Hi!
Yes, Mark had something to say, and so did Alan. Games are a good start,
also a home need, or a business need.
The way I started Python was games. The Yhatzee game, then my Star Trek
game, converted over from the original basic game. Then the battleship game,
the board game, which required people to call out grid places to see if a ship
was hit...
Since I am visually impaired, and sounds are all I need, then the first
games are all sound effects and voices. Then the need for a sighted person to
understand, then the visual, buttons and menu's come in. Then the rest is your
imagination.
For when learning each level of python a new need arises. I solved the
event issue I raised last by playing with the details of events, understanding
what is needed, and reading the formats and playing with them to see the
results. Many commands, just select which works best.
For when writing python programs you must understand the dictionary and
list formats. They come in handy. As does the list comprehension idea and it's
format.
Many things to try and do. Just have to come up with a need, or fun. The
rest of the imagination is yours.
Just remember that at first the program is large, bulky, then once other
formats and commands are learned, the program gets smaller, then larger to fit
more options, then smaller...
Think of a game to play and then expand on it.
Bruce
Thanks for the info on the Think Python book, and thanks Jeremiah, for posing
this question. That book is one of the best Python learning resources I've yet
found! Makes it really easy to understand!
Nick
On Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 12:43 PM, Marc Tompkins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 9:40 AM, Jeremiah Stack <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hello everybody:
I am new to this mailing list, and it said that i could the simplest of
questions. So i was wondering if anyone could be so kind as to e-mail me a
project idea or something to go out an learn to do in python. I don't know any
languages, but i am definitely not computer illiterate. i have read so many
tutorial about getting started but so far that is where the tutorial have left
me ( how to print "Hello World") and such.
Any ideas great thanks.
First of all, I mean no offense to the OP. However, this question comes up a
lot on this list, and it always bugs me. People decide they want to learn
Python, and then ask strangers to give them a reason to do it. I may be
totally wrong about this, but it doesn't seem like a good way to learn
_anything_, let alone a programming language. The most important element for
success is enthusiasm, and how can you generate any enthusiasm working on
somebody else's homework project? Unless you learn best under external
discipline, in which case I suggest you take a class...
My advice to all potential Pythonistas who want to learn on their own: think
of a problem you need to solve, or a cool game you've wanted to implement, or a
tool you want but don't have. In my own case, I had a project I needed to do
(printing mailing labels from records in an old proprietary database) that was
going to suck if I used only the tools I already had. I'd been wanting to get
into Python, and I decided to use Python to do the job and learn as I went. It
was WONDERFUL, and I've been in love with Python ever since. (Yes, I've used
it for fun stuff since then, but my first experience was of Python saving me
hours and hours of pain.)
If you don't have a professional task that you could apply Python to, just
look around your environment for a day or so looking for problems to solve.
(My favorite example of this, although it's a very silly program and written in
JavaScript besides, is Roast Beef's "Eggs and Milk Minder" from Achewood.)
Just my €0.0075...
_______________________________________________
Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
