Despite the myth of being the most difficult language to learn, Python stands number one StackOverflow’s list of “Most Wanted Programming languages in 2019”. The assumption of Python being hard to learn comes from the fact that the syntax is less cluttered and has greater readability compared to other languages like Java, PHP, or JS. Hence, it is easy to write a “hello world” program or create novice applications but as you move forward things get dodgy.
How difficult is it to learn Python?
To answer your question: Whether Python is hard or not depends entirely on the learner’s educational background, attitude and purpose to learn. If you are someone who is learning Python as a part of academics, rest assured, because you will only be working on the basic applications meant for novice. As Python’s syntax is easy to read and write, you will never find any difficulty working with novice applications.
Being said that, things can get tough as you begin working on a larger project involving a ton of functions, events, and modules. To make things easy, the creators of Python have developed and made available a ton of libraries. Libraries are ready-to-use code to perform a specific task. Like, to convert an HTML page to a PDF, or download a document in a certain file format, etc. So, even a Python pro programmer doesn’t waste time on writing rudimentary code.
What are the steps to becoming a Python Programming Pro?
Step 1: Read free of cost material available on the internet
Reading blogs, forums and books is the first step towards becoming a Python Programming Pro. Read blogs like pythonprogramming.net written by Harrison Kinsley, a Python expert. Plus, there are loads of free video tutorials available on YouTube, Udemy, and Udacity. Even Microsoft has released a tutorial on Python for beginners.
Step 2: Practice basic programs and share your work with others
The next step is to begin practicing the basic programs like Hello world, arithmetic operations, probability, etc. Basic programs teach you to use the syntax correctly and also to implement your logic using the IDE and platform used in Python programming. Moreover, to share and discuss your work, you can follow the subreddit r/learnpython on Reddit. Here you can post questions and seek general advice on Python Programming.
Step 3: Work on novice applications
No one achieves anything in life without taking action. Lastly, it is key to create something with the knowledge you have attained from books, blogs, and tutorial videos. Work on mini-projects that can accomplish tasks like scraping data of a website, send and receive emails, read and write a CSV file, etc. To begin your coding journey with ease, I am sharing a GitHub repository with a working example of Uber’s external API. Download and run the project on a local compiler.
Summary
With this post, I don’t intend to persuade you to learn Python Programming. I believe Python should be the first programming language a newbie should learn. It has short, crisp, and precise syntax. Loads of free libraries allowing you to do things no other programming language does. The above factors make Python the best programming language for a newbie programmer. Even the survey by StackOverflow agrees with me.