A Beginner’s Guide to Learning Python
Word on the street is you want to learn Python…good for you!
Knowing to code is an invaluable skill (especially in this day and age), and Python is the perfect language for beginners to start with. It isn’t a particularly difficult language to pick up, given the relative simplicity of its syntax. It’s also incredibly useful due to its numerous powerful features, add-on libraries for data science and graphics, as well as the ubiquity of the language in computer science courses, industry, and scientific research.
I firmly believe that people can learn to code on their own. You don’t need to be a CS major or take a CS course to learn a language.
While there are many ways to learn coding, this blog post highlights the methods that worked best for me. Some might work for you — others may not. But that’s okay. If you truly want to learn Python, the most important thing is that you get started!
Traditional Methods
These are a few of the more standard ways people learn Python now-a-days. Some are great, some are ehh. Try them and see if you find one you like.
- The Python Tutorial: Most languages have overly specific and bloated documentation, but not Python. I seriously recommend reading through these docs — they’re really comprehensive, up-to-date, and chock-full of information. Every programmer, however experienced they are, refers back to these docs (or stackoverflow.org) many times when writing a program, so they’re a really good resource now and in the future.
- Codecademy: I have mixed feelings about Codecademy. On one hand, their tutorial is interactive, which is really great because it allows you to apply what you’ve learned. On the other hand, if doing this tutorial is the only way you learn Python, you’ll end up with only a tenuous grasp on the basics. (I do have one friend who read a section of the official doc, and then did the associated Codecademy exercises. According to him, doing both in conjunction was quite helpful.)
- learnpython.org: This is an easy, non-intimidating way to get introduced to Python. The interpreter and console are built into the browser, so you can learn Python without having to install it on your computer. I didn’t know about this site when I learned Python, but many of my friends have and it comes highly recommended.
Even more online resources can be found here.
The resources listed above are great ways to get started learning Python. However, if you really want to master the language, to have a proficiency that will make you a qualified applicant for internships and laboratory positions, doing the exercises above is not enough. It’s similar to learning French in a classroom: sure, you may know how to conjugate every irregular verb in 7 different tenses, but if you were dropped in the middle of Paris, would you know what to do?
Once you have gained a foothold in the basics of Python, the way to get better is to try new things. The best way to learn programming is to read through some guides, then do a mini-project or create a little program for yourself. Find challenging problems online, answer questions on stackoverflow, maybe try to build your first neural net. The possibilities are endless and the only thing stopping you is yourself.
