How to learn python programming basics online

If you want to learn the basics of computer programming then learn the basics of Python language. Python is one of the most popular, best, and easiest programming languages to learn for students, professionals, and beginners.

If you’re confused in choosing which programming language is best to learn for job/freelancing and business, then start with Python. Python helps to learn complex programming concepts such as data structures and algorithms more easily than any other language.

From Nov 2021- to Oct 2022, 10K to 100K people searched on Google in the United States “how to learn python”. So, you can understand and predict its popularity and uses worldwide in software, web, app, game development, and data science.

Python is also included in computer science subjects in schools because it’s a wide variety of uses in education, scientific works, cyber security, data science, software development, and business, increasing its importance and obviously easy for beginners as well. 10 lines of code in any other language can be written in 2 to 3.

Python is a modern programming language. You can learn python at home, in schools, in computer institutes, and online. With the use of an online code editor, you can also learn and write python code on your mobile phone as well.

In this post, I will share some of the best tips, and actionable steps that helped me to learn python programming. And some of the creative ideas to learn python programming on your own online or at home. I hope these tips will help you learn python programming and succeed.

Top 10 tips to learn python programming language:

The learners of python are from various backgrounds, and financial situations, and everyone is in a different position in their career journey. That’s why everyone chooses their own favorite method to learn python as per the goals and conditions.

So, some do online Python courses, some started learning from school’s time, many watch free python tutorials on YouTube, many read python books, some do through exercises and while working on their own projects, and many learn while working.

There are thousands of unexplored ways that help us to learn. And in the below points, you will get those small and creative ways or a complete path or strategy to learn python.

1. Commit yourself to become an expert in Python or a Successful Python developer

The goal of learning python should not be just to learn and test that can you learn or not. You have to commit yourself with full dedication and mind to become a python developer or expert in python within the next 6 months or 1 year.

These tips are helpful for everyone but more for those who want to be an expert in Python or want to build their own software or web application or want to work as a Python developer.

These goals require creativity, confidence, discipline, hard work, consistency, and self-belief. So that you can keep learning coding without losing interest. And that makes learning python coding skills easy and smooth.

You have to accept that it’s challenging. And then you have to reduce that challenge with your learning and practice. That’s why it’s the 1st step to accept it as a challenge or interest or passion. And then prove that each day to yourself. By learning to code for at least 2 to 3 hours each day.

2. Learn the basics of Python Programming:

As for learning basic computer skills, you learn the use of a keyboard, and mouse, basic desktop functions, typing, word, excel, printing, and basic of the internet.

Similarly, to learn python you have to learn the basics of python programming. When you learn the basics of python practically then it will become easy to understand various advanced programming and software development concepts.

So, what approach and steps are best to start learning python?

Learn the basics of Python programming by watching free video tutorials on YouTube. In basics, you must practice below concepts:

Variables and Expressions
String Manipulation
Iterations and methods
Lists, Tuples, Dictionaries
Data Structure and Algorithm
Functions, Classes, and Objects
Data encoding and processing

Below are some of the best YouTube tutorials to learn basic and advanced basic python programming skills.

Strategies to learn the Basics of Python through Free YouTube Tutorials:

For 20 minutes, watch and practice any one or two basic python tutorials. So that you learn to write syntax and code. And understand the input and output of the program.
Once you do that, now research the question and answers related to the python concepts. For example, you watched a python video tutorial in which you learned and wrote “For Loop” statement. And found how for loop help in iterations. Now search on Bing or Google, about for loop. Read the reasons behind the uses of for loop, what is for loop etc. in detail. It’s because, in video tutorials, you have only watched how it is used. But to know why it is used or when to use it, for this you need to find more details behind for loop. So the point is you can invest 10 to 20 minutes to read the theoretical parts of each concept shared in the video tutorial.
The third thing and it’s the most important is that “Do 8 to 10 exercises” related to the concept you watched in the video tutorial. For example, if you watch “For Loop” then do at least 10 exercises related to for loop. So that it becomes memorable for you. And you understand “for loop” in various ways and different programs.

