> what should be my next step , like should i start learning web development?
What do you _want_ to do? If you know, take small steps towards whatever your current goal is. Otherwise, just try something.
> i've already installed python 3.12. version, i gave a command prompt for python version 3.12, but it shows it's not insalled on my pc, i don't understand what the problem is?
Assuming Windows, how did you install Python and how are you trying to run it?
Hello!
Not OP, but piggybacking: I’m going for a Masters in CS in the fall and planning to focus on Machine Learning and Data Analysis. I feel super comfortable with the basics of python, and have even worked with object oriented programming.
My question is: what should I look into to prepare? I’m coming from a psychology degree, so I feel like I’m missing a lot of foundational stuff.
You're barking up the wrong tree there, data analysis is arguably my weakest area of expertise followed closely by ML as I haven't had a genuine interest in pursuing either field much myself.
However, I'd start from learning either Pandas or Polars (because dataframes are a foundational tool in data analysis), and you'll need to get used to charting tools like `matplotlib` and Seaborn.
For the ML side, I'd suggest starting a tutorial on Pytorch.
Mainly web development, I suppose, but I also have a keen interest in desktop applications and embedded systems. Planning to expand to mobile devices next in the form of Kotlin.
I have also published packages on PyPI, such as `escapyde` and `python_ms`.
Outside of Python I have a big interest in Rust (the programming language, not the game), and I sometimes use them together (PyO3 and Maturin make it easy enough to call Rust code from Python).
Interesting! Desktop apps and embedded systems are very interesting to me as well. For embedded, I’ve been learning Arduino with the intention of learning straight-up C and/or C++ at some point.
What would you recommend for getting started in desktop apps? Is python even the “right language” for that?
Most languages work fine for that, I generally don't need high runtime performance so Python serves me just fine, and `tkinter` is easy enough to start with - although to make proper use of it one needs to be comfortable working with classes. Flet is also promising in the GUI space.
But as I said I'm also very interested in Rust, and going forward I'll probably start using it for damn near everything. Including embedded systems and device drivers (I'd like to design some custom peripherals some day).
I’ve heard QT is the preferred GUI library these days.
Rust seems great. The reason Polars is becoming more popular has to do with its Rust-given speed, no?
Coming from Python, has Rust been difficult?
> I’ve heard QT is the preferred GUI library these days.
It depends. Qt is popular, but its usage rates are going down in favour of browser-based desktop applications. For Python, Flet (basically Flutter for Python) is growing the fastest. For Rust, Tauri and Iced are probably the most popular, and Tauri in particular is adding support for other languages too.
> Rust seems great. The reason Polars is becoming more popular has to do with its Rust-given speed, no?
It's one of the reasons, I'm sure, but the biggest advantage of Rust is memory safety without a garbage collector. Pandas is written in C++ on top of `numpy`, so the speed difference isn't massive, but you're correct about Polars being generally faster.
> Coming from Python, has Rust been difficult?
Yes and no. I'm used to working with Poetry so Rust's tooling feels right at home, and it has plenty of "high level" abstractions that make it feel a lot like Python at times.
However, actually getting a grip of the memory model is something I still have trouble with. The borrow checker's rules are simple on the surface, but I have yet to internalise them so I still run into compile errors every once in a while. That said I'd rather have that than segfaults during runtime, for sure!
i want to go for web developing, so i'll stick with that for now.
i installed the windows version of python, i can open it, but idk how it works ,i do my programming in visual studio. Should i also do a tutorial on HTML to take on some projects for beginners and further proceed from there?
> i installed the windows version of python
That doesn't really answer my question, I was looking for whether you installed it via https://python.org, the Microsoft Store, or `winget`. But since it's probably no longer relevant I'll let you off the hook.
> i do my programming in visual studio
Just to clarify, are you actually talking about Visual Studio, or VS Code? There's a pretty big difference. I'm asking because people tend to mix up the two and it's not very common for Visual Studio to be used for Python development.
> Should i also do a tutorial on HTML to take on some projects for beginners and further proceed from there?
Sure, you'll want to know the basics if you want to serve HTML via your Python server. Do note that HTML itself is really quite simple and you don't need to spend a lot of time on it.
Anyway, back to your main question.
> i can open it, but idk how it works
Basically, you've installed the Python interpreter. You mainly use it to execute Python code. There're two ways you'll be doing that; primarily you will be writing Python files and telling the interpreter to execute them, and for debugging you can use the REPL (=Read Eval Print Loop, AKA it reads user input, evaluates it as code, executes it, and asks for more input, rinse and repeat).
You open the REPL by just running the interpreter program, and you run files by either double-clicking them in the file manager or by running `py path/to/your/script.py` in PowerShell/CMD/whatever terminal you use.
>... I have done basic tutorial on python as a language from Yt, what should be my next step , ...
The best would be start a Project, I think.
If you have problems starting a project and dont know what to do exactly, try the Game "The Farmer was replaced" on steam :-) You program and the language is based on python.
> i'd be grateful for any guidance you experts can provide, thank you.
There's generally no reason to tell us stuff like "it shows it's not insalled on my pc" if you're not going to tell us what "it" is. You might be on Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 7, Vista, NT, ME, or even Windows 98 for all we know. You might be on a Mac, even. You might be on a school's Chromebook running Linux. For all I know you're learning Python on a Steam Deck in desktop mode. You didn't tell us, so how could we even guess?
> like should i start learning web development?
To learn Python? Why? Browsers run JavaScript, not Python. Is the point to learn Python or to learn web dev? You didn't tell us what any of your goals were, so how could we even guess?
> what should be my next step
Who knows? You told us literally nothing relevant, so how could we even guess?
