Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Advice on learning Python efficiently

simplydjango.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 75 posts

Re: Advice on learning Python efficiently

#41

Post by bushin »

praveer13 wrote: post #34
trymas wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Side note: While I definitely applaud the idea of trying to create a language that is geared towards beginners and good for learning on, I don't know if I can get behind recommending such a language that is still under development being suggested to beginners. I second this. Especially when python itself is very beginner friendly. IMHO the best advice on learning a skill is just do some projects with it. I am not e…

>By doing python projects first you familiarize with it and then if you are still on - you should read zen of python, pep8, etc.. Would you mind recommending some projects for a python beginner?

A web search engine.

Re: Advice on learning Python efficiently

#42

Post by dwaynecrooks »

geezerjay wrote: post #6

Can someone fix the misleading title? Stating "Learn python efficiently" is one thing, but stating "My advice on learning Python efficiently" is another entirely different thing. One is a statement of fact, another is just yet another opinion. Accepting clickbait articles degrades the quality of a news aggregator.

That's true, sorry about that.

Thanks to whoever fixed it.

Re: Advice on learning Python efficiently

#43

Post by dwaynecrooks »

happy-go-lucky wrote: post #16
peatmoss wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did you get that from? I feel like we read different articles. Are you referring to the introduction where he suggests that people entirely new to programming should check out Pyret?

According to the article, learning Pyret is an efficient way to learn Python. It's a misleading title.

Huh? Where in the article did I say or imply that learning Pyret is an efficient way to learn Python? I said if you're a complete beginner then you can consider Pyret. As for people who already know some programming I didn't suggest Pyret to them at all.

Re: Advice on learning Python efficiently

#44

Post by dwaynecrooks »

happy-go-lucky wrote: post #14
peatmoss wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did you get that from? I feel like we read different articles. Are you referring to the introduction where he suggests that people entirely new to programming should check out Pyret?

Then he should have Pyret in the title here.

This article is 100% about a way to learn Python efficiently.

Re: Advice on learning Python efficiently

#45

Post by jpolitz »

icholy wrote: post #24
ManlyBread wrote: post #8

>It's called Pyret. How about just learning Python instead of learning a toy language and then having to learn Python anyway?

Right? The only reason I got hooked on coding was because I was making cool things. Good practice and CS fundamentals came later. If programming was introduced to me in this "bottom up" approach, I would have lost interest. Math education has the same problem.

Pyret (and the Bootstrap curricula in particular, where we use both Scheme and Pyret [http://bootstrapworld.org/]) really strives to avoid the purely "bottom up" approach.

Curricula in Pyret focus on building games using concepts from math, or interactive simulations using concepts from physics, or data analyses using concepts from working with spreadsheets.

I agree that a purely "CS concepts"-based approach is dry and ineffective for a huge portion of students. That's why applications are so critical, and why we build things like tables (https://twitter.com/PyretLang/status/773605473824145408) into the language, so we can give students real-world tasks to do right away.

We happen to also have carefully designed the language to allow us to teach these applications along with a rigorous programming style. Students write _examples_ that get them ready to understand automated testing, they write _contracts_ that teach them about type-based interfaces, they write _data definitions_ that teach them about structured data, and so on. But it's always in service of an application.

So I very much agree that a purely "bottom up" CS-concepts-only approach has issues.

Re: Advice on learning Python efficiently

#47

Post by xamuel »

dimino wrote: post #37

Be pythonic, be pythonic, be pythonic! My biggest complaint about python is how easy it is to learn (heh). It takes so little effort to write a script, so it feels deceptively easy to write great python. After all, as long as it works, who cares right? I care. Your colleagues care. Your users care. Python is an object oriented language, use it as such.

>My biggest complaint about python is how easy it is to learn

This X 1000. Some Python candidates declare themselves professionals when their code is unsuitable for production.

If you're gonna spend many thousands of hours using a language, don't use initial learn-time as the one thing to optimize for!

Re: Advice on learning Python efficiently

#48

Post by Sean1708 »

brudgers wrote: post #22
ManlyBread wrote: post #8

>It's called Pyret. How about just learning Python instead of learning a toy language and then having to learn Python anyway?

Pyret came out of the PLTgroup, the group of educators responsible for the Racket ecosystem and before that MzScheme. They have been studying and innovating on programming pedagogy for more than two decades. What sets the PLTgroup apart, in my mind, is that it tends to row in the same direction at the low level. This has allowed it to create a robust platform upon which tools (particularly in the form of languages) c…

What do you mean by the offside rule in this case? I presume you don't mean that Pyret can't shoot if it got the ball when it was behind all the other language's defenders.
Post reply on HN