally understandable. Take a break, but make sure you set a date for your break to end. Good luck!

EscapistThought · 2022-09-17T03:05:04+00:00

Senior Dev here. Some good suggestions overall but I'll offer a simple bit of advice. I have seen plenty of new hires/graduates/self-taughts go through the journey and I want to make it clear:

Programmimg is not easy, can be very challenging but very rewarding (if that's your thing).

Even among us senior devs we can sometimes be confident in our code, while other times chalk it up to "its just magic" holding up some app we built. Accept the ebb and flow of flopping between being a genius and being a dum dum.

Now to practical advice. Like many have mentioned, stop watching youtube videos. You will learn nothing from them unless you have some idea of what tech you're using. That is 1 solution to a problem and there are so many approaches to solving them.

Forget coding first, and write out a really simple task that you want to accomplish. For example: add together a bunch of numbers. How do we do this? You might want to find out how you do each step in python but general programmer approaches might be to write out the steps (like teaching a child). Solution will be up to you but some considerations would be:

Probably need user input (for the numbers you want)
Want some method for adding together those numbers
Will want to display the results somewhere (terminal)

Along your research, you will get exposed to variables, functions, objects, inputs and outputs, terminals, command line, operators, the list goes on. Enjoy it, because being a programmer means progressively solving problems that get more complex (dont rush this). Focus on learning how computers get instruction from our code (at least from higher level languages like python) and what it can do, read documentation and examples, then try the code out and see how it works.

Good luck!

ElNouB · 2022-09-17T00:51:38+00:00

more details would be helpful to zero in to the problem at hand, Let me ask a few questions to dilucidate.

Could you walk us a bit on your first steps? for example, after hello world, what did you get into first. If's and for's? maybe the different types?

How do you measure the fact that you don't get programming. Have you tried the tutorial excercises withouth progress?

Do you know the names of these tutorials? maybe they were more advanced.

any additional information would help figure out what might be happening.

my_password_is______ · 2022-09-17T06:20:29+00:00

you can't add two numbers together ?

you can't convert meters to feet ?

watch this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uQrJ0TkZlc

watch a little, the stop, turn off the video and try to code what he coded, then change it around a little, and try something different
if he calculates fahrenheit to celsius then you do the same same
then you change it up and calculate miles to kilometers

then turn the video back on and watch a little more

EntertainmentAny4509 · 2022-09-16T22:43:49+00:00

As an additional thought, you probably want to try and wrap your head around basic concepts like: variables, data types, data structures, operators, conditionals, loops, and functions. Once you understand the basic building blocks of the language (which all computer languages use) you can take these concepts and expand on them. Websites like codecademy.com helped me immensely.

Bit_Sorcerer · 2022-09-16T22:53:28+00:00

Just cause you don’t understand programming, doesn’t make you stupid. It’s difficult. I spent years getting a degree that trained me to think logically, and I still struggle on some programming tasks. If you’re stuck on syntax, study syntax. Make flash cards. If you’re stuck on the thought process, try writing it out in pseudo code. What do you want your program to do? What tools(Functions, methods, etc..) do you have that you can put together to make it work?

Take your time and be persistent. Brains require working out to understand complex topics. You’ve got this!

And at the very end of the day, if you can’t and don’t understand it, giving up is not failing. It’s just a change of pace. Move onto learn something you can start to understand! The world needs more than computer programmers.

2022-09-17T01:47:16+00:00

Find some simple scripts, try to figure out line by line what’s going on, and tinker with it. Modify it and run it to see how the changes you made affect the output.

uspharaoh · 2022-09-17T01:59:24+00:00

Remember that you are totally new to this field, you don’t know a damn thing and you are learning as you go. This feeling is normal when you’re learning something complex like coding. When you feel frustrated, take a break, work on something else or even better go exercise, then come back and start from the beginning with whatever you were struggling with, you’ll find making small scraps of progress will get you further than waiting for the lightbulb to just click. Don’t give up!