These 3 things are really important to repeat each day or time when you watch Free or even paid Python courses. As I told you above “Python learning is a group of various small activities, expertise, and practices.” You can’t become an expert in Python if you do not learn the basics of Python in detail. It’s because basic is the foundation of any skill. That’s why you have to read, watch, and practice each python syntax or concept or method, class, function, library, and iteration in detail.

These 3 steps really helped me to learn the basics of Python. And for this, I invested 1 to 2 hours.

Anyone doing a job or business or a student can follow the above approach to learn the basics of Python within 10 to 20 days or even in a month.

3. Do not think about the direction until you haven’t completed the basics:

The biggest obstacle in learning programming or coding skills is that students get into the trap of direction. Python provides a wide variety of opportunities for students and professionals to build their careers in software development and programming.

That’s why many students and professionals start thinking about or get confused about “What they should do?” or “What path they should follow”?

Learn python to become a software engineer
Learn python to become a web developer
Learn Python to become Data Scientist
Learn Python to become a Business Analyst
Learn Python to Work as a Freelancer
Learn Python to Build Tools and Software
Learn Python to Teach Python Skills to others. etc.

Even many Python Experts or Programming Content creators ask students to “Decide the direction”. So that they can learn python by following the right track.

I totally disagree with that. It’s because students can’t decide the path of their career or learning goals without learning the basics of Python or any other programming language. Until they haven’t completed or learned the basics.

For example, if they follow the advice to learn python to become Data Scientists then sooner or later they will get bored or start procrastinating because they haven’t found it interesting. Instead, they find web application development more interesting.

The point is every student has their own creativity. But so-called educators and companies force students to think limited. Students think that only data science and web development are everything if they learn python. Or they can only think to become data scientists or web developers. That’s totally wrong. While it’s possible that many become successful by following that approach. But as far as creativity and entrepreneurship development in students learning any programming language or python just based on the “product highlights or course highlights is wrong”. Especially, if students do not know the basics of python or even haven’t learned the basics of computers.

The 1st step to learning any Technology Skill is to learn its basics 1st. Learn how python works. Learn how it’s beneficial for development and business. Learn to write code in python. Create exercises and learn to build any small project etc.

So when you become familiar with the basics then you will be able to understand “What is the use of Python in machine learning? What is the use of Python in Data Science? What is the use of Python in Web Development? etc.

That’s why I suggest, do not think about the direction yet such as data science, machine learning, web development or any other. Just think to learn the basics of python. So that you can explore and understand the opportunities in Python for your career and business development.

4. Do not learn Python in hurry:

Do not try to think or try to learn Python in 1 day or 1 month or even a year. Learning python or any other computer skill or programming language is a never-ending process. Learning is an infinite loop. You are never able to finish or able to learn everything in python. Even those using Python for the last 20 years still learning. So why hurry? Why do you think you can learn python in 30 days? Why do you think that only one course is enough to learn python? Why do you think following a fixed path can make you an expert in Python?

Learning and building skills are day-to-day progress. Each day you learn new things. You can’t go against nature. When you give time to learn each concept or when you give yourself time to learn for 2 hours daily no matter what? Actually, you give time for yourself and your brain to become habitual, and become familiar with understanding complex concepts.

Learning python is like growing a plant. You can’t water the plant 24/7 or you cannot stretch its branches or you can’t inject chemicals to grow it. While humans can do everything or do these things as well. But my suggestion or what I learned so far is that it’s great to give time to things to reflect. Give yourself time to think about the code, and give yourself time to learn and build python skills naturally in you.

And if you do not give time or learn in hurry, you will forget and miss many important concepts. And when you face a problem or go through advanced concepts and you have to look back again at the basics. So the best approach is to be consistent but you should not be in hurry.

Learn for less but whatever you learn, learn that with quality. Your speed and quantity automatically get increased each day when you learn the basics effectively.

5. Read Python Books:

Reading books helps in understanding python programming concepts in detail. You can understand the point of view of the writer behind logic, programs, and concepts.

