Python learning

A few people asked me how to start with Python.
I can’t claim to be an expert, but I know enough to do my job.

Some people like to do courses or read books.
I guess everyone is different.
Below was my path.

Use IDE

I love vi.
But if you want to be productive fast, use IDE.
My choice is jetBrains PyCharm: https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/
It helps a lot - intelligent code completion, syntax check, debugging, variables watch, integration with Git etc etc.

Tutorial

Ideally go through official tutorial completely: https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html

This might take a few weeks!
The key is not to get stuck on anything you don’t understand, but skim it.
Better to learn in several iterations.
What’s important - is to try actually running things, rather than just read it.

Practice

There are hundreds of nice resources that allow you to practice.
They have many levels of complexity, so you can start at your comfortable place.
You’ll get a great understanding of “algorithms and data structures”.

A couple I tried:

• https://www.hackerrank.com/interview/interview-preparation-kit
  It’s a bit outdated and simple now, but I like it.
  Register and go through Interview Preparation Kit, and if you finish just 1/3 of it you’ll be able to win a good contract.

• https://leetcode.com
  I liked that it analyses resources used by your program and shows how well you stand against others.

• https://www.codewars.com
  Captivating game style with allies, katas and kumites. Really nice UX.

Work experience

They say Programmer is not a Software Developer.
In reality you will also need to gain commercial experience which covers many areas:

• using Git
• team work with code reviews
• tests for your code
• documentation
• CI\CD pipelines etc

Good luck on this path!