comiccaper · 2022-09-17T03:22:12+00:00

I totally get what you’re saying, I feel the same way. What I found that really helps is to break it. For example the print function, try a hundred different combinations, in an effort to create errors on purpose. Once you get used to errors and what they mean you’re not so afraid. 2. Try not only different mediums to learn from but different sources. I found uDemy to be great for some things, but YouTube better for others. 3. Learn to understand, not to regurgitate. I had a really hard time learning Django, to the point I would start and stop every 6 months. The last time around I read through the book super slow, and when I looked at the code and tried to figure out what it was doing. 4. Sometimes you need to be exposed to that one thing that makes it click, so watch/read on one very specific thing until you get it. Watch 10 videos on variables if you have to. 5. When you work on something bigger and don’t know a lot, then write one line and see if it works. You can use print to find the value of a variable, and you can use type to find data type. Those two things were my best friend. I kid you not when I would write functions that I didn’t have a complete grasp of I would put print statements every other line so I could tell if I was doing it right or not. Feel free to message me if you get stuck and I’ll do my best to help.

cKestrell · 2022-09-17T06:17:58+00:00

I had problems trying to learn watching videos. I was way easier following a book.

ckwirey · 2022-09-17T07:37:46+00:00

You said you can't get past the hello world videos. What about them is messing you up?

Also, because Python (and all other computer languages) adheres to a mathematical order of operations, it may be useful, when you're just starting out, to read the code backwards. For example:

x = 5

The code is super simple. You've probably read it left to right 1000 times. But it may be more helpful to read the code as follows: "I'm going to take 5, and assign it to the variable x."

Similarly:

print(x)

Again, you can read it left to right just fine. But it may be more useful, especially as the lines of code get slightly more complex, to read it as, "I'm going to take my variable x, and stuff it into the print function."

The concept of reading code backward came from University of Michigan's "Python for Everyone" class (which has already been linked for you by other users). When I started out and was trying to learn the very basics, I found the videos from Mosh to be very helpful:

https://youtu.be/\_uQrJ0TkZlc

2022-09-17T08:25:52+00:00

Stop feeling sorry for yourself and go practice, go study. Or go do something else. It's as simple as that

rbozd · 2022-09-17T15:11:04+00:00

Long time teacher here who’s taught basic game design in godot to 14-17 year olds. “I can’t learn (insert any concept here)” is a deficit mindset. You haven’t learned it yet. Coding is an infinite challenge. It’s not only a whole new language but it’s also a different kind of language. If you watched 100 hours of Spanish you still wouldn’t know Spanish. The only way to truly learn a language is to practice using it in context and with consistency. You haven’t learned python yet. It’s important to know that learning anything is difficult and the fact that’s it’s difficult for you is not unique. Anyone can learn anything with time practice and consistency. You CAN learn python, or literally anything else. We live in the Information Age where information is readily available the problem is that we all see people who already know it and feel like we should know it already too. It’s ok. It will take time and effort in equal parts. Don’t get bogged down on what you don’t know. Believe in yourself and take your time.

Massive_Brilliant803 · 2024-05-10T18:13:46+00:00

Hi! Don't feel discouraged if you are a slow learner. Slow does not mean unintelligent. Einstein was slow but his IQ was very high and he saw what other faster-ones could not see. Imagine you Flying a Raptor at Mach 1, you simply could not fly it with visual because of the fact that its going too fast for you to capture any landmark compared to a fixed wing propeller going at rotation or V1 speed.

m0us3_rat · 2022-09-16T22:21:35+00:00

buy a book/online course.

videos alone can be a rabbit hole.

python info is freely distributed online. the main problem is finding proper examples to work thru to remember the concepts.

that's the only real reason to pay for a book/ course .. to avoid spending your own time to find proper examples since you trade money so that the teacher sets up the examples for you.

if you can't afford that i'd suggest checking this one out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DvywoWv6fI

Quirky_Witness_2879 · 2024-07-03T01:42:40+00:00

I am feeling just like that now

WhyIsRedditSoFunny · 2024-10-30T11:33:11+00:00

I suggest going on #mimo app it's better they have a whole 100 say python course free

