How much Python can you learn in a week?

JS Dude — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 14:12:59 +0000

If you spend 3–4 hours daily for 7 days, you can learn much more than you think. I am providing this guideline from this android app called: Programming Hero

By the way, these are not your regular hours where you study 5mins, then spend 25mins on youtube and then spend another 15mins by regretting why you wasted 25min on youtube. These are solid dedicated learning hours.

Day-1: 4 Basic Concepts (3 hours)

Variable
Display output (print command)
Take user input (input command)
Math operations (+,-,*,/)
Conditionals

Day -2: 4 basic concepts (4hours)

List (index, append, remove)
for loop
while loop
function

Day-3: Simple coding problems (5 hours)

Convert miles to kilometers
Calculate simple interest
Find the largest number in a list
Check a number is a prime number or not
Sum of all digits in a number
Reverse a string (Check palindrome)
Calculate age
Build a simple calculator

Day-4: Data Structures (3hours)

Stack
Queue
Dictionary
Tuples

Day-5: OOP (4 hours)

Object
Class
Method and constructor
OOP- Inheritance

Day-6: Algorithm (4 hours)

Binary search
Bubble sort
Selection Sort
Insertion Sort

Day-7: Project (6 hours)

Build a web crawler
or a news aggregator
or a simple game using pygame

Purpose of this list is to give you an initial guide. Your actual learning speed might vary depending on the number of devices/distraction you have.

If you feel severe distraction, turn off wifi for 3 hours 😰

You might not master every topic listed above. However, you will be much better than what you are today.

Finally, if you are not sure from where to learn Python,Check it out this fun android application

12 Function tricks every Python developer should know

JS Dude — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 16:57:01 +0000

I am taking all the examples from the Python learning Android app called Programming Hero

12 function-related exercises/concepts:

Use parameter
Use return
Default parameter value
Keyword Arguments
Built-in function
Use docstring
Anonymous function
Access global variable
return more than one value
Variable-length argument
Pass by reference vs value
use main() function

1. Use Parameter:

Know how to declare parameters. How you can pass values to get a different result based on the parameters

def add (a, b):
    sum = a + b
    print(sum)

add(2,3)

2. Use Return:

Practice how to use the return keyword. So that you can do something with the result. If needed, you can use the result of the function again.

def add (a, b):
    return a + b

x = add(2,3)
y = add(5,10)
total = add(x,y)
print(total)

3. Default Parameter:

Learn how can you avoid passing specific parameters. If one or more parameters are not passed, you can have a default value.

def add (a, b = 5):
    return a + b

x = add(2,3)
print(x) # 5

y = add(7)
print(y) #112

total = add(x,y)
print(total)

4. Keyword Arguments

If you are not sure about the order of the parameters (arguments), you can pass arguments by their name and you don’t have to maintain their order.

def add (a, b):
    return a + b

x = add(a = 2, b =3)
print(x) # 5

y = add(b = 7, a=11)
print(y) #16

total = add(b=x,a=y)
print(total)

5. Built-in function

Python has tons of built-in function. Like min, list, pow, len, etc. Here is the list of all Built-in Functions.

6. Use docstring

Learn how would you write the purpose and special notes about a function. In that case, using docstring is a convention.

A docstring is written right after the function name. It starts with three double quotes and ends with three double quotes as well. A docstring could be written multiple lines as well.

def add (a, b):
    """ Add two numbers or two strings """
    return a + b

7. Anonymous function

An anonymous function could be considered an advanced topic. It is also known as a lambda function. It is a shortcut way to write a function in one line without giving it a proper name.

double = lambda x: x * 2
# Output: 10
print(double(5))

8. Access global variable

This tricks new developers. You can access external variables. However, if you want to set a value to a variable not declared inside the function or is not a parameter, you will get an exception.

c = 5
def add (a, b):
    c = a + b
    return c

# will get an exception
x = add(12, 23)

# use global

def add (a, b):
    global c
    c = a + b
    return c

9. return more than one value

In some cases, you will need to return more than one thing from a function. How would you do that?

The answer is: you can use a tuple, list, dictionary, class or, a dataclass.

def get_a_lot(x):
    y0 = x + 1
    y1 = x * 3
    y2 = y0 ** y3
    return (y0, y1, y2)

things = get_a_lot(5)

10. Variable-length argument

In some cases, you might not know, how many parameters user will pass. In those cases, what will you do?

def add_everything(*args):
    return sum(args)

# Calculate the sum
print(add_everything(1,4,5, 75, 112))

11. Mutable Vs Immutable parameters

This is an advanced topic. However, you should check when you pass a variable, list, tuples or a dictionary to a function. What will happen if you change the value and what will happen if you just update one element of the collection?

If you are not sure, read the comment below by Jason.

12. use main() function

The main function has special importance to start an app. You should learn about this.

# Define `main()` function
def main():
  hello()
  print("This is a main function")

# Execute `main()` function 
if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

If you read up to this point, you should check out the intermediate and advanced level contents in Programming Hero

DEV Community: JS Dude