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Ask HN: Learning Python?

• grawprog 9y ago
  How much do you already know? Do you understand any basic concepts like variables or assignment? If you don't understand any of the basics of programming you need to start there. I definitely recommend starting small. A webapp with frameworks is not the way to learn. It will be overwhelming. Some basic things to understand before starting a big project: -variables and assignment -types -functions -branching statements(if/else) -loops and iteration(while/for) -modules -classes
  • flask 9y ago
    Thanks for advice. I know nothing about programming. What are resources I can start with?
    • grawprog 9y ago
      Well after a quick google search on the topics I listed: Here's one for python: https://m.wikihow.com/Start-Programming-in-Python?amp=1 https://m.wikihow.com/Start-Programming-in-Python?amp=1 ----- https://lifehacker.com/5736011/learn-how-to-code-part-i-variables-and-basic-data-types https://lifehacker.com/5736011/learn-how-to-code-part-i-vari... http://lifehacker.com/5742493/learn-to-code-part-ii-working-with-variables http://lifehacker.com/5742493/learn-to-code-part-ii-working-... http://lifehacker.com/5742494/learn-to-code-part-iii-arrays-and-logic-statements http://lifehacker.com/5742494/learn-to-code-part-iii-arrays-... http://lifehacker.com/5742495/learn-to-code-part-iv-understanding-functions-and-making-a-guessing-game http://lifehacker.com/5742495/learn-to-code-part-iv-understa... These are in JavaScript which may be helpful if you wish to build a webapp but the concepts are the same in any language. These are the basics you need to learn. Start with the python one and work through until you understand each lesson completely. Then try changing some of the code from the lessons or making something similar and get it to work. After take a look through the JavaScript one so you can see the same concepts in a different syntax. Don't worry too much about it unless you want to learn JavaScript. This is just to help you recognize the things you learned in a different form to show they are universal concepts. Try and see if you can figure out how it's different or similar to python. Keep looking through different beginner tutorials and writing small one file programs until you feel like you're not learning enough. Then move on to something a little bigger. At the same time you may want to start looking into how web apps work. The difference between client and server side code. How the browser makes requests to the server to access your api. It's a fairly different process than standalone programs and if this is your ultimate goal you should begin looking into, at least a general idea, of how they work. https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-web-app-and-how-does-it-work-Please-explain-what-it-is-how-it-works-architecture-wise-and-whatever-else-you-think-is-important-and-in-which-way-it-is-different-than-the-previous-way-of-doing-things https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-web-app-and-how-does-it-work... https://selftaughtcoders.com/how-web-apps-work/ https://selftaughtcoders.com/how-web-apps-work/
• sosilkj 9y ago
  For Python you could start with: - The Python Tutorial: https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html - Composing Programs: http://composingprograms.com/ http://composingprograms.com/ As an alternative to Python, you might enjoy learning to program with one of these books, all of which use a language in the Lisp family: - How to Design Programs: http://www.htdp.org/ http://www.htdp.org/ - Land of Lisp (book) - Realm of Racket (book) I'd say give HTDP a try and see if you enjoy it.