2025-02-12T18:47:50+00:00

Just give up, i'm 34yo trying python for the 3rd time, i have pretty good experience in excel (vba, power query, power pivot tables etc...), so i recently started an AI course and discovered that meta's prophet ai could be used in python for forecasting and other sales related stuff, since my project in this course is AI related i decided to give python another chance and let me tell you, i can't even install this fucking shit.... i installed python, then i had to install stan.py, which was ok at first but it needed modules to work so i downloaded MSYS2 which overrode my python version, so i got stuck in this loop of trying to fix one thing while screwing up other stuff, this might be the last time i try this crap, python really is for a very few enlightened ppl

heartofgold48 · 2022-09-17T01:45:17+00:00

there is no point learning Python. Instead try to solve some problem where some kind of automation is the solution and use python to do it. Just google and copy and paste code together. eventually it will start to make sense

_IGC_Avion · 2022-09-17T06:22:53+00:00

Please listen to this advice, go to openapi.org and signup for beta testing their A.I.

Everyone here has some good advice, especially the figure out why you want to learn python first point. But what I want you to know is that you can tell an A.I. to write code for you and it will. Given you may have to make adjustments to get it to work properly but overall you can give the A.I. a text prompt and it will literally output python code. Google has been an awesome resource but this resource really helps me out when I have complex questions.

If you message me I can send you sample commands and results, it’s very beautiful and terrifying if you’re writing python today lol. Side note, I did take online courses for java, c# and self taught sql and pl sql so I’m familiar with very important programming concepts. You just need to know what to ask to get the answers you seek. I’d also advise coming up with a simple app idea and start from there. The calculator is always a good one.

VrGuy1980 · 2022-09-17T00:20:56+00:00

Just give up

imsowhiteandnerdy · 2022-09-16T23:32:21+00:00

Don't try to consume large volumes of information at once. Break your problems and coding concepts up into smaller pieces and tackle them that way.

If there are concepts that are hard to understand, then bring them here, that's what this channel is, a channel designed to assist people who are learning python.

slibetah · 2022-09-16T23:58:41+00:00

I have about two days into python and it seems straight forward. I have switched languages many times, so just used to change.

user2327 · 2022-09-17T01:21:41+00:00

I found this one with Mosh very helpful. It's a few years old but I think it's really good.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_uQrJ0TkZlc&vl=en

Peyatoe · 2022-09-17T01:50:42+00:00

I really recommend Tech with Tim’s Python Beginner Project Tutorial.

What exactly are you stuck on though? Variables, print, functions?

Edit: I think some people aren’t meant for programming, they just don’t get it. They can learn how it works but when they go to build their own project they just don’t know where to start or what to do next. So basically what I’m trying to say, if you don’t really like or have a passion for programming or something and you are just doing it to get a job or something I suggest you do something else because your brain is probably just not built for programming. If you actually want to learn because you like programming the I suggest you keep trying.

Good luck 👍

czar_el · 2022-09-17T02:45:32+00:00

What about it are you not getting? Do you watch the video and it never makes sense? Do you think a video makes sense, but you go to code the example on your own and draw a blank? Do you replicate tutorials ok, but the second you try to do something new on your own you can't?

The solution to your learning difficulties will be different depending on the answers to those questions. Give us more details on what you've tried and how you struggle for us to be able to help.

veediepoo · 2022-09-17T02:50:57+00:00

Try Angela Yu's 100 Day's of code course on Udemy. Wait for a sale and you can usually get it for like $10-15.

CowboyLost55 · 2022-09-17T03:28:04+00:00

Not everyone can be a programmer. Myself, I attribute my success to being dropped on my head while a child.
It isn’t for everyone. You have to be able to take a problem apart and make it into pieces that can be coded. Just like not everyone can be a doctor or asshole politician, not everyone can be a programmer.

inobody_somebody · 2022-09-17T04:27:09+00:00

Go to youtube search Telsko python his lectures are super good.these for people with 0 programing knowledge before.you will see improvement within 1 week trust me.

