Hi guys, so I just started learning python and I found out that there are so many different resources and online courses on the internet, however, because of the massive resources, I really don’t know which one I should choose to start as a beginner. Also, the courses that I am currently taking doesn’t provide me enough practices, most of the time I don’t even know how to applicated the thing I’ve just learned to solve real-world problems, this kind of bothers me.
I’m more like a project-based learner, means that I could learn much faster while doing a project that based on reality. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I could find resources like this? I really need some help!
By Timjinlun via Discussions on Python.org at 23Jun2022 15:09:
Hi guys, so I just started learning python and I found out that there
are so many different resources and online courses on the internet,
however, because of the massive resources, I really don’t know which
one I should choose to start as a beginner. Also, the courses that I am
currently taking doesn’t provide me enough practices, most of the time
I don’t even know how to applicated the thing I’ve just learned to
solve real-world problems, this kind of bothers me.
Yes, I am the same. That’s where I started to lose it with university
math: I could see the logic, but the course content started to not make
it clear where this was useful. I’m not saying the math wasn’t useful,
only that example uses didn’t accompany the course, and my brain became
ineffective at keeping the knowledge.
I’m more like a project-based learner, means that I could learn much
faster while doing a project that based on reality. Does anyone have
any suggestions on how I could find resources like this? I really need
some help!
or find a small problem of your own and try to implement it. You can
come here with questions (prefereably accompanied by your partial
attempt in code).
Python brings great pleasure to the art of programming. Congratulations on starting!
Programming real applications is certainly key to “making it real”. I’ve found that thinking up my own mini-projects works well, like “If I were going to create an extensions list for the phone system at work, how would I structure the data, provide a simple command-line interface to view or add phone numbers, then store and retrieve the list from a file? After that, how would I edit, delete items, etc.?”
I think I used this free Intro to Python course from The University of Michigan, hosted by Coursera to jump-start my Python journey. It covers only the most basic things you need to know and they apply to all Python versions, so won’t be out of date. These language elements will help you understand any tutorial for a project. If you’ve already installed Python and set up an editor, you can skip to these chapters:
"Chapter Two: Variables and Expressions
In this chapter we cover how a program uses the computer’s memory to store, retrieve and calculate information.
"Chapter Three: Conditional Code
In this section we move from sequential code that simply runs one line of code after another to conditional code where some steps are skipped. It is a very simple concept - but it is how computer software makes “choices”.
"Chapter Four: Functions
This is a relatively short chapter. We will learn about what functions are and how we can use them. The programs in the first chapters of the book are not large enough to require us to develop functions, but as the book moves into more and more complex programs, functions will be an essential way for us to make sense of our code.
"Chapter Five: Loops and Iteration
Loops and iteration complete our four basic programming patterns. Loops are the way we tell Python to do something over and over. Loops are the way we build programs that stay with a problem until the problem is solved.