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Thread: Anyone code in Python?

  1. #11
    Senior Member CeeBee's Avatar
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    Learn it. 7-8 weeks should be fine, and even online isn't an issue, most of the work is by yourself anyway. It's good to have someone to ask if you get stuck, but it doesn't seem that difficult. Stop procrastinating.

  2. #12
    Senior Member Webhead's Avatar
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    Yeah. I think you're right. I'll do it.

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Webhead View Post
    It seems like it's highly desirable among potential employers. I think you would need to be somewhat good with this if you worked at a large company where a lot of things are automated.
    No problem there. I want to learn it for personal reasons so I don't need to be good.

  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by CeeBee View Post
    Stop procrastinating.
    Maybe tomorrow

  5. #15
    Senior Member Webhead's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Larommi View Post
    No problem there. I want to learn it for personal reasons so I don't need to be good.
    I'm sure I will be terrible at it. I've tried learning both Java and C++ in the past and failed miserably at both. Programming is the one thing I have always had trouble learning. Hopefully this time around it won't be so bad.

  6. #16
    Senior Member CeeBee's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Webhead View Post
    I'm sure I will be terrible at it. I've tried learning both Java and C++ in the past and failed miserably at both. Programming is the one thing I have always had trouble learning. Hopefully this time around it won't be so bad.
    java and c++ are not easy as starter languages, and if you don't have a good professor to explain the fundamentals properly you are doomed.
    Python is more "forgiving", although some basics are still needed before you write the first line of code.
    IMHO the "Hello world" program is a stupid way of starting a course. Start with explaining data types, assignments, operations, functions in plain English. Then use them to write the hello world program.

  7. #17
    Senior Member Webhead's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CeeBee View Post
    java and c++ are not easy as starter languages, and if you don't have a good professor to explain the fundamentals properly you are doomed.
    Python is more "forgiving", although some basics are still needed before you write the first line of code.
    IMHO the "Hello world" program is a stupid way of starting a course. Start with explaining data types, assignments, operations, functions in plain English. Then use them to write the hello world program.
    I think I hung in there about 2 weeks with Java and then bailed. This was in mid 2002. So back then, what were we using? Still on Windows 98/ME or something? Maybe Windows 2000 with XP on the horizon? Linux was barely a thing yet in the mainstream -- or at least not that I could see. Seemed like everyone was mostly on Windows back then still. So resources weren't as plentiful back then which is part of why I think I had more trouble. Then in 2008 I tried to take the "C Programming" (I just looked at my transcript). So not even C++,... just plain C (not entirely sure what the difference is except I think C is older and more difficult to learn?) Well anyway, again I hung in about 2-3 weeks. First couple weeks I was really doing well and getting it. We were doing algorithms, and other non-coding sorts of things.

    The part that where I derailed both times was for 2 reasons (and I had trouble with this in Shell Scripting too). First, the syntax. There is only ONE way to deal with that and that is to practice practice practice. I tend to not be the most patient person and so I can never get it to stick. The second part is when it comes time to start learning For and While loops. In my mind, I see it as For loops are for setting finite tasks and While loops are for setting infinite tasks. But the application of either of those things makes no sense to me.

    So let's say you wanted to write a program that picks up apples on an assembly line and then puts them down. If you only had 10 apples then you write a For loop to do something 10 times. If you don't know, then you write a While loop to do it until something happens. Ok cool, I get that. But when it comes time to start writing it all falls apart in my head. For some reason For is needed instead of While. Or vice versa. I can't get the logic of it and then I get frustrated and give up.

    Another problem I have is with If, Else. In my brain, it should be, "If I have an iPhone then I can download iPhone apps or else I can't". But when you go to code, it doesn't actually write out that logically. At least to me it doesn't.

    So if I do this, then I'm going in with all these bad experiences I'm hoping to one day overcome. I did pass the Shell Scripting class so I know I can do it. But man it's hard. Doesn't come easy for me.
    Last edited by Webhead; 11-12-2014 at 07:55 PM.

  8. #18
    Senior Member CeeBee's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Webhead View Post
    The second part is when it comes time to start learning For and While loops. In my mind, I see it as For loops are for setting finite tasks and While loops are for setting infinite tasks. But the application of either of those things makes no sense to me.
    Ummm... you're thinking in terms of what you'd WANT them to be, not in terms of what they are. They are both (or all 3 if you consider while{} and do{}while) loop control methods. They work pretty much the same, you can see FOR as an extension of WHILE, it performs one operation before the loop and one operation at the end of each loop.
    Writing
    Code:
    for(a=1; a<10; a++){ 
    BLAH; 
    }
    is EXACTLY THE SAME as
    Code:
    a=1;
    while(a<10){
    BLAH;
    a++;
    }
    except for maybe a couple of minor compiler optimizations.
    And hell, you could write
    Code:
    a=1;
    for(;a<10;){
    BLAH;
    a++;
    }
    ^--- exactly the same shit.

    Just view FOR(THING1, CONDITION, THING2){
    BLAH
    } as
    THING1
    WHILE(CONDITION){
    BLAH
    THING2
    }
    In other words, both do a loop while a condition is true, FOR will also set a variable and do another operation for you part of each cycle. It's usually an increment/decrement of the counter for legibility, but it doesn't have to be.

    Quote Originally Posted by Webhead View Post
    So let's say you wanted to write a program that picks up apples on an assembly line and then puts them down. If you only had 10 apples then you write a For loop to do something 10 times. If you don't know, then you write a While loop to do it until something happens. Ok cool, I get that. But when it comes time to start writing it all falls apart in my head. For some reason For is needed instead of While. Or vice versa. I can't get the logic of it and then I get frustrated and give up.
    Formulating the problem properly is very important. If you know for sure you have at least 10 apples you write the loop to pick 10 apples. But it may happen that you SHOULD have 10 apples, but on occasion you have fewer.

    Quote Originally Posted by Webhead View Post
    Another problem I have is with If, Else. In my brain, it should be, "If I have an iPhone then I can download iPhone apps or else I can't". But when you go to code, it doesn't actually write out that logically. At least to me it [doesn't.
    why???
    Code:
    if(phone==IPHONE){
    GoToDownload();
    }
    else{
    Display("Sorry");
    }
    Don't think in terms of code. Think in terms of plain language. Big blocks that get broken into smaller blocks. Then code it, and you can code it in almost any language.

  9. #19
    Senior Member Webhead's Avatar
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    Reading your post brings me back to when I was in class trying to learn it. I don't think I've had the patience or focus to do well with it previously. These days with math, I've gone into it with more patience and focus this time and have improved a lot so maybe the same will be true for this. Gonna give this one more try. Maybe third times a charm.

  10. #20
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    Eeek.

    I started my project. It is a great language to learn but the learning curve is a bit steep for me right now.

    Not to mention I want to integrate my project with excel. Which can be easily done, or so I have read. I don't have excel right now and am not sure I am going to buy it for this.

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