Newbie to Python

[r.h.p]

Hi people , ive recently started learning Python from open source D/L and using Visual code , but have changed to Pycharm for now.
Im finding it fascinating , and cant stop getting on to the next subject eg: typecasting / to inputs.
Im using the you tube free courses to learn but was wondering if anyone here has any tricks or user ideas that could make my experience better .
1 : Is the you tube courses any good or are they just click bait?
2: what is the end game use of python for a average joe ?

thanks rob

 

[W1zzard]

ChatGPT is wonderful to help you code and explain/teach. Give it a try

YT courses will help with the very basics, but beyond that my experience is that you learn the best from small utility programs that you build yourself that solve some of your own problems.

 

[r.h.p]

ChatGPT is wonderful to help you code and explain/teach. Give it a try

YT courses will help with the very basics, but beyond that my experience is that you learn the best from small utility programs that you build yourself that solve some of your own problems.

thanks for the tips @W1zzard , i appreciate it . Looking forward to tonight's next steps

 

[kilo]

Python is in almost every IT realm from software engineering to system administration to cyber security. If you only have time for one language, python was the right choice.

When i started with python, I used Python Crash Course and it was pretty solid. Not everyone is into books though. In fact a gen z coworker of mine was mystified why I had a physical paper book at all. I think the best overall resource is reading other people's code. There's always some new or better way of doing something that you can discover.

 

[eyenix]

Hi, Python is my main language, I speak Python with people and my second language is Italian decorated with gestures.
I have an intermediate/advanced level in Python.
But Python is very versatile, you can use it for databases, artificial intelligence or for any kind of idea you have like a website, graphical interfaces, automation, etc.
You can even create a game, but it is not a good choice because it is slow, since it is a high level language.

I learned on the Internet, but with a paid course from an Italian developer. But I think you will find a lot of free stuff on yt and of good quality.

 

[W1zzard]

and my second language is Italian decorated with gestures.

I had to lol

If you only have time for one language, python was the right choice.

Indeed, Python is a great "first" language. It will teach you all the important concepts, and it's used A LOT, so there's tons of info out there.

 

[r.h.p]

Hi, Python is my main language, I speak Python with people and my second language is Italian decorated with gestures.
I have an intermediate/advanced level in Python.
But Python is very versatile, you can use it for databases, artificial intelligence or for any kind of idea you have like a website, graphical interfaces, automation, etc.
You can even create a game, but it is not a good choice because it is slow, since it is a high level language.

I learned on the Internet, but with a paid course from an Italian developer. But I think you will find a lot of free stuff on yt and of good quality.

hey dude , lol i find it maybe similar when i sent a txt msg back to my mate in simple python string
eg:
first_name = " 99"
code = "agent"
agency = "control lol"

print(f"hello {first_name}")
print(f"im a {code}")
print(f"my secret hq is {agency}")

answer ?

the txt back answer was funny your a Kaos agent ...lol
anyway there is always are starting point to learn new things no matter your age

 

[RGAFL]

A good and fun way to learn Python is to use the game engine Godot. Uses GDScript as a scripting language (also uses C# if you choose to learn that as well) which is very close to Python so a lot you learn there will carry over and could be a fun way to learn as there are lots of tutorials on the internet.

 

[r.h.p]

A good and fun way to learn Python is to use the game engine Godot. Uses GDScript as a scripting language (also uses C# if you choose to learn that as well) which is very close to Python so a lot you learn there will carry over and could be a fun way to learn as there are lots of tutorials on the internet.

Thanks for the heads up with GDscript seems like something i could possibly move on_to after mastering the basics of python ...cool !

 

[AleXXX666]

ChatGPT is wonderful to help you code and explain/teach. Give it a try

YT courses will help with the very basics, but beyond that my experience is that you learn the best from small utility programs that you build yourself that solve some of your own problems.

dunno about AI models... I used it's "analog", MS Copilot - made my homework EZ and without "limited inputs per day" BS

 

[lambda]

Hi people , ive recently started learning Python from open source D/L and using Visual code , but have changed to Pycharm for now.
Im finding it fascinating , and cant stop getting on to the next subject eg: typecasting / to inputs.
Im using the you tube free courses to learn but was wondering if anyone here has any tricks or user ideas that could make my experience better .
1 : Is the you tube courses any good or are they just click bait?
2: what is the end game use of python for a average joe ?

thanks rob

You should follow a structured guide to learn the language and dive into small projects.

Here's the book I used for learning the language and it includes a few fun projects - https://nostarch.com/python-crash-course-3rd-edition

Happy learning!

 

[Macro Device]

Hi, Python is my main language, I speak Python with people and my second language is Italian decorated with gestures.

