You\u2019ve decided to learn how to code. Maybe it\u2019s the first time you\u2019re trying, or perhaps you\u2019ve started once or twice in the past but never made it past a few lessons.<\/p>\n
Programming is not easy, and the \u2018getting started\u2019 hurdle is often the toughest one to overcome. This is because programming can be rather abstract. It requires a different mindset from our human way of thinking. You\u2019ll need to learn to think like a computer<\/em>. This is the most critical part when learning to code.<\/p>\n My approach to teaching beginners is to remember at all times that even the most straightforward coding ideas are new concepts for beginners.<\/strong> Therefore I want to take the learner on a journey and accompany them along every step of that journey. Beginners following an introductory book may often find that even though the text is aimed at novices, the book overlooks some steps or covers them superficially. I want to make sure that the reader of this book understands every part of the process involved in coding. Concepts are introduced at the right time\u2014neither too early nor too late.<\/p>\n The focus of this book is to make sure you understand this programming mindset as you learn about the topics you\u2019ll need to write computer code. Learning how to use the various tools is not enough. At times it\u2019s necessary to dig a bit deeper underneath the surface to get better acquainted with the concepts. I find that some well-placed analogies can also go a long way to help you understand why things happen the way they do.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n What matters is that you learn Programming<\/em> and not a Programming Language<\/em>.<\/strong> This distinction is a subtle but important one. Programming is the way of thinking that\u2019s required. It\u2019s the process of breaking down a problem into logical steps and then systemically putting them in the right order.<\/p>\n To write code, you need a programming language. In this book, we are using Python to introduce you to the coding concepts. But all the general coding concepts are common across all programming languages, even if the methods and tools may vary.<\/p>\n Unless you have a particular reason to learn some other programming language, then Python is the best language to use. Here are some reasons for this:<\/p>\n If you\u2019re new to programming, my advice is to start from the beginning and work your way through every section in order. Do not jump across chapters. This book presents the material in an order carefully planned to make your journey to learn to code as smooth and efficient as possible.<\/p>\n There are two parts to this book. Chapters 1 to 5 cover the fundamentals of programming. These are topics you will need whatever you want to use coding for. There is no way of escaping these topics. You\u2019ll read about the Climbing a Tree<\/em> analogy for learning how to code later on in the book\u2014these chapters are the main tree trunk! You have to climb the main trunk before you can start to climb the smaller branches.<\/p>\n Chapter 1 will guide you from the very beginning. This chapter is centred around your first coding project. This project will introduce several of the key topics in programming and you\u2019ll get a good understanding of how a computer program is built, step by step. As you go through this chapter, we\u2019ll take a few short detours to introduce these topics.<\/p>\n Chapters 2 to 4 will continue to build on the fundamentals of coding, and Chapter 5 focuses on dealing with errors and bugs when coding.<\/p>\n Chapters 6 to 11 form the second part of this book. They deal with the tools needed for programming for quantitative applications, such as science, finance or other data-driven fields. If you\u2019re interested in these topics, then you\u2019ll find these chapters interesting and essential. But if your aims to learn to code are different, then you can ignore these chapters. You can always come back to them later.<\/p>\n There are two chapters in Part 2 that could also have fit in the first part. These are Chapters 6 and 7 which expand on functions and introduce Object-Oriented Programming. These are not must-know topics when you\u2019re getting started with coding. However, you\u2019ll soon find you\u2019ll need these as you work on more complex projects.<\/p>\n Both of these topics, functions and Object-Oriented Programming, are important parts of modern computer programming. You\u2019ll need to know about Object-Oriented Programming as you move to more intermediate areas of coding.<\/p>\n There is also a bonus<\/em> chapter: The White Room. This is the name of an analogy I use throughout this book to help explain what\u2019s really happening inside a computer program<\/strong> which will help you understand how best to write computer programs too.<\/p>\n All the coding concepts are presented through examples. Some are short programs, others are slightly longer projects.