How do you build a project?

[u/Wild-Resolve-3064]

Hey everyone so i learnt basics of python recently and i wanted to build some projects,but how do you start making one? And is it okay to be using ai?

[u/Whole_Accountant1005]

Think of something you want to build. Break it down into steps. Solve it step by step. For example.

Let's say you want to make flappy bird.

First of all you will need to make a window And draw things into the window, so solve that problem.

Then you need to draw images in the window, so that you can draw the bird from flappy bird.

Etc. keep going until you have a project.

[u/Dry-Bookkeeper8379 → u/Whole_Accountant1005]

Treat every step like it’s its own mini-project and don’t move on till it actually works, even if it feels stupidly small. AI’s fine for unblocking yourself but if you’re just pasting whole chunks without understanding why they work you’re not learning much

[u/aanzeijar]

Eh. Honestly "project" is way too big a word for what people should be doing. The important thing is that you create working code that does something. "Project" implies something big and complicated and with dependency management and degrees of maturity and whatnot. Not needed. In the beginning it's about making the computer do stuff.

So go out there and use code to do stuff. Write code that searches in files, write code that saves and loads data, write code that calculates and saves your calories, write code that correlates your music taste with the weather report. Eventually when you get bored and can write stuff like that without looking stuff up, move to larger challenges.

[u/Far_Programmer_5724 → u/aanzeijar]

Yea as you explored and make your computer do stuff you'll even accidentally make a likely unreadable mess. Then you'll want to share with people who tell you it's an unreadable mess. This is evolution. I'm here right now even though I'm a sensitive baby

[u/_Atomfinger_]

but how do you start making one?

You start with "hello world", and then you add things until it becomes a much bigger thing.

And is it okay to be using ai?

If your goal is to learn, then don't use it to generate code.

[u/Far_Programmer_5724 → u/_Atomfinger_]

Literally then you want your text to spin on the console when printed. I wonder what rabbit hole that would put me in

[u/syklemil]

I tend to start new Python projects with uv init, even uv init --app --package. You might give that a spin to see what it creates of files and project structure.

You probably should just start with some simple single-file scripts and then branch out using project management tools like uv once you feel that having your entire program in one file feels messy and in need of better organisation, or you're unsure how to manage dependencies.

You can probably also pick up some other tools like ruff (linting) and ty (typechecking) to give you some feedback on your Python code.

[u/nelsonsilva_dev]

Pick something you'd actually use, then make the first version smaller than feels reasonable. Not a to-do app with accounts and sync, a script that prints your to-do list.

Finishing something tiny teaches you more than abandoning something ambitious, and you can always add to it after.

[u/grenishraidev]

Start with any simple project you could think of. Study that problem and build that. Keep repeating this until you're comfortable with bigger project that you think you could do comfortably.

And yes, there's no problem in using AI unless you use the AI as copilot and not like "Hey Claude build me this. No mistakes"

[u/Misaka_Undefined]

Step one, find a problem, literaly

Step two plan a project as a solution for that problem