Loops, Functions and Frustration-Week 1

Hey there!
As the title suggests, its been one week since I started learning Python. And just like any other journey, this one too had its fair share of ups and downs— Which means lots of learnings and plenty of frustrations.
So here I am, breaking down all the victories, the learnings, so your ride becomes smoother and friction-free (I am sorry, I am still stuck in my JEE era, cracking physics jokes).

Tip 1: Get yourself a course:
It doesn’t really matter if it is some free playlist on Youtube, or a paid course from Coursera or Udemy etc. What matters is how well it is structured. And once decided, you want to follow it religiously (being atheist isn’t allowed here).
You want to make sure the playlist actually starts from zero, and builds up slowly (take your time, as this is not a game of speed, but of technique). The general sequence that most beginner friendly courses follow is:
1. Variables
2. Input function
3. Mathematical Operations
4. Conditional Statements
5. Loops
6. Functions
If the course covers these in a step-by-step way, you’re good to go.
Pro tip for YouTube learners: Try pairing it with a site that gives you practice problems (w3resource, Hackerrank, etc.).

Tip 2: Its a game of Understanding, Not Mugging up!:
Yes, memorizing the syntax, and knowing all the reserved words of Python is important. But that is the easy part. Its like knowing how to hold a bat, and calling yourself a cricketer.
The real progress is:
a. Understanding your code,
b. Knowing why things work
c. Asking yourself why another method wasn’t used.
Basically, you need to question everything with the 5Ws and H (What, When, Where, Who, Why and How). I know this sounds dumb, and useless, but trust me — that’s how you will learn.
Let me give you an example, I had an assignment where I had to make a program, that keeps taking input from the user, until he enters ‘done’. If the user enters a number, I need to keep a note of that and if he enters a letter, I need to show an error. At the end (when the user entered ‘done’) i need to display the largest and the smallest number that he entered so far.
Pretty simple and basic for anyone that has learnt the ‘while’ loop, ‘try and except’ block and basic function formations. I made my program, that worked as needed and submitted the assignment. Done right?
It was the next day when I revisited the code I realized that; I COULDNT UNDERSTAND A DAMN THING! I sat for another 2 hrs, writing it again, this time cleaner with comments that explain every part of the code. This exercise took extra efforts, but now at least I understand each and every line of the code I wrote.
That second attempt? That was the actual assignment.

Learning to code is not about collecting syntax like Pokemon cards. It’s about clarity.
The only real progress happens when you pause, question, break things, and rebuild them better.
On to the next article. Let’s see what Python throws at me next.
Until then — keep coding, keep breaking stuff, and most importantly... keep understanding.