Tracing my path to Python mastery
Just exactly 1 week back, on Oct 28, 2019, I started learning Python. I am gonna document my journey so that I have a trace of what all I am doing to learn the language, to practice it and improve my proficiency with it.
Last week, When I was talking to a friend who has also just started learning Python, this idea occured to me: if I document my journey to learning Python, it might help others who are on a similar journey. Though I am new to Python, I have quite a bit of experience in programming. I worked in software development using C++ and Java about 15 years back. Then, I went on to do my MBA and moved into consulting and in the last 10 years, my focus has been on analytics and visualization. But the love of programming has never left me. As I looked back at all the different jobs I have done, programming has given me the most joy. So, I wanted to bring programming back into my work. Given that python has become the language of choice in the world of data analysis, it was not difficult to decide on Python. In the past when I have looked at Python, I loved it for its simple and sweet syntax, especially compared to Java.
Python has a lot of resources on the internet to learn from, but I was not sure where to start. I googled and found many articles/suggestions. I asked around and got even more suggestions. But I could not locate a single definitive guide for someone like me who is switching into Python to quickly grasp the syntactical differences and the new ideas in the language. So, I am gonna try the resources I find and post my impressions on them. If I find some really valuable gems, I want to document them here. That is the plan.
Here is my plan for learning: I have allocated about 1–2 hours every day at the beginning of my work day to learning Python. I have learnt from experience that it takes time for my brain to form muscle memory in a new language. So, I want to do consistent practice over a long period of time. If you are starting on python, this is the most important suggestion I can give you — allocate at least 30 minutes every day, ideally at the same time and at the same place. And don’t forget to turn off all the distractions.
If you are learning Python, or have already learnt it and want to recommend a good resource, please point them out to me.
I plan to write at least one post every week as a way to summarize what all I have done in a week. If I find time, I might post more shorter posts also on a daily basis.