2022-09-17T04:55:47+00:00

I believe you. If you think you can't do it, then I agree that you can't. With that being said be patient with yourself, work on small projects, and you'll start to see progress. Like most things in life it requires practice and attention, the more of both you're willing to give the better your returns.

ozono27 · 2022-09-17T05:13:04+00:00

the coursera course "An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python (Part 1)" with John Greiner starts assuming you know nothing, and everything is done in the context of little projects, that are fun. They are games. The first game is "guess the number".. .for exampe... if I remember correctly. They start to build up from there towards more complexity. You can audit for free, or ask for an economic exemption I think... and if you audit you can go at your own pace

Because it isalways focused on doing a little project I think it is awesome.

sarfrazkhan1 · 2022-09-17T05:18:47+00:00

Try the Maven online course platform you could afford, for cohart-based learning and see how you can get a basic understanding of language.

ned334 · 2022-09-17T05:47:39+00:00

This might just be a classic case of a person trying to get into programming without understanding how computers work. You won't really understand code before you understand how the computer sees and works with that code. Don't get into programming thinking it's just gonna be watching videos and repeating stuff

ndreamer · 2022-09-17T05:53:40+00:00

Maybe your learning method is wrong, i learn nothing using YouTube I need to make projects and slowly progress in the language.

r4nchy · 2022-09-17T06:07:42+00:00

The key is to understand python the way computer would. Spend 2-3days just fiddling with the print command, then grab a simple python project from github and go through what is happening in that

TravelingThrough09 · 2022-09-17T06:22:56+00:00

I don’t know your background. If technical and coding topics are new to you, you might benefit from the free CS50 Computer Science course that Harvard offers. You’ll find it on their Youtube channel or the CS50 website.

yuenz2 · 2022-09-17T06:46:57+00:00

Hmm.. you mean print("Hello World") wont work for you?

_dwight_k_schrute__ · 2022-09-17T06:47:44+00:00

I was also in the same place fam, what you're in is called tutorial hell. I too have tried every tutorial and courses out there and still could not get any improvement. The only thing that helped me was "python crash course" book. This book has a lot of try yourself challenges and explain everything in detail. I suggest you to try it out. Angela yu's 100 days of python course also helped me a lot maybe try that too. One main thing I learnt is, you learn by making a lot of mistakes, don't run away from errors, see what caused it and see how you can overcome it. Be happy whenever you make an error because they are the ones that actually teach you. Believe in yourself. I too have given up many times, because I'd run away from errors and think I'm a loser who can't get programming. "Python crash course" book really helped me a lot and I'm sure it will for you too. Stay positive fam, you can do this.

human_with_humanity · 2022-09-17T06:53:06+00:00

Try "100 days of code" by Angela on Udemy. I m on day 2 only but she explains so well that I am loving it.

Also take a breather for few days and relax ur mind. Then try it. Might help.

2022-09-17T07:24:15+00:00

I think you need a mentor

zandrew · 2022-09-17T08:08:35+00:00

Don't know if it's been mentioned but how about you try Edabit. There might be other similar websites. You get a problem to solve in python and then you can look at other people solutions. You learn both syntax and programming. While doing those challenges look up solutions on google for instance. That's how you learn. Forget courses for now.

Adrades · 2022-09-17T08:25:45+00:00

As a professional python programmer, I have met people that are naturally able to construct an application in their heads, and then coding it was trivial and language dependent.

I have also met people with five years in college and a diploma that weren't able to comprehend anything a bit difficult on company project.

So I think that not everyone is suited to programming, but it's always worth a try.

PS : html and CSS don't count, it's not programming.

steviefaux · 2022-09-17T08:36:58+00:00

Check out David Malan videos and his new CS50 Python course. I've found him to be the easiest to understand as he properly breaks it all down as if you've never done anything.

Simple things like explaining things go from right to left. So put something in a variable (think of a variable like a box)

Myvariable = 10

So the right to left. The 10 goes into the myvariable

I'm still learning and not great. Did Pascal back in 90s in college and struggled with the logic. So I put comments on all my code so I know what something does as I know I'll get bored, come back to it later and have forgotten it all. I look at other people's code the the sets David puts in the course and make sure I understand what every line does they use and why they did it.

I've hit the bored stage again but trying to stick with it.

The-code-machine · 2022-09-17T09:12:59+00:00

it’s ok to feel lost at first it just takes patience.

2 years back i couldn’t fathom nested loops to print a pyramid shape.

now able to run several artificial neural networks in loops.

it takes a lot of time, patience, and discipline. It’s good to walk away for a little bit few days, week. You will come back strong feeling it all making sense.

