I’ve always been interested in coding. Learning the language of computers has always been something I have wanted to do. The main drive for me was making video games.
I’ve been playing video games for around seven years now. The first video game I ever played was Minecraft. I was introduced to the game by one of my friends and since then I’ve loved playing Minecraft and many other video games. A few years ago I was interested in making my own game. I did some research on the topic and realized that to make a game, I need to know how to code. I really wanted to make my own game and being able to code would open up that door for me, so I decided to start learning my first programming language.
I heard about Python for the longest time, but I never exactly knew what it was. I did some research on programming languages; I wanted to pick the right language to start off with. A programming language is like a set of instructions that tell the computer what to do. Each language has its pros and cons and I wanted to make sure I chose the right language before I started to learn it.
I originally decided on a language called C# (Pronounced: C Sharp). Still, after playing around with it for a bit, I realized that even though this was one of the most popular languages for coding video games, it wasn’t the right language to start with. Python, on the other hand, was a perfect starting point. The script itself was easy to read and resembled English writing, this made it easy for beginners.
I knew that before diving into the complicated stuff where a good knowledge of coding concepts was needed, I was to learn the concepts and then pick other languages that suited my needs. At the end of the day, Python was the perfect language for the job.
Taking Classes
To start, I took pre-recorded classes on a website called Udemy. The course I was taking was split up into 9 sections, each section covering a specific concept. The first section taught me about the Python programming software that I downloaded earlier. I learned how to make new program files, run lines of code and I even learned how to write some simple lines of code; like telling the computer to say my name.
Coding has always been very daunting to me. Looking at code always scared me. Long lines of words and numbers that came together to tell the computer to do something.
To make the code seem less frightening, I started to think of it like any other language. While I may be able to read what it says, I may not understand what it means. I needed to learn new words, and I needed to use those words to create sentences, or in this case, lines of code.
I practiced and practiced the first section for quite some time. I didn’t want to speed through the lessons, just to get to the next section, it was more important to learn about each concept well, rather than rush it.
When I learned something new, I wanted to test my new skills with a challenge. The course instructor always gave little projects to do. I took those projects and put my own twist on them. I wanted to try to code something completely by myself without any help. One project was making a mad-libs program. The program was very similar to a mad-libs sheet where someone could put nouns, verbs, and adjectives and the result would be a funny sentence, I put a twist on this. Instead of using the same sentence every time someone played, I made it so that the sentence would change every other round.
To make sure I fully understood the lesson I made a rule for myself that, If I was able to complete the project with the twist, then I was ready to move to the next lesson otherwise I needed to practice more.
This method proved to be good because when I completed the project I understood the lesson very well. After learning about the program and testing simple lines of code, like making my own mad-libs program I moved on to the next section.
Turtle Graphics
Turtle Graphics. While it may sound like the next section has something to do with turtles, it really doesn’t. Turtle Graphics is a program that Python uses to make different graphics like-colored spirals. I learned how to create cool designs with Turtle Graphics, kind of like those Spiral Art sets you can buy in the store. With the script, I instructed the computer to draw anything I wanted it to draw. I instructed it to draw many types of spirals using shapes like triangles, circles, and octagons. Using different scripts, I changed the thickness of the lines, the color of the drawing, and even the speed at which the computer draws the design.
Turtle Graphics is a program that Python uses to make different graphics like-colored spirals or other shapes.
Which brings us to now. So far, I have learned a significant amount about Python. I learned about Turtle Graphics and can now create my own custom designs using coding. The next couple of lessons include loops and conditions. In the “loops” section I will learn how to loop commands so that the computer can do a command multiple times without having to write the command over and over. In the “conditions” section I will learn about certain condition commands like if statements. I will be able to tell the computer that “if this happens… then do that.” I am very excited about the future and what I will create when I continue this course and learn even more about Python and other programming languages.