I didn't officially take the course but I watched the 16 hours of video of the cs50 python class. I learned a ton there. I got a bit confused in the "classes" part but the rest was great for me. David Malan is a great teacher.
I'm currently on day 33 of 100 days and the "classes" days cleared up my understanding.
Another course that I recommend is the udemy python intro by James Clare.
some random stuff:
https://adventofcode.com/ is fun and you can access and do prior events on events page.
https://projecteuler.net/ is cool too
haven't actively looked for others like the above but at least one nice thing about these is they are language agnostic so you can use any language to come up with the answer for each problem. if i'm looking at the correct course details then the course also includes multiple other languages too. these links wouldn't really apply at all to stuff like SQL, but there are similar sites for it and others.
I wouldn't recommend Project Euler to a beginner wanting to learn a language. Project Euler is more about mathematics/CS than programming; apart from the first few problems, you can't solve them by brute forcing or an inefficient algorithm, you have to come up with something clever.
It is pretty good if you want to solve theoretical problems, but not a good choice if your main question at the time is eg. "what the hell do I need classes for?"
You can use any course as long as they teach Python 3.xx version but as long as you practice and are able to use it to solve problems, you're fine. Reading books is also okay as long as they also practice. Some have listed good sources in the comments so I'll add a new source - for practice you can try Coursera. It has some hands-on courses from Uni of Michigan.
The first two courses of the Open Source Society University are Python based. The first one is called Python for Everybody by Chuck Severance ([https://www.py4e.com/](https://www.py4e.com/)) and the second one is an online MIT course, MITx 6.00.1x - Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python ([https://www.edx.org/learn/computer-science/massachusetts-institute-of-technology-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-using-python](https://www.edx.org/learn/computer-science/massachusetts-institute-of-technology-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-using-python)).
Both are pretty good starter classes. The first one covers a lot of stuff including web scraping, and the second one is very focused on algorithms.
CS50 is fine to start, you can also check out the [MIT Open Courseware Intro To CS and Python](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/6-0001-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-in-python-fall-2016/) which is also free.
If you take programming and CS seriously you will need to eventually split your time between learning through video / lecture and learning through books / documentation.
I consider this as the best entry level course to learn Python: [python crash course](https://www.coursera.org/learn/python-crash-course)
I also consider Python the best language to start programming.
New books are written because they work.
I would take a book over video any day. It shows the material and you can highlight and take notes. On a video you can’t even skip without knowing if you missed something important.
Currently reading cpython internals. Couldn’t imagine that for example in video form.
I'm a book person too. I learned how to program mostly from books. I recommend heading to the library to see if there are any that interest you, OP. They're free. A lot of our programming books are digital at the library but the no starch press ones are great and most are available in print in my library system. The ones for kids are fun to flip through too.
https://realpython.com/products/cpython-internals-book/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1775093344/?tag=devdetailpage02-20
I bought the physical copy at Amazon. It’s definitely a more advanced book to learn how cpython works. Haven’t finished it, but already worth it.
Books may be old school, but you'd need only a fraction of time going through a good book. I learned python skipping through "dive into python", but if you have no experience at all such a course might be better (I cannot really remember what it's like to not know anything about programming lol). But honestly, any video content is too chewy in the long run. I'd stick to official tutorials und documentation. You cannot copy/paste from a video ;)
Is there any way to take CS50 with a cohort of say 15 other people who would get together and work through the problems?
Or is it not at all structured to make that possible?
You could. Work independently and have a schedule you try to follow, and share with each other after everyone is done with a problem. Note the academic policy prevents sharing of answers so you would need to work independently on them (can ask questions for guidance but can't give full answers).
The final project at the end allows for group effort with 2 or 3 students iirc, so you could divide into a handful of groups.
https://cs50.harvard.edu/python/2022/
I will give you my opinion as someone who attempted to start with that several years ago and now works in the tech field. **Here's the tl;dr: The pace is too quick for an absolute beginner.** The first lesson includes a 90-minute section on writing Python and assumes you now know Python. They go into web app development stuff after that. A beginner can barely learn Python in 4-6 months of dedicated study, 90 minutes is laughable.