 

[mb194dc]

Stack Overflow are the droids you're looking for.

 

[r.h.p]

You should follow a structured guide to learn the language and dive into small projects.

Here's the book I used for learning the language and it includes a few fun projects - https://nostarch.com/python-crash-course-3rd-edition

Happy learning!

ill check that out ... cheers : }

 

[Shihab]

Toy projects. A ton of toy projects...

I also recommend:

Advent of Code 2024

adventofcode.com

The puzzles are quite simple (although some are designed to mess with you if you tried to solve them the easy way), but they do make for good exercises (and so would punching those useless elves -_-). The 2-part approach also kinda pushes one to adopt a refactoring-friendly coding process.

 

[ShiBDiB]

Python is in almost every IT realm from software engineering to system administration to cyber security. If you only have time for one language, python was the right choice.

It's definitely the modern language that can do everything, but isn't the best choice for anything.

A good language to dip your toes into programming with for that reason, but not one to get lost in if you want to do anything serious. It's the modern foundation to learn more specialized languages.

 

[Shihab]

It's the modern foundation to learn more specialized languages.

I think python is a bad choice for a foundational language, unless whoever is learning it does not plan on progressing beyond simple scripts. Great for people who simply want to play around with data or automate what's on their main job description, but sucks for (learning) programming in general.
Any language that heavily abstracts memory management (and python abstracts way more than that) is a bad start, imo.

Now, the really controversial opinion: C/C++ are the best starting languages.
*Takes cover*

Edit: To clarify, I'm not saying that one who starts with python will be a bad programmer, I'm saying it's easier to expand from the Cs to other languages, than it is from python. Or as the meme goes:

Spoiler

 

[Mindweaver]

If you like books then I suggest "Automate the Boring stuff with Python". Plus like already suggested use Chat gpt or copilot. There is a lot of good youtube videos as well.

 

[lambda]

I think python is a bad choice for a foundational language, unless whoever is learning it does not plan on progressing beyond simple scripts. Great for people who simply want to play around with data or automate what's on their main job description, but sucks for (learning) programming in general.
Any language that heavily abstracts memory management (and python abstracts way more than that) is a bad start, imo.

Now, the really controversial opinion: C/C++ are the best starting languages.
*Takes cover*

Edit: To clarify, I'm not saying that one who starts with python will be a bad programmer, I'm saying it's easier to expand from the Cs to other languages, than it is from python. Or as the meme goes:

Spoiler

View attachment 404568

I personally agree with this, my first language was C++, then Java and finally JavaScript. I only picked up Python much later.

Python is fine start if you're not a programmer by profession though. It's very easy to pick up, widely integrated with stuff, and just good enough in general.

 

[ShiBDiB]

I think python is a bad choice for a foundational language, unless whoever is learning it does not plan on progressing beyond simple scripts. Great for people who simply want to play around with data or automate what's on their main job description, but sucks for (learning) programming in general.
Any language that heavily abstracts memory management (and python abstracts way more than that) is a bad start, imo.

Now, the really controversial opinion: C/C++ are the best starting languages.
*Takes cover*

Edit: To clarify, I'm not saying that one who starts with python will be a bad programmer, I'm saying it's easier to expand from the Cs to other languages, than it is from python. Or as the meme goes:

Spoiler

View attachment 404568

Python is what a lot of schools use nowadays as the "learn to program" language of choice.

In your example python isn't a bad foundation for C++ in that they're both OOP and someone with python experience at least understands the basics of an OOP language. The meme is more for the C++ hardos that shit on the total newbro learning python. Flipping the script C++ is an awful language for someone with 0 experience to learn as a first language.

tldr for OP

Python is a good first language for someone dipping their toes in the programming waters. Plenty of sources online.

To touch on @W1zzard 's ChatGPT recommendation, it's not a bad one and I'm not anti using AI to help in this field. But someone coming in with no knowledge can develop bad habits and over-reliance on AI here. I'm more of the mind to wait a bit before leaning on AI, you need to understand the code it's giving you to truly benefit from it.

