[JOURNEY] Learning Python to Write Scripts.

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Your advice makes sense!

Where were you when I had started doing course XD
Jokes aside, now I already have all the basic knowledge of Python. What would you suggest I do now?
I am thinking of doing Automate boring stuff with Python in a way where I just see the question or the flowchart and make the program myself, and if i get stuck somewhere then only I see the answers.

Which projects would you suggest I start with other than the books or courses?
Any website made to give you project challenges that you might suggest?
Actually I am in classes right now I am newbie but I have a good foundation of the basics. I suggest you learn some modules from now on this is what I will do. for you beautiful soup it's ideal as u want web scraping and the os module. I can't say exactly which projects as I am inexperienced but the YouTubers i am following are recommending to automate pc tasks like when you get an image it's gonna move it to the image folder, videos on videos and simple stuff like that.

For websites check edabit they have more than 1k challenges with easy/medium/expert on every topic of programming cryptography/lists/scraping/ whatever u think. i really like it
 
I don't think automate the boring stuff teaches you how to code well but it just gets the job done.

the book is a bit of a cult classic although relatively new there's even a second addition coming out. I've got a dead tree copy and I'm not even a python programmer.

Hopefully, there will be a Go spin-off like there is for Black hat python (Blackhat go - Which is pretty damn awsome!)
I am doing this book because of 2 reasons.
1) It's a fun book, I am already learning boring things such as MySQL, so it is like a treat for me.
2) It teaches automation, which is one of the goals of this journey of mine.

Do something you enjoy or well something you think is interesting the easiest way to kill off a new developer to a language is to give them a really boring project.
Thanks for the advice, I felt the same. Working for my dad will be boring, so I want to do things that I find happiness in on the side. Such as automation, scraping info, games etc.

Actually I am in classes right now I am newbie but I have a good foundation of the basics. I suggest you learn some modules from now on this is what I will do. for you beautiful soup it's ideal as u want web scraping and the os module. I can't say exactly which projects as I am inexperienced but the YouTubers i am following are recommending to automate pc tasks like when you get an image it's gonna move it to the image folder, videos on videos and simple stuff like that.

For websites check edabit they have more than 1k challenges with easy/medium/expert on every topic of programming cryptography/lists/scraping/ whatever u think. i really like it
Perfect!

Let me try this edabit and also once I have sometime free I will start making some small projects.
 
Hello OP ,
Unfortunately I am coming in a bit late but I will try to guide others who are now starting , but hey you might also find something useful in this because 1-2 years ago I was exactly in your spot and I kinda feel ya lol. (not that I am complete developer now but still listening to some experience does not hurt at all )
As a complete newbie you need to go over this book :

"Learn Python the hard way"

its totally free ,available out there on the web. Now if you got the basics of Python this book might be a little childish for you , but if all of your coding experience is this past almost a month I would still recommend you to go over the book and do everything what the author wrote you there as tasks, **** HINT **** everything that he asks you to complete as a task at each chapter has something to teach you in the long term. There are like 7-15 exercises which are evolving in difficulty and the last ones will make your brain giggle a little bit xD

Once you are all set with the foundations and you are comfortable with cycling through for and while loops and can orientate in each of their steps even if they are nested - I would suggest you to pick up a book for basic algorithms. You will need them regardless of how boring are they and how frustrating they can be. Everyone who tells you otherwise that you can learn programming and scripting with tutorials would be just plain bs-ing you.

Now that you got the foundation and you know some basic algorithms (which would assume that would get you working so far with computer logic on a decent level) you can pick up any easy project you want. Now I am not very sure what your end goal is but I assume that you dont wanna just write scripts as there are cron jobs already for that.
If you have any specific questions now that you are more familiar I would be happy to try answer them and help you further in your journey - however its gonna be pain in the .. I shit you not if you do not get excited to stay up a few more hours when your compiler tells you that you are complete disaster ...well I have some bad news for you xD
Anyway hope that I was at least of some assistance and if you I can help with any questions I will try to follow up on here
 
