Sep-17-2020, 09:16 PM
(This post was last modified: Sep-18-2020, 09:02 AM by Drone4four.)
Here is my story about how and why I came to want to learn Python and the futility and frustration with my lack of progress today and why I feel like quitting (again).
I’ll start at the beginning.
Fifteen years ago I installed Slackware Linux (desktop) for the first time. A few years after that I migrated to Ubunutu. Today I run Manjaro on my desktop and Ubuntu for my tiny VPS in the cloud (which I barely use anymore).
Right from the beginning when I installed Linux, I always wanted to participate in the compiz window manager project. Those graphics effects were always so impressive. So where do I begin to contribute to a project like compiz? In 2009 I tried reading Swaroop’s “A Byte of Python” and Allen B. Downey’s “How to Think LIke a Computer Scientist”. I even attended a 1 week PyCamp intensive course in 2011. But every time, I threw my hands up in the air and gave up after about a week of false starts, confusion and helplessness.
Beginning in 2017, I started watching lots of Python course content on Udemy. Here is a list of the courses I’ve taken, along with the percentage of progress completed (the first one I watched several times, so it is more than 100%):
That’s great. I’ve watched lots of beginner Python tutorials. My problem was that it was all theory and no practice. I avoided doing the exercises. So in May 2020 I purchased 60 PyBites on sale as part of a Humble Indie Bundle and jumped right in. I completed my first PyBite on May 22, 2020. Since then I’ve completed 19 more. So it’s been 99 days since my first PyBite. That translates to effectively 1 Bite every 5 days. My Python study sessions are spread out in such a way that I do 5-10 hour ‘bursts’ of hyper focus study sessions roughly once every 1-2 weeks on one of my days off on my weekend. I don’t code Python every week, but I would if I could. With such a long gap between study sessions, when I today look back over my past PyBites that I completed say 8 weeks ago, I can’t follow along. I don’t understand my own code. So what’s the point?
I’m getting nowhere fast. This is why I feel like giving up right now.
I love coding Python. I encounter a thrill and exhilaration when seeing my terminal light up with all 6 passed assertions in my pytest functions after hours of research. It’s rewarding! After a long day of coding Python, I feel refreshed and relieved. It’s a wonderful feeling. I wish I could do 1-2 hours of my Pythoning every day of the week after work. But I can’t. After 8 hours of working my dead-end job in customer service, I’m either too tired or too distracted by my news junkie tendencies. I hate myself when I reflect back at the end of my work week with all my wasted hours watching Stephen Colbert on YouTube.
My end goal (right from when I started running Linux in 2005) has always been to contribute to open source projects, in particular compiz (now: compiz-reloaded) and WayFire. These codebases are in C and C++ by the way. Python was only supposed to just be my ‘first step’ into programming until I become proficient enough to learn C and C++. But looking back at my progress, it’s been 15 years since I picked up Linux and Python and I am still struggling with Intro / Beginner PyBites - - even the ones I “completed” weeks ago that I no longer understand.
At this rate It’s going to take another 60 years by the time I am able to contribute to WayFire/compiz. It’s never going to happen.
I’ve taken 4 other courses on self-discipline on Udemy and I still can’t get my shit together to work on a little bit of Python every day.
#FML
Yes, I realize that I am just whining and complaining about my ‘first world problems’. I suppose if my biggest problem is the time I waste on YouTube instead of programming, then I should be grateful because there are many much more serious problems facing humanity that we all take for granted such as pollution in the oceans, the three billion individuals who are illiterate in this world and the economic warfare waged by the global debt collectors on the peasants and indigenous people elsewhere on the planet. From this vantage point, my self-discipline ‘problem’ is not much of a problem. I have an easy life. I should be glad that I am averse to learning how to program Python.
I'm just rambling here. I'm not sure if sharing this would help me or anyone. Thanks for listening.
I’ll start at the beginning.
Fifteen years ago I installed Slackware Linux (desktop) for the first time. A few years after that I migrated to Ubunutu. Today I run Manjaro on my desktop and Ubuntu for my tiny VPS in the cloud (which I barely use anymore).
