Want to get started in Python? Learn these four things

There are more than 500 programming languages today, but Python continues to remain popular. One reason is that it has several uses across applications, platforms and services. With Python, you can take up web development, app development, machine learning, artificial intelligence and even robotics.

But what is the best way to learn the language?

When learning Python, it is imperative to start with an idea. Ask yourself why you want to learn Python. Understand your area of interest because it will help you stay motivated and focused.

It is also necessary to know the basic Python syntax before starting anything. If you become familiar with the syntax, you can address any doubts that arise later. All this makes the learning process more immersive.

Get started

Start with Jupyter Notebook, an open-source web application that you can use to create and share documents that contain live code, texts, equations by installing Anaconda.

The most preferred mode of developing and running Python programs, Anaconda can be easily installed on different platforms. It comes pre-loaded with libraries and tools that will help you build meaningful programs in the preliminary step. All in all, Jupyter's interactive environment makes it easy for you to explore Python's libraries and in-built functions.

Master the use of sophisticated data types such as lists, tuples, to name a few.

Lists are perhaps the most intuitive and widely-used type in Python — iterable collections of data of any kind. The rules governing the use of lists are straightforward and intuitive and drive much of Python's ease of use. Tuples are another vital data type. They are like lists but immutable and are ideal for representing mathematical data such as points in space.

Learn control structures or logical constructs such as a loop.

Loop or other conditional execution blocks allow developers to alter program execution flow at will. For instance, loop programming structure repeats a sequence of instructions until a specific condition is met.

Join the Python community. Python has an active community where best practices and other tips are shared almost every day.

Finally, in a world of distributed, big-data applications, Python has a unique appeal because it is one of the few computer languages where its functional and object-oriented programming paradigms are integrated.

Functions can be stored in variables, passed into other functions as input arguments, returned from different functions, and even used as values in dictionaries.

So, what are you waiting for? Jumpstart your journey to becoming a rockstar Python programmer!

(The author is the senior director, Tech and Dev-Content Development at an Ed-Tech company)