How do I learn Python at home?

It only takes two things.

There are two things you must do if you want to learn Python at home. I say this as someone who has programmed for decades. I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t.

NOTE: This advice applies to learning any programming language.

You need to do two things to learn Python at home effectively:

1. Acquire a quality Python course

2. Write Python code every day

If you do those two things, you will learn Python.

With that tl;dr out of the way, let’s dig in a bit.

First of all, go find a quality Python course. It could be a book. It could be a video series. It could be web tutorials.

The tutorial itself doesn’t matter as much as simply having something reasonable. There is no “best” tutorial or book. Pick one that works for you and use it. And if you aren’t sure, JUST PICK SOMETHING AND START!

The basics of Python are the basics. Nobody has secret special knowledge there.

Second, and this is the bigger part, write Python code every day.

I don’t mean mountains of code. I mean at least one line of code. Just enough to be practicing a little bit.

This is more important than reading a tutorial because it’s a bit like exercise or physical intimacy, you can read about it or watch video tutorials, but the only way you ever get good is through actually doing it.

You will only build skill in Python by writing Python code yourself.

So, write Python code every day and watch your skills shoot to the moon!

BONUS TIP: Type out every tutorial/exercise/example you can and run the code. You will be surprised by how much you learn just from typing the code into your editor and running it.

When you put these two ideas together, over a period of months, you will gain tremendous skill in Python and you’ll be off to the races. Those who take this approach really succeed.

-Brian

P.S. The real secret it to just do stuff.