by "OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
Published 09/13/2017 at 21:28
by "OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
Published 09/13/2017 at 21:28
No Tags
STARS: 0
Does anyone want to give me a crash course/lesson on Python? Here’s a Sports 800 for your time!
"Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
09/13/2017 at 21:30, STARS: 0
Not sure I could give you much of a class, but I write it all the time (Python and C# are my primary languages these days).
What languages do you know?
Python’s documentation is excellent. Learn 2.x now, as very few develop in 3.x, but use the future library to get the print() function. Just like 6 months ago I wrote an AWS Lambda function in 2.x because they didn’t support 3.x yet.
"TDIGuy" (owenrosier)
09/13/2017 at 21:34, STARS: 0
I am pretty proficient in Python. What are you trying to do with it ? And do you know any other languages ?
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
09/13/2017 at 21:36, STARS: 0
I don’t know any other languages so this will be my first. I’m trying to be good enough with it I can build forms and some analytical features. Don’t need machine learning or recording robotics yet.
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
09/13/2017 at 21:37, STARS: 0
None now haha. I’m just trying to get myself started and python seemed the most relevant to my future needs from what I can tell.
"CRider" (crider)
09/13/2017 at 21:42, STARS: 2
At your sssservice.
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
09/13/2017 at 21:45, STARS: 0
Teach me your ways snake person
"S65" (granthp)
09/13/2017 at 21:47, STARS: 0
For a second there I thought you were talking about the snakes lol
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
09/13/2017 at 21:48, STARS: 1
Hahah I would have known exactly who to ask
"OPPOsaurus WRX" (opposaurus)
09/13/2017 at 21:50, STARS: 0
The python? Yea it’s in my pants. I dunno if I wanna educate u on that. That is more wife’s thing
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
09/13/2017 at 21:53, STARS: 0
"Phyrxes once again has a wagon!" (phyrxes)
09/13/2017 at 21:54, STARS: 0
Just don’t try and go back and forth between Python and Javascript it will only lead to frustration. Damn AP Computer science for being Java.....
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
09/13/2017 at 21:54, STARS: 0
Haha yeah I have no intention of learning other languages right now.
"CRider" (crider)
09/13/2017 at 21:57, STARS: 0
I’d love to help, but I’m a little green myssself. Perhapsss try thissss.
"Phyrxes once again has a wagon!" (phyrxes)
09/13/2017 at 21:57, STARS: 1
I have to teach Java but I tell the kids if you want something useful learn how to code in Python or C.
"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
09/13/2017 at 22:21, STARS: 1
Check out Learn Python the Hard Way. You can read it free online.
"Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
09/13/2017 at 22:32, STARS: 1
It’s not a good language to learn to program with, IMHO. I hate to say it, but start with Java. Java is a horrible language for real world programming, but learning it will teach you fundamentals that you won’t pick up easily with Python. Python is a good third or fourth language after you’re fairly skilled with programming concepts... It has way too many weird constructs that simply don’t exist in other languages, like Perl.
"Aremmes" (aremmes)
09/13/2017 at 22:40, STARS: 1
From all the comments I have read over the years Python seems like a decent first programming language to learn. However, its reliance on the off-side rule gives me the heebie jeebies, and I can’t imagine going from such a programming language to a curly-bracket language and back on a regular basis without it giving me headaches and/or causing hard-to-trace bugs.
Notice also that of the list of
languages that use the off-side rule
, most of them see use mainly in research, while those that get used in commercial environments have it as an option — except Python.
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
09/13/2017 at 22:47, STARS: 0
Yeah I’m only using this on the business side. No research for me.
"Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
09/13/2017 at 23:06, STARS: 0
Professionally, Java has been the modern-day COBOL since like 1999, although I think it’s an even worse language for business programming.
On the other hand, it is a great language for teaching OO concepts, as it’s pedantic when it comes to OO. The biggest problem is that back in the day a bunch of schools dropped teaching anything else, so there is an entire brain-damaged generation of developers out there that have never worked in any other language.
"Phyrxes once again has a wagon!" (phyrxes)
09/13/2017 at 23:15, STARS: 0
I place a good chunk of that blame on the College Board for shifting AP Computer Science away from C to Java but that shift happened years ago.
"Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
09/13/2017 at 23:43, STARS: 0
It’s more a problem with online posts than anything else. I’ve never had trouble swapping back and forth, as I don’t use another language with block delimiters with a substantially-similar syntax. ES-heavy frontends (usually using a popular framework) with Python backends are really common in the web development world.
If anything, my biggest frustration is PEP8 and the fact that many Python programmers expect you to adhere to it in your software (as opposed to Python base libraries, where it’s supposed to be used). I don’t know about you, but 80 characters is ridiculous when I can get 200+ across every single screen I have, plus 4-space indentation is too much for any language (I’ve been using 2-space for over 25 years; I can’t see a good reason to change).
What’s funny is that things like list comprehensions and decorators seem to be workarounds to reduce overall code length that results from not having line end characters, block delimiters, and macros.
"Flynorcal: pilot, offshore sailor, car racer and panty thief" (flynorcal)
09/14/2017 at 01:28, STARS: 0
If you’re using OSX you’ll be good to go. I doubt you’re on Linux/BSD because you wouldn’t be asking.
Windows will require you to download a package that I know nothing about other than it works well.
Since I saw this is your first language, it’s a good one. It’s a scripting language. You write a program and the Python interpreter runs it. This is quicker to learn than a language where you write a program than compiles into a runnable standalone executable. Making and fixing mistakes is pretty painless.
There are a lot of online resources. There are code challenge skill builders that give you a task which is a way to learn while achieving goals which feels good and gives you structure. They get harder incrementally. Many are very well made. They’re all free from what I’ve seen. Happy hunting.
"random001" (random001)
09/14/2017 at 06:28, STARS: 0
https://automatetheboringstuff.com/
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
09/14/2017 at 08:54, STARS: 0
I used the intro to computer science course at udacity to pick up Python. Since this will be your first language, a full course like this will help you learn some basic concepts like looping, variables, arrays, etc.
https://www.udacity.com/course/intro-to-computer-science—cs101
I thought it was easy, but I have experience with several programming languages, so your experience may be somewhat different.
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
09/14/2017 at 09:31, STARS: 0
I don’t, but I really should.
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
09/14/2017 at 10:05, STARS: 0
Do you think you would have any luck setting up my environment/sandbox to work in? That’s where I’m stuck right now.
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
09/14/2017 at 10:19, STARS: 0
The course I recommend has an online, web-based sandbox for training. No need for a local install.
Since I use Python on my production machine, I have it installed locally.
When I was teaching, we used virtual machines (VM) so they wouldn’t screw up the computers for the other classes using the lab. All of my servers are VMs running on one of three physical servers. One of the VMs has python so I can use it for scripting.
I suggest you look into creating a local VM. It’s easy to do if your primary machine is running windows. Just watch out for disk space and don’t try to run it off of a thumb drive unless both the drive and the port are USB 3.0. Anything less is unacceptably slow. Also keep in mind that if the VM is a windows machine, it may need a separate license. As a student, you may be able to get extra licenses for free or at a reduced cost. Microsoft even has a developer VM that you can download , but the current version expires in a few days.