Who is in? :D

[sapo]

Hi folks,

As you all can see there are a lot of people starting to learn python, and a lot of people asks for advice here, and i m one on those people, some time ago i started learning a byte of python and this week i started again with python reading some tutorials and stuff.

But i think that you all know how vague is to learn a programming language just coding stuff like:

a = "hello world"
print a

I hate it and it made me give up the first time i tried, i learned php by myself reading tutorials and stuff, but i had a lot of things in mind that time and i started making code from nothing, and now i m employied as a php programmer.

But python is different, i dont have anything in mind, any projects or stuff to develop, and i think that most people that is trying to learn it are in the same boat, my idea is the following:

Why dont we start something like a "project"?
It would be more like a user group or something, i ll try to be as clear as possible, so i ll enumerate:



1 - Find people who are willing to help

2 - Discuss what kind of projects are we gonna start

3 - Define the projects priorities, make brainstorm, draw stuff, etc

4 - Setup goals
Something like, app1 do something in terminal, after we finish it and it works, we start working on a gui, after we finish the app1 gui we start working on app2 that is more dificult... and so we keep going.

5 - Set up a higher goal
Make a simple instant messager client, a rss reader, a blog tool, a bittorrent client gui, etc.
Something that sounds big right now, something like the end of the line.


But how are we gonna learn with it?
At first as i m a php programmer we can start making ou project website, and setup something like a blog for each member, more like a wiki, and of course a simple forum so we can discuss and help each other.

But what is the difference between this and other open source project
1 - We are nothing making anything usefull at start, we are reinventing the wheel, we are trying to LEARN and not making some kind of new OS.
2 - All people is gonna have a common "programming skill" level, we can make various "groups" and set up various projects depending on the group skill level.
3 - Poject documentation and feedback, we need to have a common policy of comments and feedback in the projects, something like for each line of code we write 3 explaining to others why that line is there...

I have these ideas and of course some you guys can start helping sharing your own ideas...

so.. who is in?

And now we already have a forum
http://python.xgn.com.br/index.php

[darthsabbath]

I would definitely be willing to help, at least some. I'm in school and work full time, but I do want to learn how to program more skillfully. My problem is I can't think of any itch to scratch. Everytime I start a project to fill a need, I eventually find a solution that fills that need. Working on a project with other people will definitely help me there.

So, yeah, count me in.

[Rinzwind]

How about making something that's up ahead: the WC football in germany.
Since you are from Brazil

What about a scorebord in python where a user ('we') add the scores of the games and the output shows the standings. It could also include what score a team needs to do to advance to the next stage.

It would require several sets of coding:
1. something graphical to add the teams to groups.
2. then something to add scores.
3. then something to show the scorings and all kinda info.

[sapo]

How about making something that's up ahead: the WC football in germany.
Since you are from Brazil

What about a scorebord in python where a user ('we') add the scores of the games and the output shows the standings. It could also include what score a team needs to do to advance to the next stage.

It would require several sets of coding:
1. something graphical to add the teams to groups.
2. then something to add scores.
3. then something to show the scorings and all kinda info.

There is no need for it, brazil will win anyway

just kidding hehe, btw..

Its a nice idea, easy to make, but believe me first we need to make something withou any gui, and then put a gui on it, so first we can make this work on a terminal, thats easy, then we think about the gui, but it would be more usefull if it worked online like a website, its something that we have to consider.

But first we need to think about creating our work enviroment, so we can discuss more things, i m thinking about setting up a punbb for us, what do you guys think?

And we are forgetting something, we need a name for our project.. maybe "Python n00bs in action", lol just kidding.. i m no good for naming things..

So, i ll take care of the forum, hosting and all this stuff, but we need to take the first steps to set up our "meeting room" if you know what i mean..

Also we need a irc channel, but for it we need a name too.

I would definitely be willing to help, at least some. I'm in school and work full time, but I do want to learn how to program more skillfully. My problem is I can't think of any itch to scratch. Everytime I start a project to fill a need, I eventually find a solution that fills that need. Working on a project with other people will definitely help me there.

So, yeah, count me in.

Dont mind i dont have pretty much time to code too, so we already have 3 people counting Rinzwind

[sapo]

I had another idea for future projects, we can make our own utilities using python, something like:

We can make a python code highlighter, a tool to submit and download codes from/to the website, some kind of project manager, something to take notes of functions and stuff we are learning.. a simple rss reader, etc.

I think that it would be very usefull and there will be a lot of simple tools that we are gonna be able to make, what you guys think?

[jrib]

I like this idea. I recently started learning python and working through some tutorials as well and felt the same way you did sapo. Count me in.

[sapo]

I like this idea. I recently started learning python and working through some tutorials as well and felt the same way you did sapo. Count me in.

So now we already have 4 people.

Now we need a project name, setup a forum or something like and start some brainstorming.

ps. woah my post #1000

[Wallakoala]

I'm also learning python. I guess I can help, because I can never think of anything to program. Btw...I'm learning from the book Learning Python which is published by O'reilly. This book is better than any of the online tutorials I've read, so If you are going to buy a book on python I would recommend it.

[sapo]

I'm also learning python. I guess I can help, because I can never think of anything to program. Btw...I'm learning from the book Learning Python which is published by O'reilly. This book is better than any of the online tutorials I've read, so If you are going to buy a book on python I would recommend it.

I was thinking about making a section on the website with recommended books and tutorials too

I already started working on a python highlighter using php, so we can post colored codes on the forums ^^

[Omnios]

I am very interested in starting to learn Python but can not seem to realy get into it but find this very interesting.

You might want to look intoe this also,

How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python

It was mentioned on G4Tecktv as the highest rated newbie book and from what I have read so far was writen by computer science teachers as a easier book to introduce students to computer programming.

Anyways I will be watching this thread and hopefully be able to get right into it!