The ABCDs of Coding in Python

Anybody Can Develop in Python!

Why is it important to learn how to code?

There is a simple answer to this very valid question, and that answer has been complicated for decades by ‘complicators’. It’s important because we need to learn how to talk to machines in today’s time!!! an make’em work for us! As computer science evolves from being a ‘tool for the nerds’ to an important utensil for daily use, we got to overcome the fear of learning this language that enables us to talk to the machines and pass on instructions. There is no humanitarian feeling that should hurt to call the machines our slaves as their sole existence is to serve humans.

How is it easy and what will I need to go through to learn it?

Its easy, I promise you that if you read this post till the end, Yes, a few lines of code can make anyone’s life easy. Lets take for example this piece of code I wrote and use a lot to send automated emails, at a certain time of the day, to a certain mailing list, without having to actually send them one by one/in groups/in bcc’s and worrying about being marked as spam and other chaos. All that you would need is an online computer/laptop with jupyter notebook on it and a few lines of code.

Why python, as there are so many of them out there?

Because python is an interpreter-based high-level language that helps reducing error rates and is widely used (techy answer huh!). Let’s try the “easy” way, do you think you can type this equation: 2+4*23 using your keyboard and hit shift+enter? Well if you can then you are standing at the foothills of a mountain of possibilities!!!

Learning a computer language today is (I think) a professional necessity, and there is no point waiting till it becomes a personal and life essential. And with Python you can start writing codes “now” and also learn it on the go! Besides being able to communicate with the computer/machines, this helps an individual to start thinking like a computer programmer (using the left-brain dominance) and that’s not bad at all, what do you say??

Using python with jupyter/ipython notebooks is fun coz you can make it more readable and more presentable when shared or even referred to by yourself later in time. Instead, you can put more emphasis on utilizing programming to solve real problems for you and not give you nightmares. I’ve been asked many times about ‘memorizing the syntax’, my answer has been and will be, who does that?. I never promote memorizing the syntax and help my learners to search them instead, however, I heavily emphasize developing logical thinking and eventually focus more on algorithms.

& what are the possibilities?

I think this quick read should lighten things up for you. And, no you do not necessarily need a trainer/teacher/instructor to get you up and running on this language. However, I strongly believe there is no alternative to experience. Hence, if you think you have a little time to spare, and you can dedicate some quality time to yourself for up-skilling, python is your next skill!

About possibilities, do you know that new all-knowing god we call ‘Google’, python has an important part in it? Similarly, if you have been enjoying free videos on YouTube, python has a key role to play in it. Likewise, famous apps/websites like Quora, Instagram, Yahoo Maps, and for that matter NASA scientists have been using Python for their success stories.

Conclusion

Python helps un-complicate stuff that really matters in today’s world. A lot of research is made using this open-source genie. It can definitely help you sort a lot of redundant/rhetoric tasks and free your mind from more important/useful things that our brain can perform.