Python newbie help

[Duncan Booth]

stephen at hostwiththemost.net (s) wrote in 
news:87fa5cfa.0308181126.c61bfa2 at posting.google.com:

> I've recently been very interested in learning Python but I seem to
> lack direction while reading the tutorials.  I understand the syntax
> and everything concerning the language itself but the tutorials I have
> seen are merely displaying features of the language rather than
> teaching you to code while reaching an end goal of a program and I
> think that's been my problem with learning the language so slowly.  Is
> anyone aware of an online tutorial with examples that actually end up
> creating a semi-useful program and not just snippets of code
> displaying how the code functions?

I think that many people coming to Python already know how to program, and 
they are the ones that the tutorial is aimed at. Teaching a new language to 
someone who already programs is a very different thing from teaching Python 
to people who know nothing about programming (the latter have far less to 
unlearn!)

It depend what you mean by 'semi-useful', but you might want to have a look 
at the Livewires Python Course, http://www.livewires.org.uk/python/ which 
is intended for teaching programming to teenagers who have never programmed 
before.

> The course consists of a collection of worksheets. The Beginners'
> course consists of 5 numbered worksheets (numbered Sheet 1 to Sheet
> 5), which are intended to be worked through in numerical order, and a
> whole load of lettered worksheets (lettered A to Z, with some gaps)
> which provide background or go deeper into a particular topic. As well
> as this, there are some games worksheets which are intended for people
> who have been through the numbered sheets. Each sheet takes the reader
> through the process of writing a simple graphical game (such as Space
> War, or Pacman). 


-- 
Duncan Booth                                             duncan at rcp.co.uk
int month(char *p){return(124864/((p[0]+p[1]-p[2]&0x1f)+1)%12)["\5\x8\3"
"\6\7\xb\1\x9\xa\2\0\4"];} // Who said my code was obscure?