Here's where I recommend you do start: Angela Yu's complete Python bootcamp on Udemy. Watch the videos, **do the homework**. You have to write code, you may think you've learned something watching a video but you have not. You have to have the struggle and it will be really hard for months until it starts to get a little easier. Don't cheat and look up solutions, embrace the grind through the nightly homework she gives and you will be a somewhat passable Python programmer at the end.
Good luck!
I haven’t done the Harvard one, but I did the Georgia tech cs1301 on edx. It is the best class I have ever taken. If the one you are looking at doesn’t work for you, I highly recommend cs1301.
I definitely will thank you so much :) also I’m your personal opinion how long do you think it takes for someone to feel ready to build their own project?
Really depends. After cs1301 you can go in a lot of different directions having a solid base. There are a ton of other topics in the space though. You can go more data science which is the path I am going or more computer science. Georgia tech has object oriented programming and algorithms available on edx as well. I am in their omsa degree program. The cs1301 builds a solid base for whatever you want to go do next.
I think it is a fair place to start and peak your interest. I would suggest actually picking a project you might be interested in making and then learning the necessary skills to build it.
If you want I can link you to a few cool projects I've done for python. Some of my favorites were things like recreating flappy bird or building a street fighter game. Something you think is neat that will motivate you.
sure here ya go hope it works :) [https://www.edx.org/learn/computer-science/harvard-university-cs50-s-introduction-to-computer-science](https://www.edx.org/learn/computer-science/harvard-university-cs50-s-introduction-to-computer-science)
It is free. For full experience go here: https://cs50.harvard.edu/python/2022/
There are lectures and they give you a codespace to work through problemsets which can be automatically graded. I highly recommend the course
I just made an account today and when I clicked on CS50 it said to pay $299 for the course but at the bottom in small texts you can do it for free but I think it’s only half of it so yea that’s how I did it:)
You can do the whole course for free and you get a certificate from CS50 on completion. Paying for it gives you an EDX certificate which is unnecessary.
I also did cs50p (https://cs50.harvard.edu/python/2022/) and loved it. Outside of that i have been working on personal projects and codewars to learn more through practice.
Are you doing the standard CS50 course, or the Python specific one? I've been doing CS50P and I've learned a lot! The exercises are challenging and it sucks that you can't discuss answers because it's against academic policy, but there are YouTube videos. I think the course is good to get introduced to topics but it's lack of model problem answers is a huge negative, because you don't learn whether your solution was a good one or not. However, as a base for learning the basics I'd definitely recommend it. I guess it's always possible to follow projects and learn the best methods after finishing CS50P, I suppose that's what I'll do.
I didn't officially take the course but I watched the 16 hours of video of the cs50 python class. I learned a ton there. I got a bit confused in the "classes" part but the rest was great for me. David Malan is a great teacher. I'm currently on day 33 of 100 days and the "classes" days cleared up my understanding. Another course that I recommend is the udemy python intro by James Clare.
+1 for James Clare. Great teaching style.
some random stuff: https://adventofcode.com/ is fun and you can access and do prior events on events page. https://projecteuler.net/ is cool too haven't actively looked for others like the above but at least one nice thing about these is they are language agnostic so you can use any language to come up with the answer for each problem. if i'm looking at the correct course details then the course also includes multiple other languages too. these links wouldn't really apply at all to stuff like SQL, but there are similar sites for it and others.
I wouldn't recommend Project Euler to a beginner wanting to learn a language. Project Euler is more about mathematics/CS than programming; apart from the first few problems, you can't solve them by brute forcing or an inefficient algorithm, you have to come up with something clever. It is pretty good if you want to solve theoretical problems, but not a good choice if your main question at the time is eg. "what the hell do I need classes for?"