<\/p>\n This book is not a novel. The only way to read this book (or any book that teaches coding) is to write the code and experiment with it as you go along<\/strong>. Yes, you can copy the code and run it, but you can also go off-piste and try things out, experiment, do things your own way. This is a very important part of the learning process with programming and it\u2019s the only way you\u2019ll build your confidence with coding. You can try to have a go at writing the code before<\/em> you read the sections of the book that will go through the code.<\/p>\n The more mistakes you make, the better it is!<\/p>\n If this is your first attempt to learn how to code, you\u2019ll need to set up your computer. You\u2019ll need to download the Python language and an editor with which to code.<\/p>\n Getting the Python language is the easy part. Go to python.org<\/a> and choose the \u2018Downloads\u2019 tab. You will see a button to download the latest version of Python for your operating system. You can download and install this on your computer. If you\u2019re presented with any options during installation, I would recommend you choose the default options for now.<\/p>\n You now have Python installed on your computer. But how can you use it? This is the part where it can get confusing as there is too much choice available. There is no best option here. There are many options because it depends on preference and, in part, on what you want to use coding for.<\/p>\n In the same way that you need a word processor to write in English (or any other language), you will need an editor to write in Python. Some of these are very basic text editors, requiring you to run your code via the command line. If you\u2019re new to programming, I would recommend avoiding this option.<\/p>\n Instead, you\u2019re probably better off choosing a more complete<\/em> editor. These editors are often called Integrated Development Environments, or IDEs for short.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve done your research already and have a preferred one, then go ahead and use it. You can follow my recommendation if you don\u2019t yet have a preference and you\u2019d rather spend your time learning how to code instead of researching IDEs: Use PyCharm Community Edition. You can download PyCharm here<\/a>. Choose the free Community edition and not the Professional one. The Professional edition is not free, and you won\u2019t need any extra features it offers for the time being. Once again, the easiest option is to go along with default options during installation.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve installed PyCharm, you can create a New Project<\/em> from the File<\/em> menu. A project<\/em> is a folder that contains all the code that belongs to the same, er, project! My advice is to have a single project while you\u2019re learning and not create a new project for each program you write. Think of this as your \u2018learning project\u2019 if you like. Later on, you\u2019ll know when it\u2019s time to start a new project for something new you\u2019ll start working on.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019re in the project, Choose New\u2026<\/em> from the File<\/em> menu and then choose Python File<\/em> from the menu that pops up (not the option that just says File<\/em>.) You may wonder why an IDE like PyCharm designed for coding in Python, as the Py-<\/em> prefix in its name shows, also gives you options for other file types. The reason is the I<\/em> in IDE<\/em>, which stands for integrated<\/em>. These editors allow you to work on all the files you\u2019ll need in a project. For the time being, these will all be Python files, but you\u2019ll need other file types as well in your project in the future.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve created a new Python file \u2014 note that Python files will have the extension .py<\/em> \u2014 you should have a blank screen in front of you. You\u2019re ready to start to learn to code.<\/p>\n In Chapter 1, you\u2019ll start writing your first program right away, and I\u2019ll guide you on how to run your program and view the output once you\u2019re ready to run your first lines of code.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Video courses, live cohort-based courses, workshops, weekly videos, members’ forum, and more\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regular articles for the intermediate Python programmer or a beginner who wants to “read ahead”<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhy Python?<\/h2>\n
Benefits Of Learning To Code in Python<\/h4>\n
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How To Use This Book To Learn To Code<\/h2>\n
The Fundamentals<\/h4>\n
Quantitative Programming<\/h4>\n
Object-Oriented Programming and More Functions<\/h4>\n
Working Through The Examples In The Book | Practise, Practise, Practise<\/h4>\n
Before You Start | Downloading Python And An IDE<\/h2>\n
Downloading And Installing Python<\/h4>\n
Downloading And Installing PyCharm<\/h4>\n
Opening Your First Python File<\/h4>\n
Become a Member of<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Python Coding Place<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Subscribe to<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Python Coding Stack<\/h2>\n\n\n\n