Python Strike!

Boot up, Dudes!

This is Cassie, guest blogging for author S. C. Ashby. Once SC’s novel, Along the River Road, was published about the mystery my friends and I solved, SC has been getting many questions about gyrl-coders and specific questions about programming. She hands those questions over to me, and I cover those in my guest blog for her.

I’ve been hearing some technobabble from other kids recently, wanting to know which programming language they should learn first. I’ve also gotten questions on why I like Python so much. So, before going back to some Python code, I decided for this guest blog to answer those two questions that keep floating through the geekosphere.

When you read my story in the novel Along the River Road by S. C. Ashby, you will notice that I do a lot of coding. The book shows me coding in html, Java, Javascript and PHP. I am also fluent in all Cs: C, C+, C++ and C#.

I first discovered Python a few years back when I was in middle school. Python though has been around since the early 1990s. What I like the most about Python is that everything I need for coding with Python is available online for free. My very first suggestion is to visit the Python Software Foundation online as they have free materials for getting started as well as a beginner’s guide for non-programmers.

So, check-out these urls:

https://www.python.org/about/gettingstarted/

https://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide/Download

https://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide/NonProgrammers

 

Once you install it on your computer, next, pick a text editor to write the code with, then, you are good to code!

I get questions from kids wanting to get into coding and stressing over which language to choose. I never had that stress, but that’s because my step-dad was a coder and started me off with robotics using Lego Mindstorms®.

Yuh, I was a total brick-head for years when I was in elementary school.

My step-dad had the Lego Mindstorms NXT® kits, and once I mastered those, we just kept going—buying every new kit they had. I spent many weekends and summer vacations playing with those Lego® robotic systems. Those experiences jump-started my mind into programming.

 

 

Then,

I found Python.

My feelings about Python were as instantaneous as a snakebite! Once I was bitten, I started using Python for lots of different applications. I loved its versatility and usability. So, when I am asked what programming language kids should start with, of course, I recommend Python. But, in all honesty, it really isn’t important which language you start with because, ultimately, if you keep on programming, you will use more than one programming language.

Think of it like tools. If you need to connect two things together, you can use a nail, screw or even glue. If you are putting two lightweight, small pieces of wood together, you might use only glue. If you are putting two large pieces of wood together, you might use a nail or you might use a screw. If you use a nail, then you would need to use a hammer. If you use a screw, then you would need to use a screwdriver or drill. Got it?

It is the same thing with programming languages. If I want to create a Website, I will probably use HTML, Javascript, a Cascading Style Sheet and PHP. If I need to write a GUI, then I might choose Java or C++. If I want to create a mobile app, I could use C++, C#, PHP, PERL, and, of course, Python. So, what you are creating determines the programming language you should use.

So, now you’re thinking, “I gotta learn a lot of different programming languages because I want to be able to create lots of different things.”

Yuh, and you’re also thinking, “I need to know how to use a hammer, a screw driver, a drill, a saw. . . . That’s a lot of tools. . . . I don’t think I can learn all that!”

When you learn your first programming language, you are learning to “think like a programmer.” What that means is that you learn how to take multi-step processes and complex tasks and break them down into simpler steps or smaller components. As a programmer, you define a problem and then plan out a solution. Once you learn one programming language really well, you are about 85% of the way toward learning a second programming language.

 

That’s like once you learn how to use a hammer, you can then quickly learn how to use any other types of hammers: claw, framing, sledge, upholstery, and even a mallet!

 

Python as a language was created to be easy to use while allowing a noob to start writing useful programs right away. In fact, it was originally developed as a teaching language, but because its language structure was so easily and quickly learned, users of all abilities started using it more and more in their own programming.

So, why do I like Python so much?

I have lots of reasons why I think Python is a good programming language, and a good FIRST programming language, but I will give you six reasons in no particular order.

• I like how it has a somewhat consistent syntax that makes it easy to read and understand the actual code. Its consistent use of #s, indentation, white space, and parentheses for grouping items or for calling a function, makes it easy to read the actual code and understand what action is to be taken.

  

• You can easily reference common tasks in Python’s set of built-in libraries.
• Python integrates easily with other existing tools.
• It is so widely used that you can find lots of support documentation, advice from other programmers and tons of video tutorials online.
• It is a versatile programming language that can be used to create lots of different types of projects: data analysis, data visualization, developing games, and even web apps, to name a few.
• Python is FREE! Yuh, I know, this is a repeat (or is it a FREE-peat!), but I just wanted to emphasize this point!

Now, the important thing to do next is to just

Pick a programming language and get coding!

L8r, Dudes!

Cassie