Learning Python Begins
After several soft starts at learning Python, I am attempting to dig in more. I’m feeling more confident in javascript and react, but the python world is still a bit awkward feeling. It is now common for me to encounter because it is used heavily in machine learning and geospatial engineering... So I dive in.
I have previously gone through a course in writing appium test suites in python and another Coursera certification in machine learning, and code is code, so things aren’t completely new. I however want to have a better idea of what I am doing without the rocky, stack overflow hand holding of installs and yielding something that works... but might not be great quality.
I reached out to coworkers and ordered a stack of library books. I immediately returned a few books that seemed closer to “coding for toddlers” level, and landed on narrowing my start to three tools:
- Working through the Hypermodern Python
- Then going through the Python 3 the Hardway books
- Finally, going through the Robust Python book
Hypermodern Python promises to be a guide to modern Python tooling with a focus on simplicity and minimalism.1 It walks you through the creation of a complete and up-to-date Python project structure, with unit tests, static analysis, type-checking, documentation, and continuous integration and delivery. That sounds lovely. The swirl of tools and seeming lack of consistent structure in the python world gave me a headache.
The Learn the Hardway series promises to give guidance without being overly hand holdy. Robust Python promises to teach how to write clean and maintainable code using python’s type system and testing. Quality, quality quality.
Let's get started with the hypermodern python setup.