Newb question about %02d %04d

[ichabod801]

people saying "Well python 3 isn't really python."

That's just silly. I've been programming Python for about 15 years now. Python 3 is Python. Python 3 is better Python. Soon, Python 3 will be the only Python.

That's just people who are too attached to their old code to adapt and move on. And in computer programming, you need to adapt and move on. If I hadn't adapted and moved on I'd be sitting around complaining that "if it isn't Dartmouth BASIC, it isn't programming!".

[Gribouillis]

But I've read a few different places, people saying "Well python 3 isn't really python."

Perhaps a touch of nostalgia from these people? Python 2 was a very successful software and many libraries were written for it. It took a decade before everybody moved from python 2 to python 3. I understand this nostalgia. For example I miss python 1.5.2 but this brings us back to prehistoric times.

[bennylava]

Why don't people still code in older versions? They still work, after all. Maybe their software won't be able to talk to newer versions of java or something along those lines? Or is it security related? Or is it all just in the name of convenience? Python 3 is more convenient and easier to use because it has upgrades. Therefore now at long last, everyone wants to use python 3.

Next question is regarding classes. This is probably a longshot, but I figured I'd ask anyway. My local college only offers online classes and I'd really like to learn python in a classroom setting with a real teacher. I'm doing ok with the code academy, but it never fails I run into some exorcises that I could really use some help with. And its left to me to figure it out on my own, which can often take... well quite some time. When a teacher would just explain something small in 10 seconds, and then suddenly the whole thing makes sense. You know how that goes.

So is there such a thing as... I dunno.. a python tutor or some such? What would you do if you wanted to take a class but it wasn't offered near you?

[nilamo]

Let me preface this by saying that I'm pretty sure most people don't share my opinion on this topic.

I think it's far more valuable for you to learn how to learn on your own, without a tutor or teacher. When it comes to computers (soft or hard ware), there's so many topics, that you'll be learning something new on a daily basis. The sooner you can get used to researching the answer on your own, the better off you'll be.

For python, in particular, almost any random question you have, you can post on these forums, and a bunch of us will jump at the chance to show you how much we like using python, and try to convince you it's a pretty great language lol.

But with almost all programming languages, libraries, methods of writing code, architecture strategies, cloud based deployment, apis, etc, there are far more people who've never used them, than people who know how they work. And because the people who made the language/library/whatever normally want other people to use the things they made, there's documents and tutorials on what those things are, why they might be used, how to use them, and normally also how to quickly get started so you can easily find out if it's your cup of tea.

[snippsat]

Why don't people still code in older versions? They still work, after all.

I do sometime to keep some my code updated that other people has used from many years.
I have really left python 2.x behind a long time ago,and will never use Python 2 for new code.

Python 3 has really fixed a lot stuff,and today Python is one the most popular programming langues because of this.
Changes is never easy Python have manged with some struggle from 2 to 3,in a much better way than eg Perl 6
Perl 6(0.042%) vs Python 3(17.503%) reference: GitHut 2.0 DISCOVER LANGUAGES IN GITHUB

I use f-string often now on this forum,this will make sure that people have to use 3.6--> to use my code

>>> for word in 'Pyhon3 is awesome'.split():
...     print(f'{word.upper():~^20}')
...     
~~~~~~~PYHON3~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~IS~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~AWESOME~~~~~~~

[bennylava]

Well I'm transitioning to learning python 3 instead of 2. I hadn't checked codeacademy's offerings in a long time, and lo and behold they offer a python 3 course now. So hopefully all my python 2 training will let me excel in the python 3 course. I almost made it through half of the python 2 course. Been at it for a few months, working on it for about 30 minutes to 1 hour per day. Doing all of this for a career change from dead end jobs into programming. They way codeacademy worded their... excuse for not offering python 3 back when i first started, kinda made you think they were saying something like "Don't count on it, we'll get to it when we get to it. But it'll be later rather than sooner."

So based on many of the replies, I figured you guys would be glad to hear that. Its just that when I started this, they only offered python 2. And I really like code academy's interface. Imo its the best for learning programming online. The others look a bit dull and drab, and I don't really like the layout.

I agree about learning on my own. I like being a self starter and teaching myself, I think its fun. I've pretty much taught myself everything, and it looks like I'll be teaching myself programming as well. Its just that when you get to a spot where you're finally stuck, it really helps to have the master on hand to just quickly answer a question here and there. One of the teachers at the local college said that I could come up there and ask questions. But I don't really think its worth the trip. Probably easier and less time consuming to just make a forum post and figure it out on my own.

They do offer "object oriented programming" as a class, but I'll have to find out if I can take that class first. Its part of a whole certificate program which... I just don't know about. I'm really not looking to be ripped off by some college (a problem I'm sure you're all aware of) and then later find out that I didn't need to pay them $11k to be able to get a job programming. When places do exist, that will hire you with little to no certifications or degrees, as long as you can actually do it.

[Larz60+]

Ichabod801 writes:
If I hadn't adapted and moved on I'd be sitting around complaining that "if it isn't Dartmouth BASIC, it isn't programming!".

And I'd still be entering code on code sheets and looking for the keypunch operator!

Well I'm transitioning to learning python 3 instead of 2.

Soon you'll be very glad that you did so!
Python 3 is a pleasure to use.

[bennylava]

Well I've got a question about python 3 already. Why did they switch to having a parenthesis if you want to print a string? In python to you didn't have to have parenthesis. You'd just say:

print "Here is my string."

instead of

print ("Here is my string.")

Seems like they added a new step that used to be unnecessary. Not a fan of that one.

[buran]

for one, as a function you can specify number of arguments that make it more flexible.
Full rationale for the decison - PEP 3105 -- Make print a function

[Gribouillis]

Seems like they added a new step that used to be unnecessary. Not a fan of that one.

I think you're coming many years after the fair! There are many advantages for print() to be an ordinary function instead of a special statement. It allows python code to manipulate the print function or its arguments easily. For example I once wrote a printat() function which prints with line and file information. If you write print = printat at the top of your program, all the calls to print are replaced by calls to printat. One could not do this with an old style print statement.