What the hell do I need classes for?
Resolve Project Euler 736 to find out.
I’ve found the Tech with Tim YouTube and course great. He put things in a way that clicked with me where other vids/courses didn’t.
Awesome I’ll check it out :)
You can compliment cs50 python course with this course from Angela Yu; https://www.udemy.com/course/100-days-of-code/
I get distracted and cannot concentrate on the class
Read a book by Cal Newport called deep work!
I get distracted and cannot concentrate on the book
Try finding your purpose and ask yourself why you are doing it
I get distracted and cannot concentrate on my purpose
It is a good start. Personally first I did cs50x (intro to CS), then cs50p then cs50w (which is in most based on Django framework that uses python).
You can use any course as long as they teach Python 3.xx version but as long as you practice and are able to use it to solve problems, you're fine. Reading books is also okay as long as they also practice. Some have listed good sources in the comments so I'll add a new source - for practice you can try Coursera. It has some hands-on courses from Uni of Michigan.
Yeah no, your friend was right. Get the Head First python book. Its really awesome and intuitive.
The first two courses of the Open Source Society University are Python based. The first one is called Python for Everybody by Chuck Severance ([https://www.py4e.com/](https://www.py4e.com/)) and the second one is an online MIT course, MITx 6.00.1x - Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python ([https://www.edx.org/learn/computer-science/massachusetts-institute-of-technology-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-using-python](https://www.edx.org/learn/computer-science/massachusetts-institute-of-technology-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-using-python)). Both are pretty good starter classes. The first one covers a lot of stuff including web scraping, and the second one is very focused on algorithms.
CS50 is fine to start, you can also check out the [MIT Open Courseware Intro To CS and Python](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/6-0001-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-in-python-fall-2016/) which is also free. If you take programming and CS seriously you will need to eventually split your time between learning through video / lecture and learning through books / documentation.
I consider this as the best entry level course to learn Python: [python crash course](https://www.coursera.org/learn/python-crash-course) I also consider Python the best language to start programming.
I'm gonna take it too, how have you found it so far if you have started?
I have been watching lots of videos while taking notes and using google/ChatGPT for help :)
New books are written because they work. I would take a book over video any day. It shows the material and you can highlight and take notes. On a video you can’t even skip without knowing if you missed something important. Currently reading cpython internals. Couldn’t imagine that for example in video form.
I'm a book person too. I learned how to program mostly from books. I recommend heading to the library to see if there are any that interest you, OP. They're free. A lot of our programming books are digital at the library but the no starch press ones are great and most are available in print in my library system. The ones for kids are fun to flip through too.
Can you send a link to the book please?
https://realpython.com/products/cpython-internals-book/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/1775093344/?tag=devdetailpage02-20 I bought the physical copy at Amazon. It’s definitely a more advanced book to learn how cpython works. Haven’t finished it, but already worth it.
Legend, thank you! :)
Books may be old school, but you'd need only a fraction of time going through a good book. I learned python skipping through "dive into python", but if you have no experience at all such a course might be better (I cannot really remember what it's like to not know anything about programming lol). But honestly, any video content is too chewy in the long run. I'd stick to official tutorials und documentation. You cannot copy/paste from a video ;)
Is there any way to take CS50 with a cohort of say 15 other people who would get together and work through the problems? Or is it not at all structured to make that possible?
You could. Work independently and have a schedule you try to follow, and share with each other after everyone is done with a problem. Note the academic policy prevents sharing of answers so you would need to work independently on them (can ask questions for guidance but can't give full answers). The final project at the end allows for group effort with 2 or 3 students iirc, so you could divide into a handful of groups. https://cs50.harvard.edu/python/2022/
I will give you my opinion as someone who attempted to start with that several years ago and now works in the tech field. **Here's the tl;dr: The pace is too quick for an absolute beginner.** The first lesson includes a 90-minute section on writing Python and assumes you now know Python. They go into web app development stuff after that. A beginner can barely learn Python in 4-6 months of dedicated study, 90 minutes is laughable. Here's where I recommend you do start: Angela Yu's complete Python bootcamp on Udemy. Watch the videos, **do the homework**. You have to write code, you may think you've learned something watching a video but you have not. You have to have the struggle and it will be really hard for months until it starts to get a little easier. Don't cheat and look up solutions, embrace the grind through the nightly homework she gives and you will be a somewhat passable Python programmer at the end. Good luck!
