Teach me python, I'll teach you chess

Great resource! 

Thank you! Will check it out 

Semi-true. It depends on the language and paradigm. There are some pretty stark differences between functional, procedural, and object oriented paradigms. For example, how you attack a problem in a callback oriented asynchronous language like Javascript can be quite different from a language like C++.

Furthermore, learning a high level language like Javascript or Python out of the gate can lead some large gaps in understanding as to what exactly is going on under the covers. That's not necessarily a bad thing depending on what are you want to get into but I've found having a solid background in a lower level language gives you a better understanding of what exactly is happening in your code, where the inefficiencies are, etc.

I've been professionally developing software for over 25 years on everything from the stripped down Z80 cpu's used in the old Gameboy to AMD EPYCs backed by NVIDIA Tesla GPUs, from assembly language to Python. Some concepts are universal. Some are specific to the domain. Some are specific to the paradigm.

So the first question I would ask is, what is your goal? Do have a specific field you're interested in? Are you just looking to write code for yourself, or at a more professional level? Depending on what you want to do would determine whether or not someone would just give you a rundown of Python programming or introduce you to the world of software engineering. Also, if you lean more towards the AI/scientific areas of interest I would also suggest you get familiar with linux, as almost all research type environments (especially supercomputing/GPGPU environments use linux).

All that being said, downloading and installing python is straightforward. My personal preference for serious development in Python is PyCharm, which also has a free community edition. Another IDE with useful Python support is Visual Studio Code. There are several others  with varying levels of Python support, many of them opensource or have free community editions you can try.

To start with, for anything but trivial coding I would avoid using things like Jupyter. This isn't a knock against Jupyter, but using something like that (in my opinion) removes you from gaining an understanding of the Python ecosystem (which is extremely important if you intend to get serious).

And yes, I am a professional developer that currently makes extensive use of Python (with a smattering of Fortran here and there) for doing scientific analysis and product generation.

ok. i said id give the code to find the gold ball inclusive so its just like a bi-weekly megamillions drawing. i chose the #'s 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 w/a 23 gold ball. so, i just added the boolean and in the conditional if statement thats within the for loop...and thats it !

ohh ! i added a few more sigfigs w/ [:7] cuzzits gonna take awhile. and i upped the range to 1 trillion loops...but thats probably overkill.

a/w here it is:

*****

import random
import time

x = [2,4,6,8,10]
z = [23]

def goget( ):
    for i in range (1000000000000):
        numbers = random.sample(range(1,71,1),5)
        numbers.sort( )
        gold = random.sample(range(1,26,1),1)
        if numbers == x and gold == z:
            print(numbers)
            print(gold)
            print(f'yay !...found x & z in {i} tries')
            break

start = time.time( )

goget( )

spread = time.time( ) - start

print (str(spread)[:7] + f' seconds')

*****

ok. i just ran the abv & it returned:

[2, 4, 6, 8, 10]

[23]

yay !...found x & z in 443719410 tries

2820.64 seconds

so...it took abt 444 MM tries to find it in abt 47 minutes w/ my pokey gerbil computer. the odds are abt 303MM to 1 so it needed alot more tries in practice...this time anywayz.

..and thank u very much Xyrus ! I learned oodles from ur write-up in #27 .

yeah i would agree that replit is the best way to learn python if you don't actually want to download python i've used it to make story-based games and have enojyed the process!

I've only ever got as far as the (hello world).   Good luck!

Sir, I can help you with python. Let's do some code and play some chess hahaha.

If you are still interested, comment here.

Python is a nice language.  At my age I've somehow managed to learn enough of it to create a few tools/utilities I use.   And (don't laugh), most of those tools are for my hobby of collecting and testing chess engines.  Lol.  Now I'm trying to create my own chess engine, but I'll be using Julia, that is, if I manage to learn enough of it before I croak.  Lol.   

Only problem is , he closed his account 21days ago

I now know

import random

e = random.randint(1, 3)

if (e == 1):

      print(“This”)

elif (e == 2):

      print(“that”)

else:

      print(“Haha lol you good go brrrrrr”)

I also know “while”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uQrJ0TkZlc

Freecodecamp has an excellent Python series branched into varying use cases for free in case you didn't see it. Python is def one of the easiest to learn, I do php mainly as hobby.

Oops see a few others mentioned it, I wrote a small interactive script using some stored key values based on questions asked pretty quickly after a couple hours of that course.

I just finish taking this course and I would recommend it to anyone.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/automating-real-world-tasks-python

You can take it for free, it goes from beginner to some advanced and really useful stuff.

Note: I am from IT, so I did knew programming before taking the course.

Projectstem.org helps me.

i'll teach u poython if u teach me choice

Command+c, command+v

Mic drop