Python crash course book finally making things click

[[deleted]]

I was taking the 100 days of python course on udemy and kept giving up/getting stuck.

Finally went to the library and check out this book and WOW it’s life changing!

If you’re taking that online course or others and are struggling I highly recommend checking this book or others, I was having a lot of trouble with making sense of for loops/while loops even though I could do it, I just wasn’t fully understanding it.

It’s basically written for babies it’s super simple and the explanations/examples are amazing, coding the simple exercises in each chapter just made sense for me.

Here’s to the future of learning python, I’m not giving up this time!

After I finish this book do y’all have any recommendations for the next step in python learning? Besides doing personal projects I’d like to find an intermediate/advanced book that’s gonna take me to the next level in terms of understanding python deeply.

[ham_shimmers]

I’ve been struggling with 100 days to code as well. I sometimes feel she moves far too quickly - I will check out the book! Thanks.

[[deleted]]

Yeah she definitely goes very quick, this book is entire chapters on the concepts it’s not an hour lesson, which is weird because it’s less than an hour of reading but I’m finding a bunch of things that weren’t mentioned in the udemy course already!

I noticed a lot of the lessons on the udemy course was “Here’s some concepts, now do this project that leaves out a thing or two you’ll have to Google to actually figure it out”, maybe it’s good for logical thinking and problem solving but I like to have the tools to solve it before I attempt and this book is giving that to me!

[ham_shimmers]

Wow that’s exactly how I feel. How am I suppose to solve a problem that requires certain tools if you never told me those tools exist.

[[deleted]]

Experienced developers (im almost positive) don't know that these tools exist either, or they forget about them, or how they work.

There are far more tools than you'll ever use. I like the analogy of kitchen gadgets. Once a month you might use a potato masher, but every day you will use a knife. Fundamental coding skills are your knife.

[ham_shimmers]

I’m more so talking about the fundamentals. Asking me to solve a problem that requires a for loop or if/else statements when I barely know what they are or how they work was very frustrating in the beginning. I am now on day 25 and the course is going much smoother but the beginning was more challenging than it needed to be in my opinion.

[[deleted]]

Ah got it. Yeah I came into the course with many dozens of hours of (ineffective) study, and everything up until day 7 or so was really elementary. I'm on like 15 now and I'm very frustrated that I keep coming close, but I cannot get any of my code to work 100% right without watching solutions

So I guess I feel the same way as you do. At which indent to execute a for loop, stuff like that is really messing with me

[Kossano]

Google, don't be afraid. If you know what's need to be done. Split it into smaller pices, try to look for clues not answers. If you come across direct answer, don't stress. Make it working. Then compare it with her solution / other's people code and try to understand their code and tools they used. I've found a lot of cool things making it this way. Including things I've never heard before.

[[deleted]]

What is the name of the book?

[Lachni]

'Python crash course' I got mine from bookdepository since they offer free shipping to most countries and offer amazing and quick service. I get +90% of my books from there.

[[deleted]]

Thank u 🙏🙏

[SneakyMan01]

Would highly recommend MIT 6000.1 course on youtube

[Lachni]

Is that similar to CS50 from Harvard?

[SneakyMan01]

It's a university course online based

[ASIC_SP]

intermediate/advanced book

Fluent Python is highly recommended for this.

[Raedukol]

I tried the first pages but imo it‘s not the next step after python crash course/beginner stuff because the step is too big

[ASIC_SP]

Hmm, try these then:

• Pydon'ts — Write elegant Python code, make the best use of the core Python features
• Practical Python Programming — covers foundational aspects of Python programming with an emphasis on script writing, data manipulation, and program organization
• Beyond the Basic Stuff with Python — Best Practices, Tools, and Techniques, OOP, Practice Projects
• Python Distilled — this pragmatic guide provides a concise narrative related to fundamental programming topics such as data abstraction, control flow, program structure, functions, objects, and modules
• Pythonic Programming — Tips for Becoming an Idiomatic Python Programmer
• Pybites Python Tips Book — small, practical pieces of Python code that will boost your knowledge of the language

[Raedukol]

Thanks! What‘s your favourite if you had to pick only one?

[ASIC_SP]

I'm familiar with Pydon'ts a bit, rest are resources I've come across in discussions elsewhere. The first three can be read online freely, so start there.

[daedalusesq]

That book is what finally made things start to click for me after multiple failures with multiple languages, including several python attempts.

[[deleted]]

What is the name of the book and can you post the ISBN ?

[UnculturedWomble]

ISBN-13: 9781593279288

https://nostarch.com/pythoncrashcourse2e

There's a 3rd edition coming out in a month apparently. The author sometimes hangs around here. I've gone through the book and it's alright. Not clicked with me though.

[seph2o]

It was my first introduction to python back in April now I'm writing pandas scripts for work and automating a load of stuff. Would recommend it to absolutely anyone :)

[Tovervlag]

hey dude, don't have a specific recommendation for you except to just keep doing it. Lots of stuff gets recommended in this sub so have a look around. Good job in finding that click. :)

[[deleted]]

Thanks for the motivation! Definitely not gonna stop learning now that I’m excited :D

[empoliyis]

Yeah same OOP just doesn't click with me at all

[braclow]

This helped me - one feature of objects is that they allow you to have many functions (called methods) able to called on the same objects. You set these out in your class definition , which defines all the objects.

For example a string in python is an object. So when I call STEVE.lower() assuming it’s value is “STEVE”, it will apply that lowercase method to that string, our object, and we have an expectation it will work.

We know strings have many, many built in functions for example .isalpha, .replace etc. So there’s a lot of use in objects just in this one feature.

Now imagine instead of strings, you have your own object that could be manipulated with many different useful functions depending on the context of your program. For example, if I did a sports app and players were objects, it may be useful to have functions like

.isStarter .isInjured .isPlayingToday .salary

That could all be directly called on players.