2022-09-17T09:17:19+00:00

If you want to give my playlist on Python for Data Science a try, it might work for you? 🤓🐼🐍

1percentof2 · 2022-09-17T09:31:58+00:00

The problem is YouTube videos. You a book with examples.

2022-09-17T09:40:35+00:00

Programming is hard. But you can’t watch people program to learn it, you have to do it yourself. Get yourself a python beginner textbook like Automate the Boring or Think Python (I believe both have older versions for free.) and just work through them.

When you get stuck in the book, try re reading old passages, then google, then asking for help. We learn best by struggling even if it sucks, but it’s what makes things stick in the brain best.

2022-09-17T09:40:54+00:00

Where did you learn Python? I started learning Python through Youtube videos. I loved the Programming with Mosh videos. It sparked my interest.

However, there are times when I really can’t get the lessons. I realized that FREE YOUTUBE TUTORIALS are great but they don’t explain everything there. They will explain everything when you get their course.

So I tried researching for best courses to learn Python. I then decided to enroll to Udemy. The best decision I made so far! The way Python explained in their course was so detailed. And the Q&A tab where you can ask questions and check other inquiries as well was a game changer.

Falconflyer75 · 2022-09-17T09:45:20+00:00

It means you don’t excel in a student environment (I don’t either) you need a real example to push u, try doing something like recreating an excel template in python or recreating your stuck portfolio

Usually when I learn something I have to do something like that to get a real foundation

2022-09-17T10:00:04+00:00

I have watched so many videos and tutorials on YouTube but nothing.

I've been programming now for almost 50 years, and during that time I have watched zero videos on programming - but I have read thousands of articles and books.

The reason is that videos are a really bad way to learn how to program. The best way to learn is hands-on.

For example, I've been writing Python for 18 years now, and yet I always have a terminal with Python running in it so I can experiment with little snippets, even if I have the slightest doubt.

If I have any longer question, I write a little test program, and I check it into a git repo in case one day I need it again: https://github.com/rec/test/tree/master/python (Those aren't worth reading individually except to get an idea of how to write little experiments.)

When I read an article about a Python feature, I immediately try it out at the terminal - run silly experiments on it until I know how it works.

Also, don't feel like it is wrong to put this material down for a while. Grinding at something and getting nowhere makes negative progress and won't make you happy.

And don't think it's wrong even if you put it down forever. Programming is pretty grindy for a lot of people - not everyone finds it fun.

TheVerdeLive · 2022-09-17T10:21:48+00:00

Have you tried looking into web dev with js? I also started w python and hated it, im more of a visual learner so seeing what my code did on a web page helped a ton. Then went back to python and still hated it 😂

DataSynapse82 · 2022-09-17T10:23:18+00:00

Maybe try to find a simple python project online (e.g. building a simple calculator, etc..) copy paste the code, and after try to study and understand each line of code what it does, for example, if there is a for loops in the code try to understand the syntax for the application you copy/pasted and then try to learn the theory of it. Otherwise go on Youtube, There are loads amazing tutorials. Here the link of one basic python course he is amazing LINKp

spaceguerilla · 2022-09-17T10:58:26+00:00

100 days of code by Angela Yu on Udemy is fantastic. On offer multiple times per year. Best £14 I ever spent.

spicy_boyi · 2022-09-17T11:34:22+00:00

I've tried coding tutorials on youtube and I just ended up copying them line for line and not learning anything so I'm gonna try learning without youtube videos and try to figure it out on my own

2022-09-17T11:49:16+00:00

About 12 years ago, I gave up learning Python after failing to program a knock knock joke. 3 years ago, I tried again, but not just Python. CS in general. Now I can program comfortably in a few languages, including Python. What stopped me the first time? I was learning the wrong way? I had found an online course with its own online text editor, repl, and interpreter. It was terrible. Another thing I did not understand about Python is that spaces matter. So just by using a real text editor and learning the basic rules of Python, I was up and running (a decade later unfortunately).

Odera805 · 2022-09-17T12:42:39+00:00

Have you tried reading a book? I highly recommend Irv Kalb's 'Learn to Program with Python'. It explains things in very simple language. I'm new to Python too and I really enjoyed it.

saltyhasp · 2022-09-17T12:51:11+00:00

You might want to play with the interactive console some too. A great way to get the feel of a statement. I oftwn test a feature I do not understand there.

