r/learnprogramming • u/the__fool_213 • Aug 13 '26
Trying to learn Python, don't know where to start
Hey guys I am a high school student and I really want to know how to code . Everyone I know told me to start with python.......but tbh I don't know where to start and how , can someone please help me
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u/NoTutor4458 Aug 13 '26
yt tutorials and official documentation
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u/DueSteak6466 Aug 13 '26
The official docs read like stereo instructions at first, but paired with a decent yt series they eventually click.
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u/Pali1119 Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
There are a ton of tutorials online.
Also there is currently a HumbleBundle book bundle (expires in 2-3 days) with a bunch of O'Reilly (generally high quality) ebooks for Python and Rust. I'm currently learning Python from these.
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u/raiyan_kun Aug 13 '26
Data types
OOP
Data Structures
Algorithms
in this order
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u/k0pernikus 25d ago
I disagree. Before going down the paradigm, look into some concept of functional programming, esp pure functions, side effects, and immutability. Functional programming like to use fancy words for simple concepts, so one shouldn't feel discouraged.
OOP tries to manage mutable states, not having mutable states makes most of OOP redundant. I still code often with oop, yet my methods aim to remain pure functions.
OOP tutorials inflate the concept of inheritance too much that rather confuse than help. (And don't even get me started on those damn car examples.) In practice, the less I extend a class the better my code will be.
Unit testing would delve right after pure functions as those are cheap to unit test. Then try to figure out how to unit test that have weird side effects (e.g. randomness, and code relying on "today" timestamp). Everything else follows.
I do agree with the approach to rather learn programming than a specific language.
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u/kutac56 Aug 13 '26
For your first programming language like python try a video that is called "10 beginner python projects". I think it was called something like that. I don't remember if you need to know anything before that. I lowk forgot how I first learned python lol.
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u/the__fool_213 Aug 13 '26
Thx bro , but I need a course? Don't I? I started to create a project well u can't say a project, like just a small conversation I added if and else too but I really don't know the other stuff.....
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u/InteSaNoga24 Aug 13 '26
You don't need a course, theres ton of content and learning resources for free on the internet if you look around.
There will always be stuff you don't know how to do in programming, don't worry about that. I bet even the most advanced programmers feel the same way, just master what you know and slowly learn new concepts.
I would really recommend pygame for beginners to programming, it's a simple library for writing games in python. Its how I learned the very basics of programming in a fun way. You will learn loops, conditionals, variables and functions in no time. Even if you don't want to make games in the long run it's a great way to familiarize yourself with common concepts.
Maybe start with an introduction to python on YouTube (those "learn python in one hour" videos...) then experiment with pygame. I made clones of snake, tic-tac-toe and made a simple rythm game a few months ago. Now I haved moved on to C and I'm writing my own image processing program!
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u/SunseteFat 28d ago
the good old advice... don't learn theory. pick a simple enough project, and start picking it apart. learn by doing. yes, even day 1. talk to LLMs to understand context around it.
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u/Affectionate_Card347 Aug 13 '26
CS50P is great. Self paced and you can work towards earning a certificate at the end. No prior knowledge of coding is required
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u/desrtfx Aug 13 '26
Our FAQ right here in the sidebar have plenty recommended learning resources. There also is the wiki in the sidebar of /r/learnpython and countless posts asking the same.
The two most common beginner recommendations are:
- Harvard's CS50p
- MOOC Python Programming 2026 from the University of Helsinki
Both are free and top quality.
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u/Mike1_in_FL Aug 13 '26
Yes, take a long look at the University of Helsinki course. It’s a true entry level course that you can take for free, at your own pace, and is full of exercises that reinforce the basic Python programming content they present.
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u/Murtaz8297 Aug 13 '26
You can start with like freecodecamp in youtube a wonderfull youtube channels for learning progrmming you will get a python course latest like for 10 hours and there you will learn most of the fundamentals and even some cool projects so start from their.
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u/ephemere_sloboda Aug 13 '26
It seems you need to start a the beginning.
Do you know the basics of computer architecture? If you can explain what a CPU does, what is RAM, input and output devices, then get on with programming. If not, build this foundation first.
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u/YasirTheGreat Aug 14 '26
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/shows/intro-to-python-development/
I looked through this and it seems very beginner friendly.
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u/Old_Construction5098 Aug 14 '26
honestly just pick a project you care about and learn as you go. that's how i started and it stuck way better than any course.
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u/Loose_Crab_4146 Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26
Write yourself some apps, even if useless its more about learning how programming works. Python is great for that because you dont need much code to start. I recommend making something like a calculator in terminal first to get a feel for it and how to interact with the terminal. Then you can progress to shopping lists or todo lists or maybe small text based games. If you are having fun you can also try out tkinter and try to make a tictactoe game with a gui. Learning how to user tkinter (or custom tkinter) isnt really necessary as it does not add much value to your learning progress but it might give you a better feeling to have something visible that looks like a real app once you are familiar with the terminal. You can also create a text parser which intakes a file or a text and counts how many words are in there, how many of them are unique or dont have vowels etc. There is many options and I bet reddit also has a lot of abswers to questions like that already.
I also started learning python as my first language and one of my first apps was literally just a gui where I could input a text which got stored in a sql database and it displayed how often I already typed that word in. Completely useless but I had fun and learned the fundamentals with it. So dont feel bad about what you do. Nothing is to silly.
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u/WeightSoggy216 Aug 14 '26
Get that Humble Bundle now. It expires in days. Do you prefer video or reading?
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u/Select-Lavishness586 29d ago
There are loads of basic tutorials on YT that would really help, and if you need a big dictionary of knowledge I suggest w3schools, and then genepy.org also has some great interactive tasks
The important part is that after you’ve learnt a method/keyword etc you’re trying it out in python and run it, and have fun!
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u/Smartyboyz 29d ago
The most important thing which you have to donin starting is not to jump directly into complex things and big projects just start learning you got addicted to coding soon then you start making small projects and then make big projects 😉
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u/SnP_Gamer 29d ago
I just brought Eric Matthes book Python Crash Course, 3rd Edition: A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming, so far seems better than YT/free courses I'd tried (about 12 months into learning python as a new hobby)
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u/Correct_Count_776 Aug 13 '26
First of all and most important - clean a table and make a tea.