The demand for Python has increased in recent years, and many new students at GC are eager to learn it. However, many soon give up, including smart, successful scholars. Why is that?

I am a strong believer that anybody can successfully learn to code, but there is no denial that it is a challenge. One of the reasons is that learning a programming language is not merely a cognitive matter. If you have ever taken an online course, this description might resonate: you follow all the steps, pay attention to the explanation and understand everything that was taught. But when you try to apply this knowledge yourself, by the end of the course you freeze. The thing is, we learn to code with our hands as much as we do with our brain– similar to learning how to play guitar. You can understand the chords, but you actually need to play them hundreds of times before you can do it without thinking. Coding takes time and repetition.

It also can feel uncomfortable in the beginning, as we have to do things that we don’t completely understand—many times we won’t understand it until we’ve done it multiple times. As academics, who usually take pride in knowing our concepts well, the idea of “do it even if you don’t understand” is a hard pill to swallow.

Academic work is often a lonely experience. We are used to learning in isolation, even if we will have peer feedback later. Learning to code by yourself makes the challenge harder, and a beginner will benefit from learning with other people. Sometimes we get stuck for hours on things that somebody else could have helped us in less than a minute. Learning to find answers in forums and other resources is a skill in itself, and even figuring out how to ask a question correctly can be challenging.

That’s why we in the Python Users Group (PUG) created a space for beginners in Python to learn to code together. We want to have a welcoming atmosphere in which beginners can feel comfortable. There are multiple ways of learning, and people will respond to some better than others.

This Fall (2019) we are working through the book Learn Python 3 the Hard Way, by Zed A. Shaw. We chose it because:

• It is a hands-on, exercise-based approach. Instead of introducing concepts and tools, you actually use them repeatedly; first in the exercises, then collaboratively as we troubleshoot together and talk about what we did.
• It is easy to join at any point. If you miss a meeting you can still keep coming.
• Because everyone works on the same exercises, we get to help each other. Beginners who are just a bit ahead can help newcomers on their first exercises. By teaching the material to their peers, they get more confident on their recently-acquired skills.

We meet on Fridays, every three weeks, always between 3:00-4:30pm, in the Digital Scholarship Lab (Room 7414). Please join us in our commons group to find out about next meetings, see updates and participate in our discussions.

This Fall the meetings will be on Oct 25, Nov 15 and Dec 6. On October 25th we will be talking about exercises 1 to 4. Yes, we are just starting, so there is no better time to join!