Saturday, February 27, 2021

Learning Python

 I stumbled across what appears to be a great resource for learning Python. It's been over a decade since I've known I need to learn Python. During that time I have taken a Coursera course and written a few scripts here and there, but I still do most of my Python programming by Googling and searching Stack Overflow. That works okay for occasional use, but I have recently found the need to make Python my daily driver. So I went in search of some solutions in the fall. 


I started by looking for something that I could use on my phone. Python Programming: Ultimate guide looked promising, but my enthusiasm for their app waned as I an into some technical difficulties. I should go back and revisit that, though. 

Eventually I found Python Morsels, and I think this is what I need in my life right now. I did the free month-long trial in the fall and I just signed up for a year. The site is created and maintained by Trey Hunner, a Python trainer for teams. I'm still fairly new on my journey there, and he just introduced a new "flexible mode," but the basic structure seems pretty well established. He gives an assignment, reference hints, automated verification, and follow-up discussions of the solutions. I highly recommend it.

The new "flexible mode" sets up a profile that can be made public. Mine's not that interesting, but I expect it will become more so over this next year!


3/11/21 Edit: I just noticed that Trey is a contributor to EditorConfig and his name is on a bunch of the plugins.