So, before you can determine how long it will take to learn Python, you need to define what you want to learn. Will learning the language\u2019s syntax and basic constructs be enough? Or do you need to learn one of its specialized libraries like statistics, robotics, or science?<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/makemeaprogrammer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Eric-G-Python-1-300x100.png\")
<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a quick look at the language and how it compares to others.
\n<\/p>\n
Python Is Simple<\/h2>\n
The Python language was designed with simplicity and readability in mind. This may seem like an idle boast, but simplicity and readability don\u2019t come built-in for many languages<\/a>.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s understand Python syntax by looking at the same example in three different languages.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a loop that prints the values 0 through 9 in C:<\/p>\n To decipher this, you need to understand what\u2019s going on inside the parentheses on the first line.<\/p>\n The last step only happens after the loop completes once! It\u2019s why it prints 0 through 9 and not 1 through 9.<\/p>\n A beginner doesn’t know by reading the code that each clause inside runs at different times (once at the start, before each iteration, and after each iteration). You know it because you read about it and messed up a few loops until you learned.<\/p>\n The body of the loop isn\u2019t self-explanatory, either. C\u2019s formatting syntax for printing an integer is another thing you just have to know. The function printf<\/strong> replaces the %d<\/strong> with the integer value of a<\/strong>. Then it adds a new line because that\u2019s what \\n<\/strong> means.<\/p>\n Now, here\u2019s the same loop in Java:<\/p>\n Java uses the same syntax for loops. But it’s easier to print an integer since println<\/strong> takes an integer without the cryptic formatting string and prints a new line each time you call it. You still need to know about the System<\/strong> object, the out<\/strong> object that corresponds to the terminal, and a println<\/strong> method.<\/p>\n Finally, here\u2019s how you do it in Python:<\/p>\n The first line almost reads like a sentence in English. Take a range<\/strong> of 10 numbers and assign each value to a<\/strong>. You need to know that the range starts at 0, which is why we get 0 through 9. (You can change that behavior by telling range<\/strong> where to start, but that\u2019s a different topic.)<\/p>\n Printing a value is more intuitive, too. Python has a print instruction. It prints whatever you pass it.<\/p>\n Python is a garbage-collected language<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019ll come to your office and empty your wastebasket once a week for you. It means that you can create new objects when you want and let Python worry about freeing up the memory. Java has this, too, as do many other modern languages. But it\u2019s one less thing you need to learn when comparing Python to C or C++.<\/p>\n One of the reasons that it took so much work to print an integer in C when compared to Python is how the two languages handle types.<\/p>\n In C, a<\/strong> was declared to be an int<\/strong>. We wanted a number that we could increment by one and compare to 10. C has specific rules about data types and what you can do with them. Int<\/strong> was the obvious choice.<\/p>\n But to print that int<\/strong> to the terminal, we needed to convert it to a string. (Or, more accurately, an array of characters terminated with a null.) That\u2019s where printf<\/strong> and the formatting string came in.<\/p>\n In Python, we don\u2019t need to provide a type for a<\/strong>, and we don\u2019t need to worry about printing it. Python infers that for us and does the work.<\/p>\n Most languages ignore white space.<\/p>\n That means this statement:<\/p>\n This statement:<\/p>\n And this statement:<\/p>\n Will all compile and run. They all mean the same thing.<\/p>\n So, while most Java developers would never use the last example, the first two differences are a matter of great debate. Wherever there\u2019s a choice, there’s a debate.<\/p>\n In Python, white space counts and is part of how code is formatted. For most statements, there is only one way to format them. Braces like in Java and C don\u2019t delineate the for<\/strong> loop above. The indentation before the print<\/strong> statement tells Python it\u2019s part of the loop.<\/p>\n At first, this seems too limiting, especially if you\u2019re coming to Python from another language. But after a while, you realize it\u2019s not. It\u2019s one less thing to worry about.<\/p>\n It also makes reading someone else’s code a lot easier! You don’t have to translate their style to yours since everyone’s code is formatted the same.<\/p>\n This approach to formatting is only one example of the Zen of Python<\/a>.<\/p>\n While many languages boast more than one way to do things, Python tries to take the opposite approach. Although there’s often more than one way to do things in Python, there’s usually one obvious and best way to get them done. It\u2019s usually the easiest and simplest way, too.<\/p>\n This programming approach reflects a strongly held belief in the Python community. In fact, that belief is so strong that it’s found its way into the official language standard. It\u2019s the Zen of Python<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s built into the language.<\/p>\n Python is used for everything from basic systems administration to controlling robots<\/a>,\u00a0statistical analysis<\/a>, biology<\/a>, and much, much more.<\/p>\n These tasks are done with Python\u2019s vast set of libraries. Python\u2019s standard library is already powerful, and there\u2019s little you can\u2019t do with it. But it\u2019s also easy to write new libraries for specialized tasks. PyPi<\/a>, one of Pythons’ more popular library sites, has more than 270,000 libraries.<\/p>\n As such, when it\u2019s time to write code for a specialized task, you can spend your time learning the library and how it maps into your job.<\/p>\n So, the real question isn\u2019t \u201cHow long does it take to learn Python?\u201d It\u2019s \u201cHow long does it take to learn how to code for\u201d whatever you\u2019re trying to do.<\/p>\n And isn\u2019t that how it should be?<\/p>\n PS: There’s no such thing as too much peanut butter.<\/p>\nPython Syntax<\/h3>\n
for( a = 0; a < 10; a++) {\r\n printf(\"%d\\n\", a);\r\n}\r\n<\/pre>\n\n
for (int a = 0; a < 10; a++) {\r\n System.out.println(a);\r\n}\r\n<\/pre>\nfor a in range(10):\r\n print(a)\r\n<\/pre>\n
Memory Management<\/h3>\n
Data Types<\/h3>\n
Code Formatting<\/h3>\n
for (int a = 0; a < 10: a++) {\r\n System.out.println(a);\r\n}\r\n<\/pre>\nfor (int a = 0; a < 10; a++)\r\n{\r\n System.out.println(a);\r\n}\r\n<\/pre>\nfor (int a = 0; a < 10; a++) { System.out.println(a); }\r\n<\/pre>\nThe Zen of Python<\/h3>\n
$ python3\r\n\r\nPython 3.8.5 (default, Jul 28 2020, 12:59:40)\r\n\r\nGCC 9.3.0<\/a> on linux\r\n\r\nType \"help\", \"copyright\", \"credits\" or \"license\" for more information.\r\n\r\n>> import this\r\n\r\nThe Zen of Python, by Tim Peters\r\nBeautiful is better than ugly.\r\nExplicit is better than implicit.\r\nSimple is better than complex.\r\nComplex is better than complicated.\r\nFlat is better than nested.\r\nSparse is better than dense.\r\nReadability counts.\r\nSpecial cases aren't special enough to break the rules.\r\nAlthough practicality beats purity.\r\nErrors should never pass silently.\r\nUnless explicitly silenced.\r\nIn the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.\r\nThere should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.\r\nAlthough that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch.\r\nNow is better than never.\r\nAlthough never is often better than right now.\r\nIf the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea.\r\nIf the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea.\r\nNamespaces are one honking great idea -- let's do more of those!\r\n<\/pre>\n
Python Is Complicated, But Only When It Needs to Be<\/h2>\n