11 answers
Debora
Student
Douglas, Georgia
1
Question
Asked
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How can I practice what I have learned about Python?
I am trying to learn using the internet but it is complicated. I know the basics, but how do I put them together? I want to work as a software engineer.
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11 answers
Lauryn Kline
Analytics Manager
2
Answers
Huntersville, North Carolina
Updated
Lauryn’s Answer
Once you have learned the basics of Python, there are several ways you can practice and improve your skills:
1. Solve coding challenges: There are many online platforms that offer coding challenges for Python. You can Google "practice Python" or something similar to find websites that have practice exercises.
2. Work on personal projects: One of the best ways to practice Python is to build projects. This can help you apply your knowledge and gain experience with real-world applications. There are many online resources with project ideas, or you can come up with your own ideas.
3. Contribute to or read through open-source projects: This is a great way to gain real-world experience and improve your coding skills. You can find open-source projects on platforms such as GitHub.
4. Take online courses, attend coding boot camps, watch YouTube videos, read books, read blogs: These can help improve/boost your knowledge and help you stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the language.
5. Teach others: Once you feel more comfortable with Python, teaching others can help reinforce your own knowledge and provide an opportunity to learn from others. Consider mentoring or tutoring others who are learning Python.
Remember that practicing regularly is key to improving your skills. Set aside time each week to work on coding challenges, build projects, and learn new concepts. The more you practice, the more confident and skilled you will become in Python.
A good thing to also remember is to start saving a portfolio of your work now on a platform like GitHub for future employers to view when you begin to search and apply for jobs.
1. Solve coding challenges: There are many online platforms that offer coding challenges for Python. You can Google "practice Python" or something similar to find websites that have practice exercises.
2. Work on personal projects: One of the best ways to practice Python is to build projects. This can help you apply your knowledge and gain experience with real-world applications. There are many online resources with project ideas, or you can come up with your own ideas.
3. Contribute to or read through open-source projects: This is a great way to gain real-world experience and improve your coding skills. You can find open-source projects on platforms such as GitHub.
4. Take online courses, attend coding boot camps, watch YouTube videos, read books, read blogs: These can help improve/boost your knowledge and help you stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the language.
5. Teach others: Once you feel more comfortable with Python, teaching others can help reinforce your own knowledge and provide an opportunity to learn from others. Consider mentoring or tutoring others who are learning Python.
Remember that practicing regularly is key to improving your skills. Set aside time each week to work on coding challenges, build projects, and learn new concepts. The more you practice, the more confident and skilled you will become in Python.
A good thing to also remember is to start saving a portfolio of your work now on a platform like GitHub for future employers to view when you begin to search and apply for jobs.
This is excellent advice. The only way to get better at something is to practice. Also, have others review your code. You may think it is perfect and crystal clear, but show it to someone who can read it with a fresh eye. They may see something you missed, or be able to help you find things that aren't as clear as you thought they were.
Fred Rosenberger
Shuaixin Li
Software Development Engineer
1
Answer
Syracuse, New York
Updated
Shuaixin’s Answer
If you want to become a software engineer and are interested in using Python, there are several ways to practice and improve your skills:
1: Learn the fundamentals of Python: Start by learning the fundamentals of the language, including syntax, data types, control flow, and functions. This will provide you with a solid foundation to build on.
2: Work on real-world projects: Develop projects that solve real-world problems. This will give you experience in developing applications from start to finish, including requirements gathering, design, implementation, testing, and deployment.
3: Learn web development frameworks: Learn popular web development frameworks like Flask and Django, which are built on Python. These frameworks provide you with tools and templates to quickly build web applications.
4: Participate in hackathons: Participate in hackathons or coding competitions to gain experience working on challenging problems with other developers.
5: Contribute to open-source projects: Contribute to open-source Python projects on GitHub. This will give you experience working with other developers and exposure to real-world development practices.
6:Read and follow industry best practices: Keep up with industry best practices for software development, including writing clean code, testing, debugging, and version control. You can learn a lot from books, blogs, and online courses.
Personally, I recommend using Udemy. There are lots of courses with solid quality for learners at every level. Also, you can take a look at a Github repository called project-based-learning. You can find some good projects to get started with.
1: Learn the fundamentals of Python: Start by learning the fundamentals of the language, including syntax, data types, control flow, and functions. This will provide you with a solid foundation to build on.
2: Work on real-world projects: Develop projects that solve real-world problems. This will give you experience in developing applications from start to finish, including requirements gathering, design, implementation, testing, and deployment.
3: Learn web development frameworks: Learn popular web development frameworks like Flask and Django, which are built on Python. These frameworks provide you with tools and templates to quickly build web applications.
4: Participate in hackathons: Participate in hackathons or coding competitions to gain experience working on challenging problems with other developers.
5: Contribute to open-source projects: Contribute to open-source Python projects on GitHub. This will give you experience working with other developers and exposure to real-world development practices.
6:Read and follow industry best practices: Keep up with industry best practices for software development, including writing clean code, testing, debugging, and version control. You can learn a lot from books, blogs, and online courses.
Personally, I recommend using Udemy. There are lots of courses with solid quality for learners at every level. Also, you can take a look at a Github repository called project-based-learning. You can find some good projects to get started with.
Jolese Dunwoody
Loan Analyst
13
Answers
Detroit, Michigan
Updated
Jolese’s Answer
Hi Debora,
My suggestions for practicing more Python would be for you to practice on codeacademy.com then try to test yourself with Microsoft's Visual Studio because it is guided coding. They allow you to start to input code and it makes suggestions based on what your trying to do. I would start with both of those because in my beginning coding classes we started with those and it was beginner friendly. I hope this helps and best wishes moving forward with your coding journey!
