[Baypiggies] Advice on how to improve my skills while working at a company that doesn't support Python

[Isaac]

Hi,

I would suggest reading code from an open source project. I hear Flask has
a really great codebase. Consider reading other open source projects that
are inline with subjects that you are interested in. It's important to read
code as well as write it to get a better understanding of the idioms. If
you don't understand what is going on in the code, try to learn what it
does. Ask the python-tutor mailing list if you need some assistance
understanding it.

Flask is a web framework, but if you are interested in machine learning,
try to find an open source library that does that. There are some great
books you can read that have examples that are very likely 'Pythonic'.
Speaking of machine learning: "Programming Collective Intelligence" is one
that uses Python. Also, "Learning Python" by M. Lutz is a great book that I
read to learn the fundamentals of Python.

Have you completed the Python tutorial within the documentation?

Also, have you read the style guidelines?
http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/

Cheers,
Isaac



On Sun, Jun 3, 2012 at 10:32 PM, J. R. Carroll <jrc.csus at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I am new to the list, new to Python (as of a few years ago), and
> definitely new to programming/scripting.
>
> I work as a practitioner for a company that has very little to do with
> programming of any kind, and I am the only one at the company that does any
> work in Python.  Everything I know, up till now, has been self-taught.  I
> have a substantial background in HTML/JavaScript, but most people don't
> count those for much of anything.
>
> With that said, I was just curious to know some thoughts on how I could
> improve my Python skills?  I already "do projects", and I try to do
> everything I can in Python (I am a statistician at my company), but I am at
> the point with my Python skills that I am submitting code to stackoverflow
> or on the Python IRC channel and all I get is a lot of dissension and
> frustrated posters about how my code can be "optimized better", "why did
> you do it THAT way?!", or that "it's not pythonic" -- all of which just
> turns out to be empty criticisms with little suggestions on how to improve
> my code.  I imagine that if I were at a "Python company" I'd have coworkers
> that could 'soundboard' with me or give me pointers, but I don't have
> access to that.  In fact, I don't know anyone else that works in Python...
>
> Is there something you might suggest that I could 'do' to increase my
> skills as a python'er so the code I write is 'respectable'?
>
> Thanks,
>
> -J
>
>
>
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