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I think I’ve found the Holy Grail of Python resources! I have still been using the guide provided by David Sinsky to learn about coding, but along with the basics of coding, I’ve chosen to learn the coding language called Python, and have been working through the Codecademy tutorials to do so. Because it is considered an eight week course, it’s been difficult working through just the tutorials, as they’re progressing in difficulty and getting into things that I just honestly don’t understand. There have been times where I have been SO certain that the code I’ve entered is correct, but then when I go to run it through the system, a red error code message pops up. So I retry, start from scratch, follow the directions (which I thought I already had done), correct the lines, re-run the code — still error code.

 

I understand that learning to code, and actually understanding it will take more than just a couple of months to pick up, but it has been extremely frustrating not understanding what I’m doing. Quite a few of the tutorials I’ve gone through, I’ve run the code, and it works, but I think my successes have been through my ability to recognize patterns, rather than actually knowing what I’m doing. Because of this, I was finding that I would get overwhelmed and frustrated with my results, give up, and check for the solution.

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Sooooo… I decided to take a little break from Codecademy and search for other resources. To be honest, I don’t even remember what I was searching for, but stumbled upon an Introduction to Python university-type course, which has been a life saver! It is structured in a step-by-step way, includes a review, provides objectives and a purpose for the specifics of that lesson, as well as supplemental readings within each section. The site itself is laid out in a more user-friendly way than the Python tutorials, so I’m finding it easier to refer to and follow. There is also a page with additional learning resources, linking to a number of sites and readings to learn from.

 

 

I’ve read a few of the resources already, which is encouraging in the sense that it tells me I’ve been working in the right direction with the research I’ve done so far. Some of the resources are books/e-books, and are not free of cost, but the links have provided more direction in learning about computer science and programming in general, with direct reference to how it is relevant to Python. One thing that I have read in multiple resources is that I need to Practice, Lather, Rinse, Repeat –Work through the tutorials, immerse myself in the lessons, take a break, delete my code, re-do the tutorials, and repeat — so for now, I think that’s it!

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