Most books are written by experts who have a large amount of experience in the software development field. Reading gives your mind time to think and learn each concept systematically.

Start reading any popular python books such as Python Cookbook, Data Structure and Algorithm in Python, Think Python etc. Invest 1 hour daily in the evening if you do not get time in the day or are busy with a job or business.

6. Do specific Python online courses:

Once you go through the above process to learn the basics of Python now, you’re ready to learn Python coding skills for a specific purpose. For example, once python basics are complete. You will now be able to understand and compare your interest, job, income opportunities, and business development scopes.

Now it’s time to look for a specific python course that you follow. If you do not find free video tutorials or courses you can also explore advanced or more effective online courses to learn Python.

And in which you can choose to become an expert or master such as:

Automation of repetitive business operations and tasks.
Learn and become an expert in Data Analysis and Visualization using Python
Web Development Expertise with Flask or Django and Python
Python Data Science and Machine Learning Expertise

7. Become an Expert in one thing or work:

You can’t become an expert in all python libraries or modules such as Panda, Beautiful Soup, PyTorch etc.

1st become efficient and highly skilled in one thing it can be web scrapping through beautiful soup or building data visualization apps through streamlit.

The goal here is to become job ready. And specialized in things so that you can work on real projects. It’s very important if you want to start working as a Freelance Developer.

Once you start working on small python projects you will start gaining more knowledge. And then learning python becomes automatic for you.

8. Learn Python through collaborative learning:

You can learn python along with a classmate or neighbor or friend or student or cousin or anyone who is interested in learning code. If you’re only learning python at home or online, then this is very important. You can also collaborate with others online to learn python.

But if you find someone in your near or in the family whether they are students or not, you can both learn python faster. You can learn from each other creativity, logical thinking, and ideas. And you will both start solving the problems creatively. This will also help you later in the job where you have to work in a team and need think of logic or solutions.

For example, you can find a student in your area who is learning python in school. He/She might be good or not good at learning computers or python. But python is in their syllabus. So, you can invest 1 hour daily to ask questions, give questions to each other, and solve programming puzzles.

9. Use Freelance Websites to learn Python:

This is best for those who want to start working as a Freelance Python Expert or Developer on Freelancing platforms such as Upwork. What you can do is read and analyze the python projects and the type of work required by the client. After that study through Free YouTube videos, Books, Blogs, and Online Courses or ask questions on Python forums or communities or stack overflow.

For example, if you want to work as a Data Science expert on Upwork then go through each python project. And practice or learn the job.

Once you are able to do that or able to learn. Now bid for python project. Do not matter, if you get hired or not. Your goal should be to understand the problems the client is sharing. And then communicate the solution with the client. If they like or understand, they will hire you. And then you can automate the learning and work as a Python developer.

But if they do not hire you, then you should learn more about the problem and solution. And after learning and practicing start bidding again.

10. Apply for Python Job roles:

Once you have invested 3 to 6 months in learning basic and as well as advanced python concepts now start applying for python job roles in companies and startups. In startups, you will learn more and have to explore various parts of software development. And in large companies, you have to start with specific work.

But whatever go-to Python job interview. Do not expect to get a job. Instead, expect to get failed. So that you can learn those python concepts you haven’t answered or soluted.

Give 4 to 5 Python interviews only to get failed and learn the pattern or job roles. After that come back home, and start learning and practicing the skills.

11. Ask questions and discuss Python concepts with seniors:

If you’re doing an internship or got hired as a junior python developer or trainee then use this time to gain maximum knowledge about python. Do not hesitate in this time to ask questions. Only discuss and debate on python and programming concepts with seniors, friends, and other trainees.

But what you learn, you must research on your own on that. For example, if someone says tuples are more powerful than a list then you must get the facts or logic behind that.

So friends these are the ways and tips I think are very helpful to learn Python. There are so many other, and you have to try each one. It’s because each python learning source has something to teach you. And you have to look at that as a student, not as an expert. And to become an expert in Python become a good student.

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