What Are Some Good Projects For Novices?

[Paul Rubin]

polopunk209 at hotmail.com (Josh) writes:
> I want to work with PyGAME. But, I know I need to spend a little more
> time with some simple Python programs. But, I have no idea what would
> be a good program for a novice to work on. This isn't helped by the
> fact that the only need I really have for a computer at this point in
> my life is entertainment. Anyway, what do you guys think are some good
> problems for a novice such as myself to tackle? Thanks for your
> suggestions.

I'd say get a good introductory programming book and work on some
problems that interest you.  For games, you might start out writing
some simple text-based games like "guess the animal": you think of
an animal and the computer asks (your answers start with >>>):

   -- Does it fly?
   >>> no
   -- Does it have tusks?
   >>> yes
   -- My guess: it's an elephant.  Is that right?
   >>> no
   -- OK, what is it?
   >>> a walrus
   -- What's a yes/no question that lets me tell a walrus from an elephant
   >>> does it swim?
   -- What's the answer to 'does it swim?' for 'a walrus'?
   >>> yes

When you teach the program a new animal, it remembers the animal and
the new question in a disk file for next time.