Hello all, I'm new to posting on mailing lists so hopefully I've picked the correct one for my question(s).
A little about my programming experience first. I work as a 'black box' software tester on a website/application so am familiar with the IT development process but when it comes to programming I'm very much a keenly interested newbie. To give you some idea of my current ability it would be (with a bit of revision) around chapter 8 of Wesley Chun's "Core Python programming". I do not in any way mean this as a criticism of "Core Python" but to learn, what I really need is a project. Although "Core Python" rigorously tackles it's subject; I've found I need a more tangible reason than "It would be great if I could program" to stay focused on working my way through the book. It took more than one attempt to get to chapter 8 and as I was stubbornly refusing to ask for help (madness I know) it became quite disheartening when I found some questions tough going. It will be an invaluable point of reference in the future, it's simply I don't currently need to understand it's subject with the depth it offers. All I need at the moment is "enough to get started" which by my rough calculation is around 4.35% (not including appendices) of what "Core Python" has to offer! So what I need is a small(ish) project that introduces thoroughly a useful part of the Python language while teaching me how to program. But for what will sound like a silly reason I've always managed to avoid undertaking this task. Basically a fear of failure has stopped me from starting. I mean I've always talked a good game but what if I'm not sharp enough to learn to competently program? Not attempting is better than failing surely? Because of this fear I've never admitted I've got a ready made project just waiting for me to tackle........... Until now! I would like to learn to automate the testing of a http(s) web site/applications but feel slightly overwhelmed by this task so would like to ask for some initial guidance. These are some of questions that I have. How do I go about this? Where do I start? There's just so much out there to help with learning Python I'm experiencing information overload! How do I stop myself from trying to run before I can walk? In a perfect world a step by step guide, in automating web tests, using Python is what I'm after but failing that(!) which sites/forums/mailing lists are of particular interest to someone who would like to learn Python programming initially through automating web tests? (By web tests, to begin with, I mean automated regression testing of a site by multiple users) At work we use Selenium and Java so I'm aware that Selenium comes with a Python driver. Would that be a good place to start? Apologies if I'm not supposed to ask more than one question per mail but these are all closely related and could be thought of as "newbie struggling to see the wood/forest for the trees!" Many thanks for your help Regards Marcus
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