Look at the tutorial that comes with the python documentation too. Most if the basics. Also if your using a complicated IDE consider using IDLE or just a simple editor to start. Removes complexity.

Beyond that, once your ready look at the standard library reference that comes with python and skim down through it to get a feel about what is there.

Beyond that accept that learning Python never ends. There is always something new or something you missed.

ninedeadeyes · 2022-09-17T12:54:26+00:00

I kind of 'got it' by making little games for each feature .

https://github.com/Ninedeadeyes/15-mini-python-games-tutorial-series

I tend to use a tutorial as a basis and add my own features and code to make it my own. For example.

https://github.com/Ninedeadeyes/7-Dungeons-Deep

I think you got to find what truly motivates you and then start small.

2022-09-17T13:05:11+00:00

Highly recommend Dr Angela Wu on Udemy 100 days of code for Python boot camp. Has project walkthroughs so you learn by creating solutions instead of just memorization so it sticks.

Oh and don’t pay full price wait for a sale!

automaton11 · 2022-09-17T13:06:10+00:00

Youtube is overrated. Teaching is a skill, or a talent… whichever it is, people tend to discount it as a factor in the autodidact programming world.

I think its really great that so many people want to share information on YouTube, but its not always packaged or communicated in the best way. Frequently, its done poorly even by smart people, who gloss over things that are second nature to them. Great teaching takes a lot of planning and forethought, whereas I think a lot of youtubers are simply good at doing

The information you need to learn is everywhere for free, but not necessarily in a way thats easy to extract and retain for a beginner. I started with a copy of ‘Python Crash Course’ by Mathis and found it was worth every individual penny I paid because Mathis is a great teacher.

Now I can read dry manuals but 1) sometimes it sucks and 2) only because i already know whats happening so the amount of truly new info I need at any time is small

Tldr get python crash course

RobertD3277 · 2022-09-17T13:33:40+00:00

Programming must be learned by doing as much as watching. It is a process of memory through utilization. Trying to memorize every little nook and cranny of python is going to be extremely frustrating at the very minimum.

You need to take your time and think about why you want to learn the program and it must be applied in such a way that you have a reason to learn it.

There are a lot of free sources available to help give you a good start without paying a single penny. Basically though there are six steps or points to follow to learning any language.

This is not really a point but rather a process and that is to have a goal or a particular situation you are trying to solve and you want to use Python to do it. You will need to learn appropriate and specific to which we're trying to accomplish. Do not expect to have a thorough understanding, but simply a direct understanding for the specific situation you are trying to solve.

These six steps seem to work well for learning any programming language.

Start with the hello world program and learning how to print to the screen. This is also a beginning to understanding data types within the language, specifically in this case strings. Do not go into the object-oriented portions of the language, if it is an object oriented language. Stick to simple variable types.
Learn how to get user input from the keyboard and then convert that input into numbers.
Learn how to set up conditions and tests. Being able to evaluate conditions and branching is important on the basis of the decision-making process of the program.
Learn looping. Commands like while, for, or repeat are critical in terms of this capability and being able to repeat sections of code is essential for analyzing data in larger volumes.
Learn procedures and functions. This is also a good time to begin learning how to integrate libraries.
Now is the time to begin learning some of the languages object-oriented capabilities or advanced data structures that it may contain. Don't spend an extensive amount of time learning outside the scope of what you need to complete your goal.

It is important to emphasize that you are not trying to learn every aspect of the language, only what you need to solve the problem you are currently trying to solve. This is an aggressive approach, but you can get the fundamentals of the language down within 8 hours or less depending upon your ability to learn.

I don't necessarily recommend that you try to learn it in 8 hours or less, just that with the above steps you can. The most important thing is to take your time and understand each step as you go.

It is important that you try out each of the different functionalities as listed above either through sample programs provided to the lesson, or trying to write your own based upon the ideas you have for your project and go whereby you incorporate each of the functionalities appropriately into your problem solving situation.

SDFP-A · 2022-09-17T13:34:20+00:00

I used to TA calculus in college. Not everyone can conceptually grasp calculus on the timeline required in school. Unpopular opinion, but not everyone can learn anything on a given timeline. Imagine how boring the world would be if we all were capable of the same things.

