Hi all I’m 72 years Old so my interest in learning Python is just for my interest and not to get a job so I started learning Python at Codecademy and I have got to “Computer Science” and I can’t get any further. It appears as though all the lessons are Pro I don’t seem to be able to get anymore free lessons. Is that as far as I can go for free?
Also I would like to practice what I have learned. I have installed Python 3.74 on my computer and could anyone recommend if I should install a text editor or an IDE (is an IDE too complicated for a beginner) and what is the best free one.
Thanks in advance for any advise.
The only Python-specific content on Codecademy which is currently free (at the time of writing) is the Python 2 Course.
The other Python modules, like the Python 3 course or the machine learning content, are Pro subscription only at the moment.
If you haven’t already done the Python 2 course, I would say it’s still worth doing. Just keep in mind that there are some subtle differences between Python 2 and Python 3, but the majority of the language is the same so you shouldn’t have much trouble switching between them.
Hi thepitycoder, thanks for that I will keep Python 2 as an option but I will look around to see if I can get a free course some where or even end up paying for pro but I have to investigate the prices because I suspect they are in US$ and not Australian which is quit a bit of difference.
Uh, I’m not sure about that to be honest. I’m in the UK, and the Pro pricing is localised into GBP for me. I understand your concern, though.
@alyssavigil / @lilybird do you know whether the pricing for an Australian user would be localised to AUD, or would it default to USD?
No worries. As I said, though, the differences between Python 2 and Python 3 aren’t too broad. It’s little changes, like this:
# In Python 2, to output to the console you would do:
print "Write me to the console!" # output: Write me to the console!
# In Python 3, you do this:
print("Write me to the console!") # output: Write me to the console!
It’s not the case that Python 3 is a vastly altered language; if you understand and can create programs with Python 2 you’ll be able to do the same with Python 3. If you’re looking to learn the basics of the language, the Python 2 course will do fine for that.
I very strongly urge you to install Thonny. It’s a “beginners” IDE that will keep you going long past the beginner stage.
I forgot I hadn’t responded to this part.
If you’re using Python, there’s already an editor included in the form of IDLE.
If you want to try out another editing environment, then I personally like either Visual Studio Code or Atom. Both are available cross-platform, so you can install them on Windows, Mac or Linux.
VS Code is made by Microsoft, and is kind of the “younger sibling” to the full-fledged Visual Studio IDE. VS Code will allow you to edit code written in a multitude of languages (including Python), but unlike Visual Studio it won’t compile executables. It’s a code editor, nothing more.
Atom is made by the people from GitHub, and it’s designed as a “hackable” editor - that is, you can write your own extensions to the editor if there’s functionality you want/need but which doesn’t exist yet.
Both are based on Electron, which is written in JS, and both are free. I’d suggest you try out both the editor @patrickd314 suggested as well as VS Code / Atom and see which one you like best. (There’s no right editor/IDE - it’s very much a personal preference, so whichever one you like is the right one.)
Incidentally, if you did want to move up to a full-fledged IDE that can compile, you can get Visual Studio for free in the form of Visual Studio Community Edition.
Thanks for all that info guys with regard to the Editor/IDE I was reading this writ up last night https://realpython.com/python-ides-code-editors-guide/#what-are-ides-and-code-editors and I will read about the ones you have mentioned there. Thanks again