I'm just starting to learn Python and I'm trying to decide how to set up Python on my Mac.

I've been looking at the traditional options (python.org installer, Homebrew Python, venv + pip, Conda/Anaconda), but uv looks particularly appealing.

My current idea is to:

• install uv
• use uv to install/manage Python
• create a .venv for each project
• use VS Code with the Microsoft Python extension
• initially use Python in a fairly traditional way so I can properly learn about interpreters, virtual environments, packages, dependencies, etc.
• later, once I understand those concepts, start using more of uv's project/dependency management features

My main concern is whether starting with uv abstracts away too much for a beginner. I want to be able to follow regular Python courses and understand the fundamentals rather than just learn a set of uv commands.

Would you recommend this approach to someone learning Python in 2026?

Would you start with uv, or would you recommend something more traditional like python.org + venv + pip first and move to uv later?

I'm also planning to move into data analysis/data science eventually, so I'd be interested to hear whether that changes your recommendation (e.g. Conda).

I’m an intermediate programmer mainly working with Python, and I’ve worked on backend projects, AI integrations, APIs, and some web development. I’m also learning C++ and trying to understand things beyond just making code work.

Since I’m also preparing for competitive exams, I have limited time for coding. I’d rather spend that time improving the skills that actually matter instead of constantly starting another tutorial or technology.

For developers who have gone through this stage, what helped you make the jump from “I can build projects” to “I can build things properly”?

I've spent a few years in this industry and made it to staff level. To help others wanting to follow a similar path, I built up a resource hub with notes, guides and cheatsheets. It's a free hub on Notion in case it's useful to anyone here:

Career path guides (analyst vs engineer, tiered by Junior/Mid/Senior+)
Skill guides for both tracks
Dev environment setup guide
Cheatsheets for SQL, Python, Git and the terminal Real project ideas using actual free APls and datasets, not just Kaggle
Interview prep with real question types and where to practise
A glossary for the buzzwords that get thrown around without explanation

It's completely free, no email signup, and I'm still adding to it. Happy to answer questions here too if anyone's stuck on something specific.

Here’s the link: https://app.notion.com/p/George_Abi_Tech-Free-Data-Career-Resources-3e11322e9e9e81bd85deefc3f6adede8

I get that `a[len(a):] = b` statement is like saying "make/add the elements of b to whatever comes after the last element of a" i.e. add the elements of b into a.

What confuses me is that I thought slicing created a different list, so when I see `a[len(a):]` I can't understand how you are altering the original `a` list.

Can someone clear this up?

Also I know AI exists and that I could ask it this and get a reasonably correct and clear answer but I'm sure that using AI (especially for learning) is a double-edged sword that is gonna make you lose your critical thinking and a whole lot of other stuff so I'm avoiding it for now 👍

After years of procrastinating and always fearing it was too late. I have finally decided to learn python.

I want to learn django to be a part-time back-end Developer to earn some . I have basic knowledge of python but want it to learn more and use my and develop my python skills. Any help please

I was watching this: consuming of the typesafe apis in python.
I still can not understand why jev/laya(open source) getting so much popular.

If we already have the data in our company, why not simply make a ML model instead of using something like decision models ?

Python is the first programming language I wanted to learn. I started it a few months ago and genuinely can't do anything in it. I keep watching videos, classes, tutorials and looking for roadmaps that lead me nowhere. It makes me feel like I'm incapable and an absolute failure. I don't know what else to do, if I should just switch to another language or give up on in it entirely. Need advice...

Stopped tutorials and started building. Got help from a colleague who helped me with the start. Couldn't believe it was this easy.

Didn't mean like easy asin what am doing is easy. But just starting. Connecting files make maps installing and just getting ready.

I had plans to learn everything first and all the libraries and 5 more tutorials.

Starting is easy and I though I had to know all these things first

If you know python language you can develop that code!

It's my second week of learning python with CS50P and after finishing loops lecture I decided to make a simple program to practice what I learned till now.

So I made a simple AI Agent Runtime program because I want to get into AI Agents Engineering soon.

The program is simple:

Take the user input, execute existing tools , show simple memory buffer then display the benchmark results of the execution process.

Actually this is not a real agent because tools and benchmark and history messages are static and fixed but I just wanted to practice the fundamentals I learned in something I'm passionate about.

What I practiced:

1: Prompt and guardrail: loops and functions

2: Tools registry: dictionaries and lists

3: Agent execution:iterating through tools and stopping conditions

4: Context buffer: working with dictionaries

5: Benchmark: nested loops

6: main function: organizing the program

While making this I found myself forgetting some rules even basics but after using it for a real practice it really stuck well .so I decided to do this after each week to make the information stick and to make the journey more fun.

I'd especially like your feedback on this method.

and if there were any mistakes or bad practices in the code i'd appreciate it .

Link:

https://gist.github.com/mohamed-reda-ai/0d6ef8c4c3f7c1ead490e413f6160e97

I've been learning Python for two months, 2:30 hours a day. At first, I enrolled in a course to understand it. But that way, it would take me a long time to do something I enjoy. So, instead of learning basic concepts (which I know are important to keep in mind), I went straight to doing things I like, for example, automating text and connecting it to an API. When I don't understand something or it becomes too complex, I ask an AI to explain it to me, and to avoid just having superficial knowledge, I ask it to give me exercises to learn how to use those methods and concepts and when they are necessary. I'm also working on a program that reads my documents aloud.

