[Tutor] Need Help!

[Ronald Walker]

I am uninitiated with computers and with computer speak.

 

I would very much appreciate some help at a primary level.

 

I am trying to learn Python because most of the research I did on
programming languages suggest that Python is supposed to be quite easy to
learn. However, in reading Python materials it seems to assume that I know
what they are talking about and am familiar with the jargon and many other
matters.

 

I am not.

 

For example I have found how to use the help function in Python. However, in
reading it, I cannot understand what it is trying to communicate.

 

If I do 

 

dir(str)

 

I get a whole list of "methods" available for the str function.

 

So then I :type 

 

help(str.count)

 

This is what I get:

 

Help on method_descriptor:

 

count(...)

    S.count(sub[, start[, end]]) -> int

    

    Return the number of non-overlapping occurrences of substring sub in

    string S[start:end].  Optional arguments start and end are

    interpreted as in slice notation.

 

This is completely unintelligible to me.

How would I use this? 

What does

S.count(sub[,start[, end[]] -> int

Mean?

What does 

Return the number of non-overlapping occurrences of substring sub in

    string S[start:end].  Optional arguments start and end are

    interpreted as in slice notation.

Mean?

 

It is English. And I am quite literate in English. But this English is not
using English vocabulary and syntax in a way that I can semantically
understand.

 

How can this help me? 

 

I want to find some actual concrete Python code from an actual working
program that explains what all this means!

 

Remember diagramming sentences? I am a native English speaker and I look at
a sentence diagram and cannot figure out what is happening unless I am
schooled in how to read and construct sentence diagrams. Remember that
diagraming sentences is separate and apart from learning to speak and write
English.

 

This is how I feel with getting help from the Python help and other Python
and computer documentation

 

This is what I might get if I did a help for verb tense for English and I
got back a help like I get in Python:

 

Help(verb.tense) 

 

v.conjugation [tense, person, number] [voice] [mood]

 

OK. So I want help on constructing verb tense for the word sing. How does
this help me?

 

Do you see my confusion?

 

Can anyone provide some clarity and direction for material that could "help"
my understanding?