Hello OP ,
Unfortunately I am coming in a bit late but I will try to guide others who are now starting , but hey you might also find something useful in this because 1-2 years ago I was exactly in your spot and I kinda feel ya lol. (not that I am complete developer now but still listening to some experience does not hurt at all )
As a complete newbie you need to go over this book :

"Learn Python the hard way"

its totally free ,available out there on the web. Now if you got the basics of Python this book might be a little childish for you , but if all of your coding experience is this past almost a month I would still recommend you to go over the book and do everything what the author wrote you there as tasks, **** HINT **** everything that he asks you to complete as a task at each chapter has something to teach you in the long term. There are like 7-15 exercises which are evolving in difficulty and the last ones will make your brain giggle a little bit xD

Once you are all set with the foundations and you are comfortable with cycling through for and while loops and can orientate in each of their steps even if they are nested - I would suggest you to pick up a book for basic algorithms. You will need them regardless of how boring are they and how frustrating they can be. Everyone who tells you otherwise that you can learn programming and scripting with tutorials would be just plain bs-ing you.

Now that you got the foundation and you know some basic algorithms (which would assume that would get you working so far with computer logic on a decent level) you can pick up any easy project you want. Now I am not very sure what your end goal is but I assume that you dont wanna just write scripts as there are cron jobs already for that.
If you have any specific questions now that you are more familiar I would be happy to try answer them and help you further in your journey - however its gonna be pain in the .. I shit you not if you do not get excited to stay up a few more hours when your compiler tells you that you are complete disaster ...well I have some bad news for you xD
Anyway hope that I was at least of some assistance and if you I can help with any questions I will try to follow up on here
Thanks dude, I believe you came in the right time.

I will go over Python the hard way exercises like you said! I just have alot of things to do atm, so I feel overwhelmed with what to learn and spend time on.

This is the question I keep asking myself, what is it I want to do other than automation Scripting. Because I started this Journey as just to learn a new skill, but now seeing that the language is so big, I need to know which field I want to go in.

As I see the automation and botting field is satured, so which field would you suggest I should put my hands into if I am looking for a good future as a programmer/developer. Something that makes me good money and isn't completely boring to do ofc.
 
Dear OP , the answer to your question has kinda a lot of "if" statements if you get me xD I will tell you a story from a mentor who actually wanted to teach me , but its a translation from my native to english so you will forgive me for any misclarifications and misunderstandings. Let us imagine that the computer world is a one big house and everything inside this house operates somehow , it is already built for you( the PC ) so you have the rooms of this house the different parts. They already know how to work together and are build by artisans and craftmans. Now you step in to the house and assumingly you have some knowledge about computers , at least basic we can imagine that knowledge is the little knowledge is the light which enters the house from outside and you can barely navigate into the different rooms and get yourself to eat sleep and live inside that house just the basic tools. You are just a basic user , but hey you decide to learn some Python so now python becomes your torch which you can light up and look around into the different rooms and see what is going on inside there more clearly and see for youself how every room operates. When you get even more proficient with Python you will be able to create your own lamps and even your own equipment whether you created it by yourself and just stole eh pardon me , implemented it xD (that was nothing to do with you I am just referring to copy pasting someone else's code its a known practice and for good its out there you will understand me one day. Anyway back to the story - what it means is that python is just the tool and eventually when you get more used to it you will know what you can do with it. My advice is to find something that is not going to be boring for you and there are tons of sh**s you can do for money.
One more advice as you mentioned time management - me myself is pure sh*t in this thing I am not going to lie I cannot manage my own time at all but from my experience you need to create such a routing that it will allow you to focus on developing continuously for a certain period of time - it is way more better to spend 6-8 hours on sunday than 1-2 hours monday to friday . I would say that you need at least 3-4 hours if you want to really focus and get achieving. Now I Am not saying it should be everyday , but everytime you go into just make sure you have the next few hours for it and only developing ,its better to take one or two days of break when your code is giving you sh**s xD sometimes. Basically I would suggest you to develop your own routine as an advice that works around this ideology and such one that will fit your schedule.
These are all just basic advices for newbie as I am avoiding the topic to guide you what to choose simply because its very hard I mean you can literally do anything , anything , scrape reports , scrape websites , bots , ai , api integrations , security , white hacking pen tester, big data , analysis , like really you pick the niche there is a problem and a python script is awaiting to be written for the issue to be fixed .
I can assure you the boring part is only the foundation where you dont know where the f word you are and unfortunately there is no easy process to get out of that zone , all of these get fast courses , certifications bruh really they all just want your money and hope that you are smart enough and devoted to pick up. Not all of but them majority ! All you need is a year and a half of devotion , as I understood that you were kinda computer illiterate before ( nothing wrong with that and its just an assumption as you stated somewhere in the thread ) that time is inevitable , you cannot cut it short, you cannot take a shortcut along the way unfortunately. In a year or so when you are more familiar you will be able to see issue and problem in almost everyday stuff. I will search for another book that was really cool to develop your algorithmic thinking in a fun way by having you solve puzzles and other cool stuff. But yeah in general just pass the phase where you can read any given python code and you can develop your own style and then its just up to you what you wanna dig up to. Also another side note , if you think that after this year pass you will then sit and relax and that you will not be pushing your a** to learn new things - baby I have bad news again for you lol this is an epic battle my friend it is us versus the universe , we are always trying to solve problems but the universe is producing bigger and bigger idiots all the time. With that being said this is a never ending journey and you better be ready that today your scripts supports version X.X but tomorrow that version will be updated and your scripts will no longer be supporting it so you gotta learn again and again.
As this is getting a long post I will end it here and leaving a backdoor to answer all of your questions as I assume that I might have wrote a something stupid too but its kinda 2 AM and I dont have the powers to read it again lol