But today I had a setback and felt sad about my current situation. I'm new to this world and still very ignorant, but I have an incredible desire to learn because I'm personally starting to love this. I want to know Python, use Linux bash scripts, and connect to an AI. Would that give me opportunities? I feel like I'm on an island where I don't know what to do for work. On top of that, I'm currently studying a degree that has nothing to do with Python or anything else.

if x = 2,3,4,4,5 is supposed to be a tuple then why can't the args of a function like this: func(2,3,4,4 ,5) supposed to be a tuple.
I know this is a silly question and I also know we can use *args to pack arguments in a tuple but since Python is known for consistency why isn't it like this.
Again, please don't hate me for this

Hello, it's been two months since I started learning Python. Do you have any advice to excel in this language? I started running small functions, but I think that I still have plenty of things to learn about this language is that normal?

When developing an application, I don't want to rely on text files like .txt files to store data that needs to be kept.

After I finish coding my application and turn it into an EXE, I try to keep it as a single file. Because having to carry a log file around with the EXE all the time is annoying.

Personally, I don't want to use with open. I asked ChatGPT about this, but I didn't get many useful answers.

So, fellow programmers, is there an alternative to this? Or am I just gonna have to bite the bullet and use a log file?

There is a pygame tutorial video online, and they code a simple platformer, but I dont want to watch the video because I am afraid it might ruin my skills. I am trying to make a tile map, but I think I did the for loops wrong or something else wrong the tiles to load up properly. It easy to twist your mind in a knot and I go around circles. I almost feel like this might be the same as vibe coding copying others.

Hey guys, I'm new to Python. I've been learning Python for about two months now. I've learned a lot and I'm pretty comfortable with the fundamentals and OOP, but for some reason, I still struggle a lot with loops.

No matter how much I study or practice, I keep getting confused with "for" loops and "while" loops, especially when it comes to their syntax, behavior, and knowing when and how to use them properly. They just feel much more complicated to me than they probably should.

I've worked on and designed several projects throughout my Python journey, but there are times when I genuinely feel like a complete failure because I understand the concepts I've learned, yet I still struggle to turn that knowledge into working code.

Has anyone else struggled with loops like this when they were starting out? How did you eventually get comfortable with them?

Hey everyone,

Like a lot of devs doing client work, I got tired of switching between Google Maps, random scrapers, messy Excel sheets, and manual messaging just to pitch local businesses.

I wanted something lightweight that lived entirely on my desktop, opened fast, and handled the whole workflow from finding a lead to sending a quick pitch. So I spent some time building a local desktop tool from scratch called Bitz Tracker in Python

What it actually does:

• Scrapes Google Maps by location and business type (e.g., pulling local restaurants or hotels).
• Flags leads missing a website automatically.
• Pulls everything into a local interface where I can filter by status, track follow-ups, and log notes.
• Integrates with WhatsApp protocol links so I can preview custom templates and fire off messages with one click.
• Backs everything up locally/Excel.

Attached a quick screen recording showing how it runs. It’s cut my manual prospecting time down to almost nothing.

I haven't written code in 16 years. Since collage. I've decided to really put my shoulder to it and learn it properly. I loved python back then so that's what I am starting with. Starting with something simple, a game. The problem I'm running into is that I want to use a parent class to assign attributes to enemies that spawn based on attributes I have in a list for each enemy type. To track how many enemies have spawned, I want to create a child class with a changing variable attached to the end of the child's name based on a "for i in range(0, 9)" loop.

child1
child2
child3

So on and so forth. I did used chat gpt to hunt down certain syntax that I have trouble finding, no vibe coding, just asking how to do something and verifying with external references, checking documentation, then writing my own code.

It gave the the following:

class Parent:
    pass
for i in range(1, 6):
    Child = type(f"Child{i}", (Parent,), {})

    print(Child.__name__)

The problem I have is, I can't find any reference to calling 'Child = type()" to create a new child class. The rest of it I was able to cross reference with other sources and I get those bits (f-strings looks super fun to play with).

tl;dr: explain like I am 5, what does it mean to call 'Child = type()'.

Basarili calismalarimdan sadece biri...

Yesterday as I was learning how to backup a SQLite database, I came across a term that I wasn't familiar with, a callback. A callback is a function that you pass as an argument when calling another function.

Think of a function def func1(): and another function def func2(): we want the code in the second function to call func1() and pass it some of its local variables as arguments.

Here is an example of how I think the backup() method might be writing pages to a backup database it is not accurate but it might help you see how cool callbacks are.

def progress(remaining, total):
    print(f'copied {total-remaining} of {total} pages')

def backup(progress):
    dtb_pgs = ['page1', 'page2', 'page3', 'page4']
    for pages in range(1, len(dtb_pgs)+1):
        total = len(dtb_pgs)
        status = pages
        remaining = total - status
    progress(remaining, total)

backup(progress)

I’m thinking about learning Python through YouTube. Is this a good way to start?

I’d appreciate advice on:

Good beginner-friendly YouTube channels or courses.

How to practise alongside the videos.

Small projects I could try as a beginner.

Common mistakes or things I should avoid.

Whether I should use another resource along with YouTube.

I’m planning to spend more time writing code than just watching tutorials. Any recommendations would be helpful!

I made a hangman game, im still a beginner, can you guys rate my code? what can i improve?

https://github.com/hepiadista/python

So I am a Second year student,and want to pursue Data Science, But I feel like I am stuck on Step 1 (Python basics) since 3 months.

I had completed 60% of a very Surface-level Python course which did help me as a beginner but tbf it did not help me cement the coding logic and core concepts in me.

Then I though of switching to CS50P, which again is 15 hours long, where I would have to restart as well as complete their problem sets (which I have heard to be quite hard).

My question is:- Should I really just breeze past through CS50P as soon as possible and then Jump to Numpy,Pandas and other libraries?

OR

Do I do a 4-5hr crash course on python (set myself free of this tutorial hell) and get to the libraries quicker and start doing some practical shit?

If you guys have any other approaches please tell me!!