 

[vgm]

@r.h.p I would suggest real Python and w3schools before installing copilot. Once you get the basics you can install GH copilot on Pycharm or VScode. You can use ollama docker image with 4B Nemotron(Nvidia Optimized llama3) or Claude or Gemma if you want local LLM otherwise for python backend Gemini Pro 2.5, Sonnet 3.7/4 is the best. GPT4.5, 4o and o3 mini is great for react, ts, js, html etc basically frontend stuff especially if you're into learning Django, FastAPI or Flask. Start using pydantic v2 as your data in/out model schemas and you'll find transitioning to fastAPI easier.
You can even tell Copilot to generate ipynb Jupyter Notebook to cover all basics of python with example scripts. You can read about dockerize, deployment etc from realPython. Ruff will be linter/formatter, uv/pipenv will be your packaging/release/virtualenv. Pixi is based on uv if you want conda env and scientific libs.
Copilot agentic mode is great as well. You can use /fetch and give latest docs link, article link and it will use latest docs to generate code or even summarize a topic. Double check the code by executing the code to see if it functions as intended. A lot of the times newer software/libs methods can be hallucinated by AI model and it will produce good enough code but completely false as the APIs don't even exist.
You can use gitlens to make git easier to use on vscode or pycharm. It can use the same AI models to generate good commit messages, changelogs etc.
Also Gemini 2.5 Pro is really good at making UI/UX from wireframe similar to v0.

 

[r.h.p]

I personally agree with this, my first language was C++, then Java and finally JavaScript. I only picked up Python much later.

Python is fine start if you're not a programmer by profession though. It's very easy to pick up, widely integrated with stuff, and just good enough in general.

I think python is a bad choice for a foundational language, unless whoever is learning it does not plan on progressing beyond simple scripts. Great for people who simply want to play around with data or automate what's on their main job description, but sucks for (learning) programming in general.
Any language that heavily abstracts memory management (and python abstracts way more than that) is a bad start, imo.

Now, the really controversial opinion: C/C++ are the best starting languages.
*Takes cover*

Edit: To clarify, I'm not saying that one who starts with python will be a bad programmer, I'm saying it's easier to expand from the Cs to other languages, than it is from python. Or as the meme goes:

Spoiler

View attachment 404568

lol that's a cool (metaphor) spoiler Hehe . Thanks for all the posts and helpful info people just to add i did have a basic knowledge of C++ in 1999 .. lol

 

[InVasMani]

If you're willing to struggle co-pilot is willing to assist you in debugging the same issue in circles until you provide it a work around solution.

 

[silentbogo]

1 : Is the you tube courses any good or are they just click bait?

There are some good courses and tutorials on YT, but if you want to take it a step further - go to EDX.org and just sign up for a few free Python courses that may interest you(haven't browsed it in awhile, but there were a bunch when I was on the self-learning spree, and I'm sure by now they have a ton on data analysis and ML). On-schedule courses give you a bit more motivation to do things, unlike scrolling vids on your own, plus you'll have access to forums where you can discuss stuff with other students like you, and some even run live Q&A sessions with teachers.
Though, I would highly recommend some general programming courses first, preferably in C++ or C#.

2: what is the end game use of python for a average joe ?

It depends. Python is just a tool, and you need to pick some direction in how you want to apply that tool. Just like with any other language - you can do many things with python.
Personally I don't like Python to put it mildly, but I do get the appeal of it and why many people use it. Today it's probably the most popular, the easiest, and the most accessible, and variations of it can run on pretty much anything.

ChatGPT is wonderful to help you code and explain/teach. Give it a try

I disagree. For beginners it's gonna be working against them. Same for any technical topic. Many of my friends and clients tend to rely on ChatGPT so much, that even after a couple of years of working with something (be it 3d printers or embedded stuff, or whatever) they did not progress a single bit, and basically learned to use ChatGPT for everything, and not whatever they wanted to learn in the first place. One of my friends by some miracle even got a job in a rapid prototyping company that does defense stuff, and all it took is a GPT Pro subscription Though there is a catch - now he has to do the job, and learning technical stuff "on the fly" is much harder and waaay more stressful.

I personally agree with this, my first language was C++, then Java and finally JavaScript. I only picked up Python much later.

Depends. I think today Rust or Golang is about as good of a place to to get the basics instead of C++. Python is also a kind of thing that you can learn first, get the basics, and after stumbling into performance or technical issues (or other limitations, which there are many) - seek enlightenment in a strongly-typed compiled language. Realistically the good-ole days where your journey into programming started with reading all 5 tomes of Donald Knuth's "The Art of Computer Programming" are long gone (sadly).

 

[InVasMani]

Not everyone is a expert programmer or alluding to be, but you can coax quite a bit out of ChatGPT for several different programming languages. It can certainly struggle though and can feel more like you're coming up with the answers and solutions to the problem or portions of it rather than the AI itself, but what do you expect AI coherency is somewhat in it's infancy and sometimes it's more a matter you doing a better job on more accurate and detailed prompt response. One looming problem is that AI tends to struggle more with longer more complex scripts. Just the same it's capable of quite a lot. Plus a good part of that is the prompt input response you feed it. You certainly have to work with it a bit at times. It will be really cool when it improve a good bit further though at comprehending people's input idea's with less flaws and circular debug failures. It's fine though it gives you plenty of hands on experience at failing until you succeed at some level or another.