How to Learn Python in 2022

Key Takeaways

python is one of the most popular programming languages of all time and it makes sense python is just so versatile and allows you to do so much without learning low-level code for this reason i always think python is the best way to learn code for absolute beginners however this also presents another issue there are so many resources out there that it makes it hard to decipher what is and isn't worth your time for me the answer is clear that book is automate the boring stuff with python by al swigart this book is free to read online or to support the author you can click the link in the description i love python so make sure you like comment and subscribe if you want to see more python videos the reason i love this book more than any others requires a little bit of context there's a common trait amongst a lot of programming tutorials and books and that's that they're very dense in nature but fairly shallow in terms of why it returns to you meaning that i can code and follow along typing syntax but i don't end up learning anything meaningful coding in the 21st century is much different than what it was back in the day as if i know i'm only like 26. writing simple bank applications or hello world is useful somewhat but it's far away from where someone should be dropped off to do their own thing and this is why i love automate the boring stuff with python it assumes absolutely no previous knowledge and it actually has useful projects that help you automate the boring stuff with python here are some examples controlling the keyboard and mouse with gui automations one of the classic examples of something you need to automate is clicking things on your screen this could be for your job or even just for pleasure this book introduces you to python libraries used to help you automate your desktop environment with clicks scrolls and keyboard inputs so if you want to automate those boring games like cookie clicker sorry if that offended you then this is a great way to automate that working with spreadsheets do you want your boss to fall in love with you there's some about excel that office workers absolutely love for some reason the problem is is that you specify that you're proficient in excel on your resume so you're now that go-to person for basically any excel job there are a couple sections in this book that tell you how to deal with google sheets or excel and how you can use python to automate different things within those spreadsheet softwares funny enough automating spreadsheets is where a lot of programmers first learn how to program to automate those annoying tedious tasks that your boss assigned you seriously just take excel off your resume it doesn't even matter at this point once you learn how to automate your spreadsheet abilities that full day task can now be a full day of looking at youtube when you shouldn't be emails automating emails is also something that programmers love to automate especially in the office your boss is seriously going to love you there's a whole chapter dealing with how to deal with the apis around gmail and how you can use it to automate your emails with sending replying and reading it also goes into depth about how you can use text message via sms as well with emails and sms you really do have full control of communication in the office environment and that's just one reason why i think this book is just amazing for absolute beginners its examples can be used in real world applications and gives you an idea of the types of things you can build using programming with python however that's just one side of it easy to follow along basics but before diving into any examples or projects you'll need to learn the basics that's how a lot of people get stuck in tutorial hell the first chapters within this book teaches you the fundamentals in ways that beginners will understand a good example is how a programming variable can be thought of as putting a value in a box that you can use for later or using flowcharts to showcase what if statements can be used for in your program for someone who isn't a beginner at programming this might seem a little bit too basic but since this book isn't opinionated and assumes that you have no prior knowledge of programming it allows for complex topics to be broken down to his absolute basics open-ended and this brings me to the final reason as to why i think this is the best way to learn python for absolute beginners it knows when to let go of your hand when a mother bird drops her children to test it they can fly or die she has confidence that her child has the ability to fly i'm not sure if that's scientifically accurate or even real to begin with i feel like this book has the perfect balance between teaching you the basics and having meaningful examples where you can move forward in doing your own things afterwards modern software development is a very complex topic and with python especially there are a million topics that can make you a much better programmer but automate the boring stuff with python teaches you the basics managing data automating popular tools learning how to automate the web using third party packages and more and after you read the book you'll be comfortable automating things in your life that you use every single day programmers always have their own things they want to work on and this book gives you the skills needed to do that again this book is free to read online however if you want to support the author click the link in the description thanks for watching this video make sure you like comment and subscribe if you want to see some more python content i'd love to see what you guys think i should do next make sure to join my discord community where we talk about programming tech and memes what book changed your programming career you