How to Practice Python?

Are you all set to embark on your first-ever journey of discovering Python – the burgeoning programming language helping programmers make incredible strides recently? Although the ever-mushrooming libraries and packages make Python a little dense, the pretty straightforward basic syntax and its object-oriented approach help you become a coding whiz effortlessly. 

It’s versatile, easy yet powerful, but to get the hang of this pick of perfectionists, you must keep practicing it thoroughly.

But how to practice Python and hone coding skills? Let’s dig deeper.

What is Python? 

Python is a widely-used coding language designed by Guido van Rossum and developed and released by Python Software Foundation in 1991. It’s an interpreted, high-level, object-oriented/OPP, and open-source tool that aims to help coders write logical and clean programs while working on both small or large-scale intricate projects. 

Python is a strongly dynamically typed programming language meaning the variable type is determined only during runtime. Its unit testing framework, and high-class project integration powers make it best suited for programmers developing software based on the RAD model. 

Python can be used to execute a wide range of tasks like:

• Software Application Development: Web application development, CLI development, game development, GUI development
• Working on Data Science: Data analysis and data visualization, AI, ML, scientific computing, web scraping
• Workflow Automation and Acceleration: DevOps, software programs packaging, distribution, and deployment to end-users via publishing them to PyPI, development environment, database systems, software applications testing
• Design and develop robots and embedded systems, and program your hardware 

Despite being a high-level and versatile coding system, Python doesn’t go well with low-level devices as it’s interpreted in nature. Hence, facing troubles while writing an OS with Python is not uncommon. So, you would be better off working with C++/C to make your code efficiently interact with such devices. 

Is It Hard To Learn Python?

As we have already stated, Python is the best coding language to start out with programming. It’s the preference of beginners with no to little prior coding knowledge and even the fast-trackers striving to nail programming – it emphasizes natural language, has simple syntax, and comes with mandatory visual formatting. 

Plus, Python has formed a big community of experts over the last 31 years to help you troubleshoot in no time.

As a newbie, you may require to practice more or less 4 hours a day for about 6-8 weeks to apprehend the basic concepts. To become a seasoned developer and get into data science, you may have to practice constantly for months to even years. 

However, it gets easy to grasp the fundamental concepts if you have already played with other coding tools. 

But remember, understanding Python and mastering it are two different things. It has a multitude of branches, and you can excel in a couple of them through continuous practice. But to master them all, you may need a lifetime! 

How to Practice Python?

How fast you can comprehend Python depends mainly on how experienced a coder you are and how much time you devote to acing it. Surely, the track followed by a professional programmer would be different from an experimental coder. However, one foolproof strategy applicable to all is to keep practicing.

Let’s go through how to practice Python:

Learn the Basics 

At a bare minimum, you should have sound knowledge of the basics to build upon them. If you jump straight into exercises without grasping the fundamental concepts, hold your horses – you will certainly have a hard time delving into more intricate projects. 

The primary concepts you should try to wrap your head around are:

• Data types
• Variables
• Arithmetic and logical operators
• Basic string operations
• String formatting
• Control flow statements
• List comprehensions
• Functions
• loops
• Basic string operations
• Conditions
• Classes, exceptions and objects

Thankfully, you can find plenty of quality yet free online Python courses and sites to explore and comprehend the ins and outs of these basics and lessen the workload on your brain if you are pressed for time. 

Choose the Right Environment

Any standard Python interpreter and package manager on any OS can do the job just fine for a novice. As you keep mastering coding and data science, you can go with Anaconda – an open-source data science platform with a Python interpreter and 1500+ Python/R data science packages – no more grappling with the Python installer from Python Software Foundation to source and download external libraries. 

Now, it’s time to install the Integrated development environment/IDE you prefer to write, test, compile, and debug your code – if you plan to work with Python long term, you really require a powerful IDE to write clean, better, and logical code that runs. However, if you have just begun exploring programming, you may not need an IDE. 

And the best news is that you don’t have to break the bank for a quality IDE. There are plenty of free IDEs with top-notch features and functionalities for Python, for instance, Spyder, PyCharm., Sublime, Jupyter Notebook, etc., to try out and choose from before settling on a particular one.  

Read Everything!

Python has a realm of standard and external library lists and web frameworks. While you cannot master them all, delving into them, no doubt, can speed up your learning process. 

Whether you use NumPy to process multi-dimensional array objects, Keras to work with deep neural networks, or Matplotlib to create interactive visualizations, digging into Python libraries and going through the documentation is essential to sharpen your programming skills and solve real-world coding problems effortlessly. 

Go Online and Learn

So have you nailed the fundamental concepts of Python? You rock! Now it’s time to get into practice and have a realm of real-life coding exercises under the belt to become a real Python whiz. 

You can find free online Python websites, for instance, Udemy, Codecademy, Educative, Coursera, etc., that carve out a shiny spot on the web. They aim to deliver all the Python lessons and courses you require thoroughly, precisely, and in a way that will make it all stick. 

Code every day, Build and be a Seasoned Coder

It may seem intimidating at the beginning, but the truth is that writing codes yourself is an incredible way to master programming. Take codes from online/offline Python tutorials and books, write them down and run and later modify them to make them fit for other purposes. You can begin with 30-40 minutes a day and slowly work your way up to become an expert!

Now, it’s time to build! Don’t bother much about what to build; instead, focus on how to build like a pro. Try to build something, anything, for instance, mobile applications, games, and more – it will help you discover Python the most. 

While writing intricate programs, you cannot evade bugs that sometimes can make you spend hours tracking down the causes your code fails. Don’t get frustrated; things can go wrong even with a Python expert. And an interactional IDE with a debugging tool can be a great help here. 

While debugging the code with Python’s IDE – IDLE, guess the error location, fix a breakpoint, and scan the code. Once you can figure out the bug, try to correct it. Learning to hunt down and fix code errors is a mastery you’ll require for your entire programming career!