Introduction
Everyting Start From Interest
I wrote this guide to show my way to get interested in coding step-by-step. Programming is a cool and useful skill that allows you to make your life more convenient. I already used my programming skill to do the following interesting things:
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Escape GFW -The internet-wall which blocks websites including Google, Facebook, even Twitter
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Find the best house for me to rent - that is my first organized project, Dr. Wei Liu, the senior lecturer in UWA helped me a lot with this project.
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Analyzing character stats in online games - I was a game designer and a hard-core game player
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Download novels in bulk from Achive of Our Own - A literary site blocked by China government in late Feb, 2020.
and so on. All in all, programming will change the way you live and think.
Why Python
In one word: EASY
Python is one of the easiest programming languages for people without deep knowledge about science & math to learn. You can start without knowledge about algorithms and those complicated data structures. Only list is needed if you just want to write a program that is able to work(Of course it is not efficient, but at least it works). No pointers, no overflow, starters will soon have a strong sense of achievement once they finish their first tool/script.
You can find the official intro about Python on Wikipedia
Preparation
Download & Install Python
You can download python in its official website HERE, I suggest you to download Python 3.7.x because some external libraries does not support the newest python version.
For more detail about installation, simply type “install python” in Google and click “Search”, to specify your operation system, search “install python windows” or “install python mac” (I believe that none of your guys are using Linux right now :) ). Remenber if you are using windows, your windows should be Win7 or later otherwise you cannot install Python 3.5+, and Python 3.7 have many useful features like ordered dictionary that are very useful in the future.
Choose an IDE
Now you finish installation and open python in command line joyfully, what you see is an ugly interface like that:
Oh god! It is not the same as I imagine! My workspace should looks like this advertise instead of the console!
Well, that is the reason why you need an IDE(Integrated Development Environment), for beginners, it makes your code nicer to read. For senior developers, it is easier to manage your projects through it.
The IDE I am using is VSCode, it is a free, open source tool developed by Microsoft, you can get it from the link HERE
It is also suitable for other programming languages, but you need to configure language models and plug-ins yourself.
HERE is a tutorial about how to setup python environment in VSCode
Many people use pycharm but I have no experience with this IDE, you can Google it if you have interest about it.
This Python Tutorial uses PyScripyer and I think this IDE is also great for beginners, you don’t have to configure anything, just install python and this IDE, then start coding.
Projects for Beginners
Configure a Hero(Done)
Part A: https://610yilingliu.github.io/2020/06/24/PyConfigureAHero1/
Part B:https://610yilingliu.github.io/2020/06/25/PyConfigureAHero2/
Part C: https://610yilingliu.github.io/2020/06/29/PyConfigureAHero3/
Part D:https://610yilingliu.github.io/2020/07/11/PyConfigureAHero4/