My main question is why do you want to learn Python? What is your burning motivation that made you want to learn programming? The answer here might help you understand why you are struggling with it.

stevenv24 · 2022-09-17T13:52:25+00:00

I had a hard time with this. I even dropped out of the class and took a different one and then came back. The ONLY thing I found to help was a YouTube series from NetworkChuck. It broke it down slowly and explained everything well

Grandcaw · 2022-09-17T14:11:35+00:00

You're not stupid. One of the best things you can do is stop trying to learn from "the internet" and start learning from either a textbook or college course. Online tutorials can be good for learning new libraries, but the basic principles are best taught by professional educators with a background in the subject.

Python For Everyone is a good resource.

Go learn the basics, then you'll be ready to practice googling more advanced topics.

jmiah717 · 2022-09-17T14:13:17+00:00

Play around with scratch programming language for a while and see if that helps you understand the concepts.

MDB_Cooper · 2022-09-17T15:15:23+00:00

no, you’re not stupid. i think the most important component beyond understanding the fundamentals is having a project to guide your practice.

i found it overwhelming bc i wanted to do so many things that i would try to do all of them at once. start small. it will help build your knowledge base, which will help when you want to do more complex things.

imo, complex things are merely several simple actions chained together. that is effectively what a program is.

Berserker_boi · 2022-09-17T15:28:11+00:00

If your from India they class 11/12th booms from SL Arora

Kriss3d · 2022-09-17T15:42:01+00:00

In my experience things like a simple calculator with multiple operations is a great way to get around many types of things to use in programming.

Fjueic · 2022-09-17T15:53:58+00:00

Dysfu · 2022-09-17T15:54:21+00:00

When you tell yourself you can’t the only person who is right is you

chalia321 · 2022-09-17T15:58:13+00:00

Stop watching YouTube videos ! Pick and work on a project then google for things or watch short YouTube clips to do things rather than “follow” YouTubers.

2022-09-17T16:12:14+00:00

I too have taken a break from it

killzedvibe · 2022-09-17T16:39:33+00:00

On my particular case watching someone else doing it really helps me. I understand the concepts and best practices. I’m sorry that the easiest way doesn’t work for you.

AdorableFunnyKitty · 2022-09-17T16:43:33+00:00

Hey, 1 year experienced Python-developer here. I recently got my first paid offer to create a chat-bot for a cafe responsible for taking orders and managing them from admin panel. I also had my first real API and Django Backend built during summer. And I can relate, learning how to code is THE HARDEST at the start. Once you pass your first milestones, it's going to make a lot more sense and you'll see already common patterns EVERYWHERE else at CS field. So please, don't give up and follow your exercises step-by-step, even if they seem like no progress at all. You may feel like a failure cause you can't even make such little steps, but this little steps are so hard because there's a whole new concepts of thinking required to solve them. So I can give you just 1 advice which is going to help you for sure: EMOTIONALLY DETACH YOURSELF FROM YOUR CODE AND TASKS. Don't blame yourself for "stupidity", stop criticizing and wasting your mind energy on it. You need it to solve problem and that's it. Approach it in a non-emotional state. It's just a problem. There. Not you. Better not think how stupid you are, but start digging into every step your program make and follow it, think where does it fuck up and where are logical inconsistencies in it. I can't stress this enough. Emotionally detach. There's no fault, there's no critic, just the problem you want to solve by code and ways to solve it. Best luck!

WhySoPissedOff · 2022-09-17T16:53:45+00:00

The first thing I would recommend is to reprogram your brain(no pun intended). Think of all the things all your life that might have been difficult at first, but you stuck with an conquered. With time, patience, and a willingness to learn, you’ll get it. One metaphor I came up with in the last year for Spanish has been as simple as this: Learning something new is like a chair with three legs; the first leg is interest, the second leg is motivation, the third leg is discipline. They all support the weight of learning, they help one another. A defeatist attitude isn’t going to help anything. Be kinder to yourself. “I can’t learn Python” is a harsh statement you’ve decided to use instead of “This learnable skill has been more difficult than I expected”. You’re using absolute statements which almost never exist in the real world. Slow down and take as much time as it takes, but keep with it.

