Question for Coders from a Hobbiest

wubears71

Well-known member
Albatross 2024 Club
Joined
Jul 23, 2014
Messages
14,739
Reaction score
8,526
Location
Webster Groves, MO
Handicap
8.1 GHIN
I am a self taught programmer but it's all VB, Fortran and structured text used in process control and automation. However, I am looking to expand my skills by learning python. I have a few questions:
  1. There are several "free" learning sites (https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-python as an example). Are they worth using or will I spend 25 hrs on it and come out knowing very little.
  2. Are there other languages I should look at besides python.

I do this more as a hobby than anything and am not looking to become an expert coder.

TIA.
 
Not sure what all you're looking to mess with and or build, but I would get your head wrapped around Node.js and React if you want to have some fun with java frameworks instead of python. again, depends on what you're looking to get out of it.
 
Not sure what all you're looking to mess with and or build, but I would get your head wrapped around Node.js and React if you want to have some fun with java frameworks instead of python. again, depends on what you're looking to get out of it.
Nothing in particular yet. I am always just looking to improve my skillset. I would like to learn something that will be a good basis for jumping to other languages.
 
So my company does custom software dev, the two I mentioned are the flavors that the vast majority of our work is done in. Its a bit cyclic though, a couple of years ago it was Angular.
 
Nothing in particular yet. I am always just looking to improve my skillset. I would like to learn something that will be a good basis for jumping to other languages.

Python will do the trick. A good way for you to jump in would be to see if you could port some of your prior process control/automation work over to Python.
 
You can look at dreamincode.net it's a programing forum that has lots of information. Python is a good language to start in, I started with Java and C++. It has been a while since I have used them so I am sure I am out of date and couldn't code for anything right now.
 
Python is an excellent general-purpose language. If you're looking to do web development with it, you'll want to use the Django framework or one of the alternative frameworks.

If you're just looking to build things for yourself, Ruby is also a good choice. It's an extremely elegant language with a great web framework. If I were just going to do personal web-based projects, Ruby would be my choice. However, if you're looking for job opportunities, Python is a better choice because it's more widely used and has more capability in areas such as scientific computing, big data, etc. There are certainly jobs for Ruby developers, but not as many as Python.
 
If you want to do web stuff, JS is nice because you can stick to one language for the front and back end. The majority of the work I do is data analytics/machine learning/scientific programming so I live in Python. When I have to wrap a front-end and do something nontrivial, having to context switch between languages isn't the most fun, but it's not overly tough. At the end of the day it's pretty easy to hop between languages, learning the fundamentals is more important.

I have my folks who have limited programming experience start with Python, but more because that's become the default for computational bio work.
 
Python is really big in Data Science. It's phenomenal for statistical analysis and things like that. I work for Humana and we use Datacamp for training in Python. It's pretty good, but as with any coding language you won't remember much until you've built your own application IMO.
 
Pluralsight is a good resource for learning various languages/technologies, it's around $30/month though.
 
I think a course like that could help, how useful it is is up to you if you decide to do anything with that information. I learned some python when I had to build a machine learning model for an app and just found a tutorial online.

I don't think there is any better way to learn something than to do it so if there is any project you want to attempt find the right language/s for what you want to do and start there.
 
I'd say that while it's not a language as such, getting proficient with powershell is a huge part of my cybersecurity job, especially in an Active Directory environment.
 
Python is a solid place to start. I'm not a coder exactly, as in I don't write programs for other people to use, but I do spend a lot of time writing code for my own needs. I do mostly bash, and powershell scripting with the occasional TCL. Learning the basics of programming will always help, understanding the syntax isn't terribly complex for most languages. As a hobby, or something to stretch the brain, I'd say Python is a great place to start.

Python for everybody is a great resource. P4E Solid learning structure, and makes it pretty simple to learn.

Udemy is another very very good resource, for more than just python, lots of different languages are offered there, as well as almost anything under the sun. (Never pay full price for the classes, wait for a sale)
 
This is so appropriate for my question today. This was a letter I wrote back in 1997 to PC Magazine. I was a freshman in college. Man I took the wrong career path - should have been computer science instead of chemical engineering.
1017C09C-9F96-4023-BAD5-CA2F97C5FB7B.jpeg2F055315-0DCE-4A77-BAA6-B0E04F33AA36.jpegA15E90FF-C9DA-4712-B979-89CF14F3274B.jpeg
 
Shoot. I was hoping you turned out to be Godfrey Chryssoverges ☹

And who knew Mizuno named a set of their irons after an ancient web tool ?
 