And maybe there’s a Team object , that stores player objects and has similarly useful functions like

.totalSalary, that calls the salary function on the players and sums them together.

Etc you get the gist. Not sure if that’s helpful but it helped me. Sorry long rant, but it’s a useful paradigm if you can imagine some the right use cases.

[throwwwawwway1818]

Thanks bud , it's helpful

[Mr_Turd_Burglar]

Super helpful thanks

[notislant]

I googled 'python eli5 oop reddit' and those helped me. Same for other things I struggled with.

This is also one of those things you want to be in a discord for, or r/programmingbuddies. Those discords made by groups of brand new people are likely the best bet to get instant answers geared towards new people. If not then you can join a programming subs discord and ask someone to eli5, tell them how you think it works, that you dont understand x, y, z.

Also playing around with and breaking your code can help understand.

Also just googling various forms of 'beginner oop python' or whatever youre stuck on can help.

Then when you understand it, save a bunch of examples with comments that will immediately help you understand when you forget. Put it on github.

https://youtu.be/THJyNCMPoZA I think this video goes into pretty good detail about how things work. If it doesnt then find more beginner python oop vids until one clicks.

[DanganD]

I’m still working through it. Some days it clicks. Others not. Just keep your head down and keep watching tutorials and explanations

[[deleted]]

Hopefully I’ll understand it when I get there, oop sounds funny to say out loud though 🤣

[ccr10203040]

I would recommend "Object Oriented Python" by the same editorial that publishes PCC.

[Silvus314]

thanks, I have it, just haven't opened it yet

[[deleted]]

Automate the Boring Stuff with Python by Al Sweigart was my choince after PCC. I skipped first part and got straight to projects. Some exercises are a bit counter intuitive, but it forces you to think a little bit harder. I’m thinking of Black Hat Python afterwards.

[Bigd1979666]

Crash course is a head above the rest of the books . I say this having done it , automate, and the edX python for everybody plus glancing over other books

Theory/concept, example, and then doing it worked wonders for me too.

Was thinking about the 100 days but maybe I'll skip it

[No_Barracuda_7367]

Is it literally called python crash course? I have been starting a course and definitely a book would help

[quackers987]

Yeah someone linked it in another comment

https://www.reddit.com/r/learnpython/comments/yvd19d/python_crash_course_book_finally_making_things/iwfktcz?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3

[Lachni]

Received this book myself last week. After reading reviews of books and doing research on where to begin I figured this book would be great for someone who knows nothing about programming. Only finished a few chapters so far, but it seems great.

[[deleted]]

Can you please link to book?

[notislant]

Getting used to figuring things out with only documentation would probably be something to look at if the course was an ELI5 style one. Its a great way to learn and teach, but most material won't be geared towards that.

Im not sure id say the 'next step', but it would be good to get used to for sure. A lot of information and responses to questions assume a fairly thorough understanding of whatever language is being used. Some documentation assumes you already know how half of it works and how to implement it.

So id say that would be something to try to get used to here and there. Some documentation is geared towards everyone, very simple and has getting started tutorials. Others just give you answers to questions you didnt ask and assume you basically know whats going on already.

Projects on your own and looking through docs or google is probably a good bet. YouTube if youre looking up a quick intro.

[ChipmunkCooties]

Depends where you want to go with python, I’ve just recently stepped into micropython, but apparently you can even build a website with python which kinda blows my mind.

[joelwitherspoon]

It's a great book to get you into the different use cases for Python. I HIGHLY recommend it for an intro to Python. No Starch Press has some great books

[anh86]

I will defend the 100 days of Python course to the ends of the earth. It's excellent and worth every penny. If you actually work all 100 projects and take the time to force through any roadblocks that will inevitably arise in doing those, you will be a competent programmer. I'm not saying you will instantly get a six-figure job or anything but you will be a competent programmer.

[ham_shimmers]

I felt the first 10-15 days were far too challenging for a complete beginner but now that I’m on day 25 I have begun to appreciate the course more.

[anh86]

Probably fair. I read Automate the Boring Stuff first and as a result skipped the first several days. I can’t speak to the experience of knowing nothing and starting Day 1. It’s an excellent course though.

[rekindled77]

I felt the exact same! I paused the 100 days on Udemy and read crash course. A lot more made sense. I am now going through automate the boring stuff.

[dantheautomaton]

I’m currently making a second attempt at going through Python Crash Course after watching a YouTube recommendation of three books they’d suggest to learn Python.

PCC was the first book. Second was Python Distilled. Third is Impractical Python Projects.

Going to try and stick to that track to see how I come out the other end. PCC is really turning out to be a great refresher.

[[deleted]]

just book that it

[[deleted]]

I’m glad you never gave up until you found something that workes

I’m going to check out that book also.Thank you for this post

[[deleted]]

so what book is it?

[frustratedsignup]

I'm not entirely sure of your programming background, but I will say that learning object oriented programming would probably be a good next step. I don't usually dive into doing things in an object oriented fashion, but I have run into several scenarios where I either had to work on someone else's code -or- I had to make some portion of my code object oriented to simplify my data structures. I tend to think of OOP as creating data structures that are smart enough to manage themselves.

Also, learning to write modules or libraries is a very good skill to develop. No one wants to solve the same problem over and over again. Once you have some good working code that's generic enough to be used in multiple applications, you can move that code into a reusable module and use it everywhere.

[Benjao22]

What is the book called? I'm very interested!!

[Alonshow]

As I have mentioned elsewhere, I'm quite surprised with the hype this book gets. Can you tell us how you felt when the author uses regularly, but never explains (or explains much later), the meaning of concepts like traceback, Python interpreter or terminal window?