Learning Python in 2023 (Beginner's Roadmap)

Introduction

Hey folks, in this blog post we'll be guiding you to a step-by-step roadmap to learn Python programming language and eventually become an expert.

Python is a high-level programming language, that's very easy to learn and enables you to develop :

• REST APIs
• Microservices
• Web Scrapers
• Data Science Projects
• Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Projects
• etc

Why learn Python ?

• Python is one of the most popular languages for few years now, with growing number of users every year
• Python has a very active community support, meaning lots of problems you will be working on are already solved.
• Lots of third-party projects available to build almost anything with Python. Some examples are :
  • Web Development : Django, Flask, FastAPI, Sanic
  • Web Scrapers : BeautifulSoup, Selenium, requests
  • Data Science : Pandas, Numpy, Scipy, NLTK, PyTorch
  • AI and ML : Keras, Tensorflow, Numpy, Scipy
• A Very easy to learn language. Python gives you a very simple syntax, almost like writing english - this makes it very easy to learn and code on.

Before we dive-in, make sure to take couple of minutes to understand your goals. Why do you want to learn Python ? Having a clear purpose will keep you motivated for your journey ahead.

Let's now explore a step-by-step roadmap to ace your learning journey.

1. Learn the Basics

To get a quickstart with Python, go through the basics, learn about the following :

1. Python syntax
2. Variables and Data types
3. Logical Expressions and Operators
4. Conditional Statements (if, else etc)
5. Loops, Iterators, Iterables
6. Functions
7. Modules

With this, you should have all the fundamentals cleared for you to code in Python. You can build simple programs knowing this much, like terminal based calculators, multiple tables etc.

2. Learn the Python data structures

Python has various type of data structures, you will be using these data structures on a daily basis to store, manipulate your data. You should learn about :

1. Lists
2. Tuples
3. Sets
4. Dictionaries
5. itertools

This will expose you to different ways you can store your data. Using int, float, str type variables may not always be the right way to store your data. Going through these topics will make you understand the importance of lists, dictionaries etc.

3. Object Oriented Programming with Python

You must've heard of OOPs or Classes before. OOPs (Object Oriented Programming) is a programming paradigm. You should learn about :

1. Classes and Objects
2. Inheritance
3. Polymorphism
4. Encapsulation

4. Learn about Python Libraries

Python libraries are third-party modules that you can install and use in your codebase. As mentioned earlier, python has an awesome community. Learn about some of the most popular Python libraries :

1. requests : For making HTTP requests
2. flask : For making REST APIs
3. pandas : For data analysis
4. Numpy : For scientific computing
5. Beautiful Soup : For web scraping

We recommend you decide what you want to learn in more detail in this step. As hereforth, you will want to explore more python libraries specifically related your interests. For example, you may want to explore only web-development related libraries or just data analysis related libraries.

5. Create Projects

Creating a Project is always a better way to learn any language, it gives you a practical approach to break things and learn new things. Here are few beginner level project ideas in Python :

Command line Project ideas

• To-Do List Application
• Calculator
• Dice Rolling Simulator
• Lottery Number Generator

Project ideas for Web Development

• Personal blog
• Task Tracker
• Weather Application
• Recipe App
• Password Generator
• Blog Commenting System
• Photos Gallery

Project ideas for Data analysis, AI and ML

• Stock Price analysis
• Housing Price Prediction
• Social Media Sentiment analysis
• Weather data analysis
• Restaurant Reviews analysis
• Movie Recommendation system
• Handwritten Digit Recognition System
• Spam email detection system

Conclusion

That's all for this post. Remember, learning a new language will take time and consistent effort but it's worth it. Knowing Python can be extremely useful to automate lot of stuff, and it has loads of job opportunities as well.

Let us know your questions or queries in comment. We'll see you in the next post 👋