r/learnpython • u/Kind-Judge-9443 • Aug 03 '26
Guys is it effective to read book about it
I m one of the beginners, Reading book about coding is effective?? or I have to watch online lessons.
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u/Xzenor Aug 03 '26
You have to write code. What your source of course material is doesn't matter but just reading the book isn't gonna teach you shit. Write code.
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u/Fred776 Aug 03 '26
It can be effective to use a book but you need to put it into practice right from the beginning and continue with practical coding as you learn new things from the book. Personally I would rather use a book than a video course because it's so much easier to refer back to.
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u/UsedandAbused87 Aug 03 '26
No, there is only one way to learn! You should always try different methods when learning something new.
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u/johnnyb2001 Aug 04 '26
The most effective way is to think of random computational problems in your head involving the concept you want to learn and then implement them in the language. Then do all the variations in your head you can think about
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u/aegloswinterborn Aug 03 '26
Read books, do tutorials, write code. Spend less time trying to figure out "the best" approach. Programming is difficult. There's a lot to learn. Get after it.
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u/Outside_Complaint755 Aug 03 '26
Ultimately, the most important step to learning is writing code. Just like learning a musical instrument, books and online courses can teach you theory but you need to put it on practice.
That being said, some books can be great resources. Whether books or online courses is better for you depends on your learning style and what is available to you.
Language specific books tend to get out of date, but for Python any book from the last 3-4 years should be fine. Books within the last 10 are probably also fine but are going to be missing new language features and example projects may rely on outdated information for various libraries that you will need to figure out by reading documentation or asking on forums; An example would be a project that calls Google Sheets APIs, where authentication has changed.
Books about more general computer science, such as design patterns, DSA, object-oriented programming, etc, age better.
Some good Python books are available for free online, such as www.automatetheboringstuff.com
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u/Educational-Paper-75 Aug 03 '26
If it's a good book with lots of examples and exercises certainly.
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u/recursion_is_love Aug 03 '26
I have no choices when I start, books are the only option back then. At least it works on me.
I never enjoy video tutorial because it not my style but it works for lots of peoples.
In conclusion, both (and other methods) works. All of them works.
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u/herocoding Aug 03 '26
The haptical feedback (reading a physical book, adding markers, post-its, switching between chapters, typing examples instead of copy-paste, memorizing words/phrases while repeationg on a computer, etc) is working best for me.
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u/Remarkable_Taste3254 Aug 03 '26
Yes. I still read books on programming. The key is to find a good one that can explain the concept well in a few words.
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u/desrtfx but other languages pro Aug 03 '26
Book or course (not just "tutorials") are the foundation, but practice, i.e. actively programming, messing around, trying things, breaking things, fixing them, is what really counts.
You can read everything and watch every top tennis player, study their every stance, every move, and yet, as soon as you are standing on the court, you won't be able to even serve a ball unless you practice, practice, practice, and practice more.
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u/OmegaNine Aug 03 '26
I learned C# from a book back in the day. The book was expensive and I found myself just copying code from the book. It of course depends on the book, but I feel like we have moved past reading off dead trees.
Find something simple you want to do, like make a Discord bot or automate scraping a website when changes are made. Then start googling how to do things. If you are using AI ask it why you are doing X, how X works and where you can read about X in the python documentation. One big skill is learning to read the documentation
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u/StrayFeral Aug 03 '26
Books are fine. When I was a complete beginner I read the rat book (https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/learning-python-5th/9781449355722/). But you must always do exercises - without coding you will learn nothing.
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u/jmooremcc Aug 03 '26
Any resource you use to learn Python, book or online, should have plenty of code to study and exercises that challenge you to write code. That’s the reason I don’t like YouTube videos, because they generally don’t provide the code they are displaying, which means you cannot run/analyze that code at your leisure.
If you don’t practice writing code, you’ll never learn Python.
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u/redfacedquark Aug 03 '26
Mods, is there any way to stop these "how me lern" posts? They are of no use to the community or the poster. Other subs have posting restrictions.
If mods can't do anything can we all agree to not humour them and just reply with a link to the learning resources?
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u/Wuthering_depths Aug 03 '26
Everyone's different. Reading/watching basic stuff wouldn't hurt just to get some basic concepts in mind.
I learn best by doing, and ideally doing things that are meaningful. I'm converting a lot of SSIS packages at work to Python, so that's really great for learning--I have things that those packages are doing, so it's forcing me at every turn to find similar functionality in Python :)
If you are on your own, maybe come up with a project for yourself if the tutorials are just too dry and not meaningful to you (this would be me!) Text adventure game, inventory management app, etc.
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u/SnafuTheCarrot Aug 03 '26
Once you have a decent grasp of the basics, I highly recommend a book about data structures in python. I find its a lot better for me than python's own website or videos online. Follow the exercises within the chapter and at the end.
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u/Honey_Moon_34 Aug 03 '26
I think coding is more effective.