My suggestions for practicing more Python would be for you to practice on codeacademy.com then try to test yourself with Microsoft's Visual Studio because it is guided coding. They allow you to start to input code and it makes suggestions based on what your trying to do. I would start with both of those because in my beginning coding classes we started with those and it was beginner friendly. I hope this helps and best wishes moving forward with your coding journey!
Rebecca Tang
Banking
1816
Answers
Hong Kong
Updated
Rebecca’s Answer
Thank you for your question. I am not glad to hear that you are interested to develop your career in software development.
Below are my suggestions :
1. Find out the syntax online. There are plenty of information online.
2. Try to start doing some simple programming using Python first. Practice makes perfect!
3. After you have familiarize the syntax, you can start doing some small projects, e.g. control a toy car, robot, etc.
4. When get familiarize with Python, you can consider to start learning another programming language.
Hope this helps ! Good Luck!
Below are my suggestions :
1. Find out the syntax online. There are plenty of information online.
2. Try to start doing some simple programming using Python first. Practice makes perfect!
3. After you have familiarize the syntax, you can start doing some small projects, e.g. control a toy car, robot, etc.
4. When get familiarize with Python, you can consider to start learning another programming language.
Hope this helps ! Good Luck!
Dan Wolf
Retired Electrical/Software Engineer and part-time College Professor (BSEET and MS Engineering Management)
129
Answers
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Updated
Dan’s Answer
A software engineer is most likely to be working on scientific or process control applications (versus IT or business applications) so I am suggesting the Arduino microcontrollers are most likely to be most valuable to you. However there are are two other approaches that you may be interested in.
1) Microsoft Studio has a free version of Python that you can use for PC-based programs (better for IT or business applications).
2) The Raspberry PI Zero W board can be purchased for $15-20 and it can be programmed in Python to do an amazing amount of applications. This board is essentially a small computer (unlike the Arduino which is described next) that can even be used as a web browsing PC.
3) The Arduino Uno or Arduino Mega ($5-$25) is a small microcontroller board that can be programmed in MicroPython for many different applications such as robots, process control, and sensor applications.
You can purchase a Raspberry Pi online from a USA supplier although the supply/availability of them is a little tight. The Arduino can be purchased from Aliexpress.com for significantly less than a USA supplier but the shipping time can be 1-2 months. The Arduino Uno will cost about $5 from Aliexpress.com (or a kit with sensors and wires for about $25). An Arduino Uno is about $15 from a USA supplier (or $40 for a kit).
There are many different tutorials and example projects available via a Google search so look around before deciding which board to use. I think you will be amazed at the availability of different projects and you should have no difficulty finding fun projects.
1) Microsoft Studio has a free version of Python that you can use for PC-based programs (better for IT or business applications).
2) The Raspberry PI Zero W board can be purchased for $15-20 and it can be programmed in Python to do an amazing amount of applications. This board is essentially a small computer (unlike the Arduino which is described next) that can even be used as a web browsing PC.
3) The Arduino Uno or Arduino Mega ($5-$25) is a small microcontroller board that can be programmed in MicroPython for many different applications such as robots, process control, and sensor applications.
You can purchase a Raspberry Pi online from a USA supplier although the supply/availability of them is a little tight. The Arduino can be purchased from Aliexpress.com for significantly less than a USA supplier but the shipping time can be 1-2 months. The Arduino Uno will cost about $5 from Aliexpress.com (or a kit with sensors and wires for about $25). An Arduino Uno is about $15 from a USA supplier (or $40 for a kit).
There are many different tutorials and example projects available via a Google search so look around before deciding which board to use. I think you will be amazed at the availability of different projects and you should have no difficulty finding fun projects.
Najib Alhassan
Software Engineer
1
Answer
Accra, Greater Accra Region, Ghana
Updated
Najib’s Answer
The only way to become a software engineer is to try out basic examples. Build simple apps and then gradually try out complex apps. Before you know it you'll be comfortable building all kinds of apps. Software engineering is about experience. Constant practice.
Elliot Jordan
Web Developer
76
Answers
Indianapolis, Indiana
Updated
Elliot’s Answer
Some practical uses of Python include these areas: Raspberry Pi Projects (requiring Python coding), Web Development with Django, and basic data science and analysis with Jupyter Notebooks/Pandas/other libraries. Plenty to do here...and these projects are approachable for beginners in Python.
Brian Schunck
Director, Intelligent Software Systems at GoPro
34
Answers
San Diego, California
Updated
Brian’s Answer
I maintain my Python skills by writing scripts to automate common tasks such as web scraping. Google "python web scraping" and you will find lots of links including Beautiful Soup. If you are interested in Python for AI, the book Collective Intelligence explains the subject with Python scripts that actually work. Finally, Manning <https://www.manning.com/> is a good source for books. Search for "python" and for project ideas, search for "python projects".
Rahul Bamola
3
Answers
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Updated
Rahul’s Answer
Best thing to get started with is : pick any simple project and start implementing whatever you have learnt. Also follow pypi standards to follow best practices while writting code in python.
Thays Moia Ribeiro
Aupair
24
Answers
Yucca Valley, California
Updated
Thays’s Answer
Personal projects, open source contributions, coding challenges tutorials and exercises, Read Code, Pair programming, build a portfolio, online community. Remember, consistency is key. Set aside regular time for practicing and learning. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes; they are an essential part of the learning process. As you gain more experience, you’ll find it easier to put different Python concepts together to build more complex applications. Good luck on your journey to becoming a software engineer!
Doug Miller
Wear many hats
13
Answers
Brooklyn, Connecticut
Updated
Doug’s Answer
Checkout the large number of free coding tutorials on YouTube. There is everything you need from beginners to advanced