Right from the beginning when I installed Linux, I always wanted to participate in the compiz window manager project. Those graphics effects were always so impressive. So where do I begin to contribute to a project like compiz? In 2009 I tried reading Swaroop’s “A Byte of Python” and Allen B. Downey’s “How to Think LIke a Computer Scientist”. I even attended a 1 week PyCamp intensive course in 2011. But every time, I threw my hands up in the air and gave up after about a week of false starts, confusion and helplessness.
Beginning in 2017, I started watching lots of Python course content on Udemy. Here is a list of the courses I’ve taken, along with the percentage of progress completed (the first one I watched several times, so it is more than 100%):
- Brad Traversy’s Python Django Dev to Deployment (Real Estate) 250%
- Jose Portilla’s Complete Python 3 Masterclass Journey 55%
- John Elder’s Build a Stock Market Web App for Django 100%
- John Elder’s How To Push Django Python Apps to Heroku for Web hosting 95%
- Fred Baptiste’s Python 3 Deep Dive 16%
- Jose Portilla’s Complete Python Bootcamp (with Jupyter Notebooks) 25%
- Colt Steele’s The Modern Python 3 Bootcamp 35%
- John Elder’s Intro to Django with Python for Web Development 79%
- Linux Acedmy’s Introduction to Bash Scripting and Python 101 17%
- Ziyad Yehia’s The Python Bible 23%
- Al Sweigart’s Automate the Boring Stuff with Python Programming 10%
- Jose Portilla’s Python and Django Full Stack Web Developer Bootcamp 11%
- Jay Elbourne’s Learn Python, it’s CAKE (Beginners) 68%
- Nick Walter’s Django 2.2 and Python Ultimate Web Development with Django 63%
- Nick Walter’s Django 1.11 Beginner’s Guide 66%
- Eduonix’s “Learn Python Programming from Scratch 35%
That’s great. I’ve watched lots of beginner Python tutorials. My problem was that it was all theory and no practice. I avoided doing the exercises. So in May 2020 I purchased 60 PyBites on sale as part of a Humble Indie Bundle and jumped right in. I completed my first PyBite on May 22, 2020. Since then I’ve completed 19 more. So it’s been 99 days since my first PyBite. That translates to effectively 1 Bite every 5 days. My Python study sessions are spread out in such a way that I do 5-10 hour ‘bursts’ of hyper focus study sessions roughly once every 1-2 weeks on one of my days off on my weekend. I don’t code Python every week, but I would if I could. With such a long gap between study sessions, when I today look back over my past PyBites that I completed say 8 weeks ago, I can’t follow along. I don’t understand my own code. So what’s the point?
I’m getting nowhere fast. This is why I feel like giving up right now.
I love coding Python. I encounter a thrill and exhilaration when seeing my terminal light up with all 6 passed assertions in my pytest functions after hours of research. It’s rewarding! After a long day of coding Python, I feel refreshed and relieved. It’s a wonderful feeling. I wish I could do 1-2 hours of my Pythoning every day of the week after work. But I can’t. After 8 hours of working my dead-end job in customer service, I’m either too tired or too distracted by my news junkie tendencies. I hate myself when I reflect back at the end of my work week with all my wasted hours watching Stephen Colbert on YouTube.
My end goal (right from when I started running Linux in 2005) has always been to contribute to open source projects, in particular compiz (now: compiz-reloaded) and WayFire. These codebases are in C and C++ by the way. Python was only supposed to just be my ‘first step’ into programming until I become proficient enough to learn C and C++. But looking back at my progress, it’s been 15 years since I picked up Linux and Python and I am still struggling with Intro / Beginner PyBites - - even the ones I “completed” weeks ago that I no longer understand.
At this rate It’s going to take another 60 years by the time I am able to contribute to WayFire/compiz. It’s never going to happen.
I’ve taken 4 other courses on self-discipline on Udemy and I still can’t get my shit together to work on a little bit of Python every day.
#FML
Yes, I realize that I am just whining and complaining about my ‘first world problems’. I suppose if my biggest problem is the time I waste on YouTube instead of programming, then I should be grateful because there are many much more serious problems facing humanity that we all take for granted such as pollution in the oceans, the three billion individuals who are illiterate in this world and the economic warfare waged by the global debt collectors on the peasants and indigenous people elsewhere on the planet. From this vantage point, my self-discipline ‘problem’ is not much of a problem. I have an easy life. I should be glad that I am averse to learning how to program Python.
I'm just rambling here. I'm not sure if sharing this would help me or anyone. Thanks for listening.