Good post. I'm also going through the process of learning Python, but with no programming background. I found GOOG's class pretty straight forward (and so far a better resource than Learning Python the Hard Way, which I was using up to this week.)
Hi zed, Thanks for your awesome book. I started learning python from your book in preparation for a new job I was going to take and I had no previous experience about scripting languages. Not only did your book help me learn python, but the way you talked about programming in your book got me to believe that all I needed to do was to work harder to become a better programmer. I was at a point in my life where I thought that I just wasn't built for programming. I am still an average programmer, but now I know I just need to keep working. Thanks a lot.
For me, not to knock your work, it was nice to see some working on it visually. I should be much more clear here, I thought your book was very helpful and your insisting that people actually type the code out [edit] is very helpful. I have zero background in coding (or in any technical field.)
Ah, so it was the video aspect of the google course. Tell me, you watched the video and read the code in the video, so can you think about why a video with code in it was superior to a book with code in it? Was it the talking? The active watching and typing? The inclusion of faces?
Thanks for your time. I also have videos but I want to redo them so they're better. Any insight will help.
I believe it was the active watching and typing. Not sure why, but when I watch someone actually doing something it makes more sense to me. Also, watching very experienced people make minor mistakes removes some frustration from the learning process.
Alright cool, thanks. I actually have a video course, and what I tell people is to use the videos to get them "over the hump", then use the book like homework to complete. I may make that more explicit in later versions and point out that watching me make mistakes will help them.
