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{% extends "main/base.html" %}
{% block title %}FAQ{% endblock %}
{% block og_title %}FAQ{% endblock %}
{% block og_description %}Frequently Asked Questions{% endblock %}
{% block content %}
<div class="uk-section">
<div class="uk-container uk-container-small">
<article class="uk-article">
<h1 class="uk-article-title hover-title" id="top">
Frequently Asked Questions
<a href="#top" class="uk-text-primary" title="Permanent link to this header">
<i class="fas fa-paragraph" data-fa-transform="shrink-8"></i>
</a>
</h1>
<p class="uk-article-meta">
Insert witty quip here
</p>
<div uk-grid class="uk-grid uk-grid-divider uk-grid-match">
<div class="uk-width-1-3@m">
<strong>I'm new to Python - how/where do I get started?</strong>
</div>
<div class="uk-width-2-3@m">
<p>
How you get started with Python is very much going to depend on your prior programming
experience. If you're already an experienced programmer, you should should have no
trouble following pretty much any guide out there - but for true beginners, we recommend
full-on tutorials such as Automate the Boring Stuff with Python.
</p>
<p>
For more information on that and other resources, feel free to take a look at
<a href="{{ url_for("main.info.resources") }}">our resources page</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="uk-width-1-3@m">
<strong>What's wrong with "Learn Python the Hard Way"?</strong>
</div>
<div class="uk-width-2-3@m">
<p>
Learn Python the Hard Way, Zed Shaw's most infamous work, is largely considered by the
Python community to be poor-quality and misleading in general. This is due to numerous
issues with the material, which include being extremely opinionated and sometimes
condescending, out of date, confusing and even wildly incorrect in some places.
</p>
<p>
Learners that have used Learn Python the Hard Way as their primary learning material often
find themselves confused and asking questions that really don't make that much sense - it's
also been observed that learners in this position tend to suffer heavily from the infamous
<a href="http://xyproblem.info/">XY Problem</a>.
</p>
<p>
For more information on why you should avoid Learn Python the Hard Way, you can have a look
at <a href="https://sopython.com/wiki/LPTHW_Complaints">this article on the sopython wiki</a>,
which enumerates the most egregious issues with it.
</p>
</div>
<div class="uk-width-1-3@m">
<strong>Should I start with Python 2 or Python 3? Which is better?</strong>
</div>
<div class="uk-width-2-3@m">
<p>
Generally, we're always going to recommend that people new to Python start with Python 3.
There's a few reasons for this:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Python 3 is the latest-and-greatest version. It gets all the new features and is in
active development.
</li>
<li>
Python 2 lacks many features available in Python 3 and is mechanically different in a
few important areas.
</li>
<li>
Python 2 is being sunset and will reach its end of life in 2020. It will not be
maintained past 2020. There will be no Python 2.8.
</li>
<li>
Most libraries now fully support Python 3, and many are dropping or have dropped support
for Python 2.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
The only reason a user may want to stick with Python 2 is if they are stuck working a job
with a legacy codebase that cannot or will not be updated to work with Python 3. To users
in those situations: Commiserations.
</p>
</div>
<div class="uk-width-1-3@m">
<strong>What IDE/Editor should I use? Should I use an IDE if I'm a beginner?</strong>
</div>
<div class="uk-width-2-3@m">
<p>
If you're a beginner, you should not be using an IDE. This is because IDEs do a lot of
basic things automatically where a beginner should learn to do things themselves - for
example, some IDEs can generate huge chunks of code or catch beginner errors without you
even noticing you'd made a typo.
</p>
<p>
If you're not a beginner or you decide to try an IDE regardless, we heavily recommend
<a href="https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/">PyCharm</a>. This is a well-known IDE which
is entirely in a league of its own, and has a very capable free "community" edition that
will serve most people's needs.
</p>
<p>
We've listed off some of our favourite editors and IDEs on
<a href="{{ url_for("main.info.resources") }}">our resources page</a>. Feel free to
take a look if you're not sure what's out there.
</p>
<p>
By the way, we host <a href="{{ url_for("main.jams.index") }}">quarterly code jams</a>
for the users of our community, and the prize for winning it is a one-year PyCharm Pro
license - sponsored by JetBrains. If you like PyCharm and are thinking of grabbing a copy
of Pro, why not join in?
