Where are you along the path of learning Python? Do you feel like you’re making progress? What are ways you can put the learning path into a more precise focus? This week on the show, we talk with previous guest Martin Breuss about his recent article “How Long Does It Take to Learn Python?”

Martin discusses methods for measuring your progress and the various reasons for learning the language. We talk about how different backgrounds will affect your approach. We also suggest resources to help you on your path.

We share a couple of recent Python projects to round out the episode. The first is a library to draw stylized maps from OpenStreetMap data. The other is a framework for the analysis and visualization of trees, which includes a set of phylogenomic tools.

Course Spotlight: Using the Python return Statement Effectively

In this step-by-step course, you’ll learn how to use the Python return statement when writing functions. Additionally, you’ll cover some good programming practices related to the use of return. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to write readable, robust, and maintainable functions in Python.

Topics:

00:00:00 – Introduction
00:01:44 – Real Python Core Team Member
00:03:13 – How long does it take to learn Python?
00:03:40 – Why did you want to explore this topic?
00:05:05 – Python backgrounds Martin and Christopher
00:16:39 – What area excited you?
00:19:38 – Sponsor: Rev AI
00:20:16 – What are other areas that define, why Python?
00:23:30 – Keeping the scope narrower
00:24:48 – Measuring your progress
00:32:49 – Video Course Spotlight
00:34:12 – Effective mentorship
00:39:02 – Using search engines
00:43:07 – The journey of learning Python
00:48:38 – Programming challenges and practicing
00:49:40 – pretty maps - Minimal Python library to draw customized maps
00:52:02 – ETE Toolkit - Python environment for tree exploration
00:54:30 – Thanks and goodbye

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