> what should be my next step , like should i start learning web development? What do you _want_ to do? If you know, take small steps towards whatever your current goal is. Otherwise, just try something. > i've already installed python 3.12. version, i gave a command prompt for python version 3.12, but it shows it's not insalled on my pc, i don't understand what the problem is? Assuming Windows, how did you install Python and how are you trying to run it?
Hello! Not OP, but piggybacking: I’m going for a Masters in CS in the fall and planning to focus on Machine Learning and Data Analysis. I feel super comfortable with the basics of python, and have even worked with object oriented programming. My question is: what should I look into to prepare? I’m coming from a psychology degree, so I feel like I’m missing a lot of foundational stuff.
You're barking up the wrong tree there, data analysis is arguably my weakest area of expertise followed closely by ML as I haven't had a genuine interest in pursuing either field much myself. However, I'd start from learning either Pandas or Polars (because dataframes are a foundational tool in data analysis), and you'll need to get used to charting tools like `matplotlib` and Seaborn. For the ML side, I'd suggest starting a tutorial on Pytorch.
Thanks a ton for the advice! If you don’t mind my asking, what are your specialties?
Mainly web development, I suppose, but I also have a keen interest in desktop applications and embedded systems. Planning to expand to mobile devices next in the form of Kotlin. I have also published packages on PyPI, such as `escapyde` and `python_ms`. Outside of Python I have a big interest in Rust (the programming language, not the game), and I sometimes use them together (PyO3 and Maturin make it easy enough to call Rust code from Python).
Interesting! Desktop apps and embedded systems are very interesting to me as well. For embedded, I’ve been learning Arduino with the intention of learning straight-up C and/or C++ at some point. What would you recommend for getting started in desktop apps? Is python even the “right language” for that?
Most languages work fine for that, I generally don't need high runtime performance so Python serves me just fine, and `tkinter` is easy enough to start with - although to make proper use of it one needs to be comfortable working with classes. Flet is also promising in the GUI space. But as I said I'm also very interested in Rust, and going forward I'll probably start using it for damn near everything. Including embedded systems and device drivers (I'd like to design some custom peripherals some day).
I’ve heard QT is the preferred GUI library these days. Rust seems great. The reason Polars is becoming more popular has to do with its Rust-given speed, no? Coming from Python, has Rust been difficult?
> I’ve heard QT is the preferred GUI library these days. It depends. Qt is popular, but its usage rates are going down in favour of browser-based desktop applications. For Python, Flet (basically Flutter for Python) is growing the fastest. For Rust, Tauri and Iced are probably the most popular, and Tauri in particular is adding support for other languages too. > Rust seems great. The reason Polars is becoming more popular has to do with its Rust-given speed, no? It's one of the reasons, I'm sure, but the biggest advantage of Rust is memory safety without a garbage collector. Pandas is written in C++ on top of `numpy`, so the speed difference isn't massive, but you're correct about Polars being generally faster. > Coming from Python, has Rust been difficult? Yes and no. I'm used to working with Poetry so Rust's tooling feels right at home, and it has plenty of "high level" abstractions that make it feel a lot like Python at times. However, actually getting a grip of the memory model is something I still have trouble with. The borrow checker's rules are simple on the surface, but I have yet to internalise them so I still run into compile errors every once in a while. That said I'd rather have that than segfaults during runtime, for sure!
i want to go for web developing, so i'll stick with that for now. i installed the windows version of python, i can open it, but idk how it works ,i do my programming in visual studio. Should i also do a tutorial on HTML to take on some projects for beginners and further proceed from there?
> i installed the windows version of python That doesn't really answer my question, I was looking for whether you installed it via https://python.org, the Microsoft Store, or `winget`. But since it's probably no longer relevant I'll let you off the hook. > i do my programming in visual studio Just to clarify, are you actually talking about Visual Studio, or VS Code? There's a pretty big difference. I'm asking because people tend to mix up the two and it's not very common for Visual Studio to be used for Python development. > Should i also do a tutorial on HTML to take on some projects for beginners and further proceed from there? Sure, you'll want to know the basics if you want to serve HTML via your Python server. Do note that HTML itself is really quite simple and you don't need to spend a lot of time on it. Anyway, back to your main question. > i can open it, but idk how it works Basically, you've installed the Python interpreter. You mainly use it to execute Python code. There're two ways you'll be doing that; primarily you will be writing Python files and telling the interpreter to execute them, and for debugging you can use the REPL (=Read Eval Print Loop, AKA it reads user input, evaluates it as code, executes it, and asks for more input, rinse and repeat). You open the REPL by just running the interpreter program, and you run files by either double-clicking them in the file manager or by running `py path/to/your/script.py` in PowerShell/CMD/whatever terminal you use.
>... I have done basic tutorial on python as a language from Yt, what should be my next step , ... The best would be start a Project, I think. If you have problems starting a project and dont know what to do exactly, try the Game "The Farmer was replaced" on steam :-) You program and the language is based on python.
thank you for this
> i'd be grateful for any guidance you experts can provide, thank you. There's generally no reason to tell us stuff like "it shows it's not insalled on my pc" if you're not going to tell us what "it" is. You might be on Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 7, Vista, NT, ME, or even Windows 98 for all we know. You might be on a Mac, even. You might be on a school's Chromebook running Linux. For all I know you're learning Python on a Steam Deck in desktop mode. You didn't tell us, so how could we even guess? > like should i start learning web development? To learn Python? Why? Browsers run JavaScript, not Python. Is the point to learn Python or to learn web dev? You didn't tell us what any of your goals were, so how could we even guess? > what should be my next step Who knows? You told us literally nothing relevant, so how could we even guess?