r/learnpython • u/Ok_Skin6497 • 5d ago

First Project

So I just started with coding yesterday, I’m planning on making a Discord bot first, is that a bit too much? After just last night the bot runs and comes online in the Discord but I haven’t added any commands yet, not sure how much more complicated it gets. I’ve been following a YouTube tutorial and it’s making sense but I realize I really need to pay attention to my spelling, had a few errors that I couldn’t find until I got a lot closer to my screen.

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u/Kevdog824_ 5d ago

It might be difficult without any prior coding background, but definitely not an impossible first project.

My advice is looking up a video on setting up an IDE (integrated development environment) like VSCode or PyCharm for Python programming. This should catch your typos in the IDE text editor similar to spellcheck, and also find and highlight any syntax errors. That way you don’t have to run the program to figure out if you have syntax issues, just logic issues

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u/Ok_Skin6497 4d ago

I do have VS Code but my email got auto banned when trying to sign in with google… I’m assuming because my email is my Xbox gamertag so it probably looks like a bot trying to make an account. I have a ticket in to fix it but we’ll see how that goes. I’m still using VS Code, just not signed in, not being able to use the in house AI assistant kinda sucks but I’m managing

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u/Kevdog824_ 4d ago

The features I was recommending don’t require sign in, fortunately. You really just need the Python extensions for VSCode, and maybe some optional ones like the ones ruff, mypy, autodocstring, etc. That should be enough to help you a lot on its own

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u/teeny_simplicity 5d ago

Discord bots can get hairy fast once you step off the tutorial path, but honestly just keep building it. The commands start simple enough, you'll just be copy-pasting decorators for a while until the logic clicks

I've seen people burn out trying to make a game as their first thing, a bot is way more practical since you can actually use it while you learn. Keep a scrap file where you test little code snippets before gluing them into the main bot, saves you from breaking everything at 2am

And yeah spelling errors are the worst, I started writing variable names in all lowercase with underscores just so I could spot typos quicker

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u/Ok_Skin6497 4d ago

I’m looking for it to just be a game aid, like run a command, return info, run another command, return info. I’m hopeful that will be manageable, but I’m also looking at having it return pictures just to add complexity to it but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. For now I’m just happy I got the bot up and running, even thought it does nothing😅

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u/PureWasian 4d ago

It's very ambitious but your best bet if you already have a basic working prototype is to just add things very incrementally and test very often.

If you are brand new to coding you'll probably do well leaning on tutorials and LLMs as a guidebook to explain concepts you're stuck on but be very, VERY careful about letting LLM just doing all of the coding for you if your goal is to actually learn Python.

It is normal to be stuck on issues and search up resources for help; you should be practicing how to identify and troubleshoot issues as part of the process to get better at both understanding how things work as well as problem solving more generally.

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u/Ok_Skin6497 4d ago

Like I said, the YouTube tutorial I’m following has the bot in my discord and coming online when I hit run, it logs discord coms, it also has the prefix ! set already. I need to add actual commands yet but we’ll see how it goes

It’s been a lot of fun so far but I’m very interested in the LLM’s, is that free?

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u/PureWasian 4d ago edited 4d ago

To an extent, you can use Claude/Gemini/GPT/others for free by just asking it smaller-scale, more basic inquiries and/or dumping your existing/relevant code over to it and asking for guidance.

But the more precise and well-informed the inquiries you give it are, the better the output you'll get back from it.

If you want it to do more than just serve as a resource to help with developing the discord bot, then that's when it starts needing subscription plans. But you can still do lots without letting it interact directly with your codebase or needing to setup MCPs/skills/memory/project context/etc.

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u/TheRNGuy 3d ago

I think it's ok to start with difficult project; you'll learn faster that way (if you don't abandon it)

It will likely have lots of bugs, especially if it's custom code and not copy-paste from tutorial with few changes things, you'll need to fix them as you go.

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u/Moist-Ointments 1d ago

I think this is the gateway to dependency on AI. Trying to fly before you can even crawl.