EDIT : as its pending admin approval I went over and eddited so it is not that vulgar and I hope it will pass the inspection xD
 
Last edited:
Dear OP , the answer to your question has kinda a lot of "if" statements if you get me xD I will tell you a story from a mentor who actually wanted to teach me , but its a translation from my native to english so you will forgive me for any misclarifications and misunderstandings. Let us imagine that the computer world is a one big house and everything inside this house operates somehow , it is already built for you( the PC ) so you have the rooms of this house the different parts. They already know how to work together and are build by artisans and craftmans. Now you step in to the house and assumingly you have some knowledge about computers , at least basic we can imagine that knowledge is the little knowledge is the light which enters the house from outside and you can barely navigate into the different rooms and get yourself to eat sleep and live inside that house just the basic tools. You are just a basic user , but hey you decide to learn some Python so now python becomes your torch which you can light up and look around into the different rooms and see what is going on inside there more clearly and see for youself how every room operates. When you get even more proficient with Python you will be able to create your own lamps and even your own equipment whether you created it by yourself and just stole eh pardon me , implemented it xD (that was nothing to do with you I am just referring to copy pasting someone else's code its a known practice and for good its out there you will understand me one day. Anyway back to the story - what it means is that python is just the tool and eventually when you get more used to it you will know what you can do with it. My advice is to find something that is not going to be boring for you and there are tons of sh**s you can do for money.
One more advice as you mentioned time management - me myself is pure sh*t in this thing I am not going to lie I cannot manage my own time at all but from my experience you need to create such a routing that it will allow you to focus on developing continuously for a certain period of time - it is way more better to spend 6-8 hours on sunday than 1-2 hours monday to friday . I would say that you need at least 3-4 hours if you want to really focus and get achieving. Now I Am not saying it should be everyday , but everytime you go into just make sure you have the next few hours for it and only developing ,its better to take one or two days of break when your code is giving you sh**s xD sometimes. Basically I would suggest you to develop your own routine as an advice that works around this ideology and such one that will fit your schedule.
These are all just basic advices for newbie as I am avoiding the topic to guide you what to choose simply because its very hard I mean you can literally do anything , anything , scrape reports , scrape websites , bots , ai , api integrations , security , white hacking pen tester, big data , analysis , like really you pick the niche there is a problem and a python script is awaiting to be written for the issue to be fixed .
I can assure you the boring part is only the foundation where you dont know where the f word you are and unfortunately there is no easy process to get out of that zone , all of these get fast courses , certifications bruh really they all just want your money and hope that you are smart enough and devoted to pick up. Not all of but them majority ! All you need is a year and a half of devotion , as I understood that you were kinda computer illiterate before ( nothing wrong with that and its just an assumption as you stated somewhere in the thread ) that time is inevitable , you cannot cut it short, you cannot take a shortcut along the way unfortunately. In a year or so when you are more familiar you will be able to see issue and problem in almost everyday stuff. I will search for another book that was really cool to develop your algorithmic thinking in a fun way by having you solve puzzles and other cool stuff. But yeah in general just pass the phase where you can read any given python code and you can develop your own style and then its just up to you what you wanna dig up to. Also another side note , if you think that after this year pass you will then sit and relax and that you will not be pushing your a** to learn new things - baby I have bad news again for you lol this is an epic battle my friend it is us versus the universe , we are always trying to solve problems but the universe is producing bigger and bigger idiots all the time. With that being said this is a never ending journey and you better be ready that today your scripts supports version X.X but tomorrow that version will be updated and your scripts will no longer be supporting it so you gotta learn again and again.
As this is getting a long post I will end it here and leaving a backdoor to answer all of your questions as I assume that I might have wrote a something stupid too but its kinda 2 AM and I dont have the powers to read it again lol


