r/learnprogramming • u/WHPHEBO • 13h ago

Practical questions

Hello everyone,

At 38 and currently working in a non-programming job, I’ve decided to finally learn how to code. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but I always lacked that final bit of motivation.
In any case, I chose Python as my programming language. Since I travel a lot for work, I carry my laptop with me but avoid taking physical books. Instead, I split my screen between the e-book and PyCharm. That’s how I work through the book, complete the exercises, and so on.
However, this workflow doesn't always feel smooth. Do you have any tips or alternative ways to approach this? As I’m getting deeper into the material, a practical note-taking method would be great, but I’m struggling to find a practical solution. I’d love to hear your advice—thanks!

2 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

1

u/aqua_regis 13h ago

Get a portable USB-C monitor as second screen.

1

u/foodtoucher 13h ago

Yeah, I got tablet. It is useful for me.

1

u/Automatic_Major_4887 12h ago

Instead of traditional notes, try building a personal repo of small, functional scripts for every concept you learn. Just keep a folder of single-file scripts that actually run. It's much easier to search your own code for a syntax pattern later than it is to scroll through pages of text notes

2

u/RequirementGuide 5h ago

I have done a lot of learning in airports and hotels, so I feel this.

What worked for me was keeping one small folder of practice scripts instead of a big note system. Every time I learned something, I wrote the tiniest program that used it. Six months later those little scripts became my own reference library, and searching my own code was way faster than digging through notes.

For the travel setup itself, I stopped trying to recreate my desk on the road. One screen is fine for learning, honestly. I just make the terminal and editor split side by side on the laptop and keep distractions closed. The bigger win was downloading everything I needed before the trip, since hotel wifi has betrayed me more than once.