I tried to learn Python from a big book and a YouTube series at the same time

About two months ago, I decided to finally learn to code. I bought a 500 page book called 'Python for Everybody' and also started a YouTube playlist called 'Python for Beginners'. The book was full of information but it was really slow and I kept getting stuck on the exercises. The YouTube videos were easier to watch, but I was just copying code without really understanding it. After three weeks, I was making no progress. I switched to just using the free course on Codecademy. The big difference was the hands-on practice. Codecademy makes you type the code right there and gives you instant feedback if it's wrong. That one change, from reading and watching to actually doing the exercises in a guided way, made everything click. Has anyone else found that a certain type of practice helped them learn their first language?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavincampbell2d ago

That exact thing happened to me with JavaScript. I spent a month just watching tutorials and felt totally lost. The moment I started using freeCodeCamp's interactive lessons, it was like a light switched on. You have to type the code yourself and fix your own mistakes to really learn it. Reading and watching are passive, but coding is an active skill. That instant feedback is what makes the difference between knowing about code and actually knowing how to code.

elliotr392d ago

Tutorials are like trying to learn to swim by watching a video on dry land. You can memorize the arm motions but you'll still sink the second you hit water. FreeCodeCamp basically throws you in the pool, which is terrifying but the only way it actually works. The pain of your code breaking and fixing it yourself is what sticks in your brain. Passive learning just makes you good at watching videos, not writing code.