EDIT : as its pending admin approval I went over and eddited so it is not that vulgar and I hope it will pass the inspection xD
Dude, you're like a big brother explaining stuff that no one else would!

Thanks for taking the time out and writting this. You are right in this, this is exactly how I feel lol! But I'll keep working hard towards it regularly like you said.

Let me know if you find the basics algorithm book that you were talking about. Till then I will try and make sure my fundamentals are fully clear :)

Thanks again man, appreciate it.
 
UPDATE - 7

Automate the boring stuff in Python - (Done till Chapter 5 so far. )

Been learning from the Automate the boring stuff in Python book so far. There are exercises at the end of the book that I am somehow not able to do so easily, but keeping the head high, if I put in the work I can do anything, no matter what just keep moving forward.
Been feeling tired of learning all the time, but I guess that is part of the process.

I will be studying for Data Science also starting soon, as it is required for my dads work. But the main goal stays the same, to be able to learn to Automate things and make my own scripts.
So far no big update other than the Automation book.


Some motivational words to look back on once I am able to reach my goal of this journey.

1) It gets discouraging sometimes to keep working hard, especially when you are not be able to see where is it you are headed. The mantra is to be better than you were yesterday, that's all. Each day at a time, step by step.
2) If there is no enemy within, the enemy on the outside can do no harm.
3) Master challenging yourself and focusing on being better than yourself and yourself only. You cannot live anyone else's life, so don't try to even. Live yours and make it an amazing journey, on which you will look back and pat yourself on the back for how far you have come.


--
Captaintj (6/11/2020) - Writing from the place of living with thy self.
 
read up on data structures. at minimum learn what is a linked list, array, and hashmap, and when/why to use each

read up on recursion, it's not needed for most web dev tasks but understanding it will help your overall programming ability

define projects and complete them. Implement checkers, or chess, or poker. Implement a chaturbate whitelabel using their JSON api. Implement a reddit viewer using the Reddit API.

Good luck
 
UPDATE - 8

Been quite sometime since I updated the journey, there has been some changes here there, so let me just put it here.

1) My dad needs a Developer since we do not have the funds to hire a new people, so I have to start learning Django framework in order to help him with his work.

Started with YouTube material to start learning.

2. What have I done since the last update?

*. Went on to learn Matplotlib in order to learn plotting.

*. Installed MySql in order to connect to my dads website database to learn connection and stuff. Wasted couple of days due to some problems, but that's part of the process.

*. Went up to 50% of Automate the boring stuff, but once I reached Regex I haven't gotten anytime to go forward with the book, I will learn from it once I have time.

3. Plan for the future?

*. Learn Django and things regarding Data management.
*. I am not getting any time to learn Automation, but I'll do it later, since working for my dad is more important right now.
*. On the side for fun I plan on learning some hacking, not for anything serious, just 1 hour a day.