</p>
</div>
<div uk-grid class="uk-grid uk-grid-divider uk-grid-match">
<div class="uk-width-1-3@m">
<strong>Why can't I import this module?</strong>
</div>
<div class="uk-width-2-3@m">
<p>
When finding yourself unable to import something in Python, you can follow these
steps to figure it out:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Is the module part of <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/">Python's standard library</a>?
</li>
<li>
If not, have you installed it? If the module <a href="https://pypi.org/search/">is on PyPi</a>,
you can install it using pip in a terminal: <code>pip install module_name</code>
</li>
<li>
If you think you've installed it, try upgrading it with pip in a terminal:
<code>pip install -U module_name</code> - Make sure there were no errors during
installation
</li>
<li>
If all else fails, make sure you've read the module documentation fully, and ensure
that you're following it correctly
</li>
<li>
If you're sure that you've done everything correctly, you may have found a bug - come
and chat to us, and we might recommend that you report your problem to the developer
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div uk-grid class="uk-grid uk-grid-divider uk-grid-match">
<div class="uk-width-1-3@m">
<strong>If I type "python" or "pip" into a terminal, I get "command not found".</strong>
</div>
<div class="uk-width-2-3@m">
<p>
That's not a question, but there's a few things you can look at to try to solve this.
</p>
<ul>
<li>
If you're on Windows, the python installer has an option labelled "Add to PATH" -
Make sure you check this when you install python. If you forgot to do that the
first time, then the easiest way to solve this problem is to reinstall Python
</li>
<li>
If you're on Windows, there's a good chance that <code>python</code> and
<code>pip</code> aren't what you actually need to run! Some options you could
try include <code>py -3</code>, <code>python3</code> or <code>python36</code> - if
one of these works, then you should be able to use <code>py -3 -m pip</code>,
<code>pip3</code> or <code>pip36</code> as well
</li>
<li>
If you're on a Mac, Python comes with the OS - however, it's quite likely to be
an old version. You can solve this by using <a href="https://brew.sh">Homebrew</a>
to install a more recent version of Python, which should be made available as
<code>python3</code>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div uk-grid class="uk-grid uk-grid-divider uk-grid-match">
<div class="uk-width-1-3@m">
<strong>What's PEP8? Should I care about code style?</strong>
</div>
<div class="uk-width-2-3@m">
<p>
<a href="https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/">Python Enhancement Proposal #8</a>
is known as the official Python style guide. It sets out a lot of very clear guidelines
which help you structure your code.
</p>
<p>
One of the most useful things you can do when writing your code is to follow a style
guide. It makes it easier to read your code overall, but a consistent style guide
is very important as it means that everyone that contributes to your project is
writing code in the same style - meaning everyone will be able to read it. As PEP
itself reads: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds".
</p>
<p>
PEP8 isn't the only style guide available to you, but it is the most widely used
and best-understood of them - and for that reason, we do recommend you use it. That
said,
<a href="https://google.github.io/styleguide/pyguide.html">Google's Python Style Guide</a>
is also widely used by Google engineers.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div uk-grid class="uk-grid uk-grid-divider uk-grid-match">
<div class="uk-width-1-3@m">
<strong>Is Python a good first language?</strong>
</div>
<div class="uk-width-2-3@m">
<p>
In our opinion, yes it is. It's a very powerful language, but it will force you to
write readable code and it's designed to allow you to write code very quickly, without
you having to keep your head in a book for hours on end.
</p>
<p>
Python is used as a teaching language in many schools, colleges and universities - but
it's a very capable language that is suitable for many real-world tasks as well, and
it's only gaining in popularity!
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div uk-grid class="uk-grid uk-grid-divider uk-grid-match">
<div class="uk-width-1-3@m">
<strong>What does "real" Python development look like?</strong>
</div>
<div class="uk-width-2-3@m">
<p>
Python is a very versatile language, and a real-life application using it can take
many forms. That said, we do plenty of Python development here ourselves. If
you're curious about this question, then why not take a look at
<a href="https://github.com/discord-python">our projects</a>?
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</article>
</div>
</div>
{% endblock %}
|