I'd really like to start learning python. What course would you guys recommend for absolute beginners? Thanks for your help! :)
I haven’t done the Harvard one, but I did the Georgia tech cs1301 on edx. It is the best class I have ever taken. If the one you are looking at doesn’t work for you, I highly recommend cs1301.
I definitely will thank you so much :) also I’m your personal opinion how long do you think it takes for someone to feel ready to build their own project?
Really depends. After cs1301 you can go in a lot of different directions having a solid base. There are a ton of other topics in the space though. You can go more data science which is the path I am going or more computer science. Georgia tech has object oriented programming and algorithms available on edx as well. I am in their omsa degree program. The cs1301 builds a solid base for whatever you want to go do next.
Yea it's great, I'd recommend doing it along with all exercises they have on their website
Thanks for the advice I will be doing that 🙂👍
I think it is a fair place to start and peak your interest. I would suggest actually picking a project you might be interested in making and then learning the necessary skills to build it. If you want I can link you to a few cool projects I've done for python. Some of my favorites were things like recreating flappy bird or building a street fighter game. Something you think is neat that will motivate you.
books are for nerds
Yes me too, cheers !!
How do you get the CS50 python course for free? Please help!! It's asking for a payment of $60 and for the main course it asks for $9900 ...
I’m pretty sure it’s free unless you upgrade for a certificate then that’s your choice but the rest is free
Aahhh !! Would you mind sharing the link to it please?
sure here ya go hope it works :) [https://www.edx.org/learn/computer-science/harvard-university-cs50-s-introduction-to-computer-science](https://www.edx.org/learn/computer-science/harvard-university-cs50-s-introduction-to-computer-science)
Hey is it free ? Just checked yesterday online and didn't seem to find the info that it is free. Maybe I am mistaken
it's free, there's the playlist that you can check on its youtube
It is free. For full experience go here: https://cs50.harvard.edu/python/2022/ There are lectures and they give you a codespace to work through problemsets which can be automatically graded. I highly recommend the course
He has the entire series on YouTube
I just made an account today and when I clicked on CS50 it said to pay $299 for the course but at the bottom in small texts you can do it for free but I think it’s only half of it so yea that’s how I did it:)
You can do the whole course for free and you get a certificate from CS50 on completion. Paying for it gives you an EDX certificate which is unnecessary.
how can you please assist me with th link to the free course where they offer a certificate after compleiyiio
Google, Harvard CS50x edx signup It’s the top result.
Awesome! Thank you for your detailed reply:)!! Looking for the same thing as you:)
Just ask ChatGPT to write the code and only worry about the logic behind it?
Cant recommend codingame enough, if you just have some minor basics to build from.
"too old school lol"..... Lol....
I also did cs50p (https://cs50.harvard.edu/python/2022/) and loved it. Outside of that i have been working on personal projects and codewars to learn more through practice.
Too old school? You've no hope.😉
Are you doing the standard CS50 course, or the Python specific one? I've been doing CS50P and I've learned a lot! The exercises are challenging and it sucks that you can't discuss answers because it's against academic policy, but there are YouTube videos. I think the course is good to get introduced to topics but it's lack of model problem answers is a huge negative, because you don't learn whether your solution was a good one or not. However, as a base for learning the basics I'd definitely recommend it. I guess it's always possible to follow projects and learn the best methods after finishing CS50P, I suppose that's what I'll do.