Feeling better with my programming skills, but a very long way still to go. I am drifting from my Scripting path, but life is turning out very different, but I plan on flowing with it.

Cheers
*=============*
Keeping the traditions...

Sometimes when your reason to live becomes a person or a goal, then you are in a very vulnerable state, that is outside of your control.

You become a mighty tree that isn't ready to shape itself to withstand the storm. Many times the mightiest of the tress fall due to their egos and unwillingness to accept change.

Be like grass, which flows with the wind and rain, treating it nothing but as a cold shower. Your roots need not reach the bottom in order to withstand the storm, but rather accept the winds as they come and flow in the direction that it takes you to. Eventually you'll be fine.
 
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This was an interesting journey.
I'd love to see an update.
 
Hey man, this is my first day learning Python.. just wanna to say thank you for creating this thread and all folks that helping with some reading/watching materials for me to digest.

So what is going on, man? Keep us update when you can.
 
and here am i still thinking which programing language i should learn first. I've zero programing language and i hate maths. (made some copy paste edit html in 2014)
But i want to learn programing any suggestion?
 
UPDATE - 9!

Tomorrow would have been 1 month since I didn't do any update on this journey. Planning on changing the name from Automation to something else, since the Journey has taken a new road, but i guess i will try and explain everything that has happened and why I chose the path that I am on right now.

1) What have I done since the last update?

i) Created a automation GUI using Tkinter for my PC, so i can automate things with a click of a button that I have to do on daily basis.
(For anyone interested in automation of basic things in your PC, without wanting to spend hours learning selenium and other modules, i would suggest Pyautogui. All you need to do is read the documentation a bit, and you would begin in no time. )

ii) Been learning Django since over a month now. I am working with a Developer who is helping me create a E commerce website for my family work. The latest apps I created have been related to saving form entries in my test website, since forms are quite strong in Django.

iii) Learning HTML, CSS, Bootstrap in order to style my Django web apps better + it is always good to have these basic skills.

2) Why am I learning Django? Since this journey was clearly about Automation.

Well Django is great for creating dynamic web apps and since I have spent my learning Python, it is a good push to create things that will be useful in the real world. Later on I plan on learning Javascript and React for better websites.

3) Plans for the future -

i) Finish Web learning about web Design in the next 2 days.
ii) Once that is done, pick a mini project for my friend's work & create a marketplace with Django.
iii) Become better with Django over the next 3 months to be able to create a E-commerce store without anyone's help.

I will try and update this journey more often from now on.

====================
** Keeping the traditions **

" A man who knows himself is far more stronger than a man who only knows others."
 
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Hey man, this is my first day learning Python.. just wanna to say thank you for creating this thread and all folks that helping with some reading/watching materials for me to digest.
So what is going on, man? Keep us update when you can.

Been quite busy with things. Here is a tiny update on the Journey, planning on starting a new one, since this is based on a topic that I dont plan on following anymore.

and here am i still thinking which programing language i should learn first. I've zero programing language and i hate maths. (made some copy paste edit html in 2014)
But i want to learn programing any suggestion?

Python if interested in creating things for backend + its the easiest language to learn, and also the most popular at the moment.
JavaScript, if interested in web development.
 
UPDATE - 10!

I would like to thank everyone who has been there for me since the day I started this journey of mine. Neither did I know where it would take me. I can proudly say, beginning this journey has been a blessing. I am continuing on this, just on a different thread. For anyone interested, you can follow it - Here

=====================
** Keeping the traditions **
" The day we realize that there is no good and bad, only perception. Every situation is a win win situation, you only have to find where the win lies "
 
UPDATE - 10!

I would like to thank everyone who has been there for me since the day I started this journey of mine. Neither did I know where it would take me. I can proudly say, beginning this journey has been a blessing. I am continuing on this, just on a different thread. For anyone interested, you can follow it - Here

=====================
** Keeping the traditions **
" The day we realize that there is no good and bad, only perception. Every situation is a win win situation, you only have to find where the win lies "

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