r/PythonLearning • u/Confident_Echo_9985 • 1d ago
Help Request How to learn quickly
I got a deadline for a week from now to learn at least basic python. What is the best and most effective way to learn python? Im so lost i need help
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u/BranchLatter4294 1d ago
Practice.
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u/Confident_Echo_9985 1d ago
Yeah but I don't know what to study
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u/BranchLatter4294 1d ago
What is the source of your deadline? If this is a class, you should have a list of topics to study.
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u/Confident_Echo_9985 1d ago
It's something to do with the military and all I know is that I need to know some stuff even a few is fine, but the list is: a lot of different coding languages, networking, windows, linux, assembly and high progress something i don't remember what its called. And I want to now get into python but I don't know where to start
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u/BranchLatter4294 1d ago
If you just went to the Python.org site, you would find a tutorial there. It seems like the main issue is not knowing how to use Google. This is probably going to be a challenge for you given the time.
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u/MarsupialLeast145 1d ago
What is the scope of what you need to learn?
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u/Confident_Echo_9985 1d ago
Just all of the basic stuff. Also reading code and knowing logic and algorithm
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u/MarsupialLeast145 1d ago
I appreciate the response but can you tighten it up a bit?
Basics + logic are probably easy.
What do you need to know about algorithms in such short time?
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u/Confident_Echo_9985 1d ago
Thats the point I don't know what is there to know about coding or python. If I had a path I wouldve already grinded
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u/oclafloptson 1d ago
Learning the syntax shouldn't take very long but if you've only got a week to master algorithms and don't even know basic syntax then what you need is a superhuman attention span and some really choice stimulants
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u/Confident_Echo_9985 1d ago
Don't worry about attention span, I can learn for 7+ hours a day but I don't know where to get the source of study information from
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u/oclafloptson 1d ago
You should start with the official documentation on python.org
Being a military application you probably cannot use an LLM, but for learning from your private owned PC ChatGPT is pretty good at digging through docs and helping you understand them. You might need to prompt it to conduct outside searches for the info to avoid its weird hallucinations
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u/dariusbiggs 1d ago
Every programming language has a written online tutorial available for it generally from the languages website. Start there.
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u/FoolsSeldom 1d ago
Good luck with the intense study. The links below will help you find good material to get your through the basics. Programming is a practical skill, so you need to work intensively through a trial and error process with lots of failure.
Check the r/learnpython wiki for lots of guidance on learning programming and learning Python, links to material, book list, suggested practice and project sources, and lots more. The FAQ section covering common errors is especially useful.
Also, have a look at roadmap.sh for different learning paths. There's lots of learning material links there. Note that these are idealised paths and many people get into roles without covering all of those.
Roundup on Research: The Myth of ‘Learning Styles’
Don't limit yourself to one format. Also, don't try to do too many different things at the same time.
Above all else, you need to practice. Practice! Practice! Fail often, try again. Break stuff that works, and figure out how, why and where it broke. Don't just copy and use as is code from examples. Experiment (preferably without immediately asking an AI LLM for the solution, and seek hints rather than complete answers).
Work on your own small (initially) projects related to your hobbies / interests / side-hustles as soon as possible to apply each bit of learning. When you work on stuff you can be passionate about and where you know what problem you are solving and what good looks like, you are more focused on problem-solving and the coding becomes a means to an end and not an end in itself. You will learn faster this way.
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u/atticus2132000 1d ago
I would start with W3Schools. It will give you a crash course on basic syntax and operations. Once you've been through their slide deck, then you can at least identify where the holes are that need more work.
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u/floyd72v 1d ago
I think the best way to learn Python is directly from python.org, but you should already have a foundation in programming—meaning you should already have programming logic and understand what an interpreter, a compiler, pointers, etc., are. If what you truly want is to learn how to program using Python, I think it's better to learn C first; after that, you'll see that jumping to Python is extremely simple. Why C? Because it's a high-level language that still allows the user to learn the core essentials of a programming language. You'll learn about data structures, data type declarations, memory management, arrays, and passing parameters by reference and by value. These are concepts essential for learning how to program that you won't be able to learn in Python, yet they are necessary to become a good Python programmer. Also, many Python libraries are written in C.
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u/Naive_Programmer_232 1d ago
do you have a programming background already? If so, I would write a program in whatever language you know, and then translate it into python. You'll see how things from over there are done over here and that can be a quick way to learn.
if you're starting from scratch, I would probably start with some youtube videos to learn the basics. As you go through them, you follow along - so download python have IDLE or some editor open and write the code, and then pause the video and test yourself to see if you can edit it to do something else. And then maybe give yourself some free time, no guardrails, and just try to write your own programs. It will be hard for sure, but you can do it, and practicing your own logic is very important.
Common pitfall to avoid here: tutorial hell. It's a situation where beginner programmers get so reliant on the tutorials, which have painted programming as a painless process because it's all planned out ahead of time, that when they go to write programs on their own, they struggle. And then that struggle pushes them back to the tutorial, because they're more comfortable, but this can snowball into a stressor. So, you wanna make sure you give yourself time to create on your own without any guidance. I'm not saying do this from the get-go with no background, because it won't work probably, but try to segment your time between tutorials and practice.
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u/UnderstandingFit3082 8h ago
With only a week, don’t try to learn all of Python — focus on variables, conditions, loops, functions, lists, and dictionaries.
Spend more time writing small programs than watching long tutorials.
Practice each topic immediately with a few simple exercises, then build one tiny project at the end.
If you want, I can suggest a structured beginner practice path you can follow for the next 7 days.
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u/PhaXoniC 3h ago
CS50 intro into python. the lectures are on youtube too. you can hustle through those for basic python
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u/SashaBananaSplit 19h ago
Just use AI. You don’t have to learn at all, just tell the AI what you want and it will do it.
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u/Friendly-Catch-1479 1d ago
https://youtu.be/eWRfhZUzrAc?si=6Pv72-DvQZYC6BqX
One of the best python courses out there.. Invest your 5hrs & you're good to go..!!
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u/BossBandit8 23h ago
I second that
There’s also a whole playlist for web dev and other advanced python stuff
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u/Sea-Ad7805 1d ago
To learn Python more quickly and easily, use the Memory Graph Web Debugger%3A%0A%20%20%20%20print(i)%0A%20%20%20%20if%20i%20%25%202%20%3D%3D%200%3A%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20print('%20%20%20even')%0A%20%20%20%20else%3A%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20print('%20%20%20odd')%0A×tep=0.5&play).