Anybody done the MATLAB-to-python transition? The place I work is trying to phase out MATLAB, but a lot of people have years of MATLAB code.
 
Anybody done the MATLAB-to-python transition? The place I work is trying to phase out MATLAB, but a lot of people have years of MATLAB code.

I did most of my grad work in MATLAB, but pretty much live in Python these days. I didn't have a big codebase/set of code I was moving over though. I just moved on to a new project and started in Python.
 
This is so appropriate for my question today. This was a letter I wrote back in 1997 to PC Magazine. I was a freshman in college. Man I took the wrong career path - should have been computer science instead of chemical engineering.
View attachment 8914708View attachment 8914709View attachment 8914710
You grew up at the same time I did. Everyone said Chemical Engineering was the best paying job and what you should major in. I think around the turn of the century they were basically telling people thinking about IT that all those jobs would be gone in the US. Could there have been a worse prediction than that?
 
You grew up at the same time I did. Everyone said Chemical Engineering was the best paying job and what you should major in. I think around the turn of the century they were basically telling people thinking about IT that all those jobs would be gone in the US. Could there have been a worse prediction than that?

I did okay as a Chem E but I ended up gravitating to process control and automation so I really do more day-to-day with talks closer to Comp Sci. I’m not proficient but good enough to understand.

With running my own business now, I really don’t need to learn a new language, but I like learning which is why I asked the original question. One thing I could see doing for fun is writing a new, robust home automation and controls platform that can compete with Control 4 or Creston. I know it’s ambitious.

now I still wish I could find whatever website I was building...
 
Shoot. I was hoping you turned out to be Godfrey Chryssoverges ☹

And who knew Mizuno named a set of their irons after an ancient web tool ?
I just caught that. Too funny. I was using hot metals before Mizuno knew what they were.
 
I'd say that while it's not a language as such, getting proficient with powershell is a huge part of my cybersecurity job, especially in an Active Directory environment.
I’m finding myself using power shell more and more - especially with Azure. I need to get better with it but I’m really good at copy/paste. ???
 
I did okay as a Chem E but I ended up gravitating to process control and automation so I really do more day-to-day with talks closer to Comp Sci. I’m not proficient but good enough to understand.

With running my own business now, I really don’t need to learn a new language, but I like learning which is why I asked the original question. One thing I could see doing for fun is writing a new, robust home automation and controls platform that can compete with Control 4 or Creston. I know it’s ambitious.

now I still wish I could find whatever website I was building...
Look at home assistant. Really open, and I think you can use python natively in the application to handle automation.
 
Look at home assistant. Really open, and I think you can use python natively in the application to handle automation.
I’ve dabbled in HA and openhab. Both are pretty nice. At the time I didn’t have enough time to really go deep so ive managed to do a pretty sweet job with 2 Logitech hubs, google Smarthome and Alexa. I really wanted Control4 but the local dealer was an asshole that actually told me that it’s closed because ”his customers are stupid”. I wasn’t opposed to pay them for the initial setup but did not want to be locked down when I added new equipment that I know I could so myself.
 
I’ve dabbled in HA and openhab. Both are pretty nice. At the time I didn’t have enough time to really go deep so ive managed to do a pretty sweet job with 2 Logitech hubs, google Smarthome and Alexa. I really wanted Control4 but the local dealer was an asshole that actually told me that it’s closed because ”his customers are stupid”. I wasn’t opposed to pay them for the initial setup but did not want to be locked down when I added new equipment that I know I could so myself.
Yeah, Control4 and Creston(?) are realy impressive systems, but honest some of the stuff I’ve seen people do with HA blow them out of the water in almost every area but stability. There’s a ton of power there, and if you can program in almost any language you can do pretty amazing stuff with those systems.
 
I did okay as a Chem E but I ended up gravitating to process control and automation so I really do more day-to-day with talks closer to Comp Sci. I’m not proficient but good enough to understand.

With running my own business now, I really don’t need to learn a new language, but I like learning which is why I asked the original question. One thing I could see doing for fun is writing a new, robust home automation and controls platform that can compete with Control 4 or Creston. I know it’s ambitious.

now I still wish I could find whatever website I was building...
I dont mean the Chemical Engineering part was a bad prediction, I meant the IT would not be a good job in the US moving forward.
 
Back
Top