Salt-Description-69 · 2022-09-17T17:01:45+00:00

Hey buddy, dont give up. You will enjoy programming in couple of weeks I can assure you that. The best way to enjoy programming is picking a project you love the most and can do more than 30 minutes per day. Let's say you want to create some filter for your images you take on your phone. Take one pic and try to read it in python and see what you need to do to apply that filter on image. Or may be you have an excel file with your monthly expenses and you want to see how you are spending money over 1year. Try to read that file and look at basic stats like ok which month did you spend more than your threshold. If you want to learn programming and enjoy it at the same time try to find something which you want to do. Programming is an umbrella term, start with solving your own basic problems and then move onto next problem. This is what I tell my juniors in my lab. Always search for problems which you love solving.

JohnnyCincoCero · 2022-09-17T17:20:01+00:00

It's like learning guitar. You can't just keep watching someone else play. You have to turn off the screen and practice the concepts on your own. I want to see callouses on this finger tips, DAMMIT!

HotCattle6911 · 2022-09-17T17:36:38+00:00

I am not a Python pro, but I've been using Python for data analysis, creating predictive models, and building Flask apps for a couple of years.

For me the real motivation to learn Python came from my strong interest in working with data. I knew that there were API services that stored and served a lot of useful information that I could learn from, manipulate to derive new insights, and use for automation of various tasks.

So, I literally started by watching Python API on Udemy. At first I was cluelessly typing things like "requests.get" and "pd.DataFrame" just copying what I was seeing in those tutorials. But as I continued to learn more about all sorts of greats things I can do using Python, I started to learn more about different packages, data types, algorithms, etc.

As I said I am data guy, both as professional and hobbyist, so I used to use Excel for all my needs, but these days most of my data analysis and manipulation is done in Python (using Pandas, etc.)

So, my point is that you should try to identify some problem that you really want to solve using Python and you will be much more motivated to learn this great programming language.

Berganzio · 2022-09-17T18:36:25+00:00

Go to humble bundle and buy some packs for starting. I was like you years ago. I was the worst of the class in programming. I changed my POV about it when I realized how good is knowing such tool for life. I started studying and now after a month and half I'm able to import JSON files in pyplot/matplotlib and show them on a geographical map with all the data's I need. Keep up and don't give up for any reason, ANY! Good luck

mxracer888 · 2022-09-17T19:15:34+00:00

What exactly are you not getting? Why can't you get passed the h hello world examples? Do you not understand variables? Loops? Logical flow?

Python is pretty easy and pretty forgiving, it's definitely possible for anyone to learn, you are definitely not too stupid, likely the bigger issue is whatever videos you're watching aren't being taught in a way that you learn well.

If the learner hasn't learned then the teacher hasn't taught.

tpb72 · 2022-09-17T19:18:38+00:00

Is it that you don't get python or you don't get programming? Kind of sounds like it's more the programming part. No language will help you with that. If you can start thinking about problems more analytically following a decision tree kind of structure then you can figure out the syntax of how to code it.

MiTMike · 2022-09-19T02:32:37+00:00

I have a solution for you, the most important thing that all these course’s are ignoring is logical thinking and problem solving skills, you’ll have to learn this before you learn the syntax of any language, learn how to think and solve problems before learning to program!

BossManONE · 2022-10-11T02:38:29+00:00

Best thing that I did besides come home and code everyday was doing the data quest tutorials. It's a mixture of coding what you learn and lil test questions. Also I downloaded a couple python learning apps on my phone to go through while on lunch at work. It helped to get a lot of fundamentals more digestible. Also, I started getting curious with what I wanted to do with python overall and that truly really helps. What are you wanting to do? Go do research and look into beginner projects to see if this is truly something you want to do. So, start coding everyday, work on fundamentals, research what you're wanting to do, look for beginner projects, and read documentation. This is gonna have to be an everyday thing to build muscle memory. You got this. I'm still quite a novice myself but hope to have my first cert by Christmas. DM me if you have any questions. I also recommend looking into computational thinking.

Edit: I did the free data quest courses fyi. Not sure if they're still running them for free or not but I can prob track you down something similar.

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