After decades of programming I do not even think about these three ways to read code. I just glance at it and know what it means, and I can even glance at a whole screen of code, and all the bugs and errors jump out at me. That took an incredibly long time and quite a bit more study than is sane. To get that way, I learned these three ways of reading most any programming language:
1. Front to back.
2. Back to front.
3. Counter-clock-wise.
Try them out when you have a difficult statement to figure out. When you type the next block of your code, go over it in these ways. This one is gonna be fun.
......
I am warning you, this will be frustrating. In the business we call this "yak shaving". Yak shaving is any activity that is mind numblingly irritatingly boring and tedious that you have to do before you can do something else that's more fun. You want to create cool Python projects, but you can't do that until you setup a skeleton directory, but you can't setup a skeleton directory until you install some packages, but you can't install pacakages until you install package installers, and you can't install package installers until you figure out how your system installs software in general, and so on.
Struggle through this anyway. Consider it your trial-by-annoyance to get into the programmer club. Every programmer has to do these annoying tedious tasks before they can do something cool.
......
What I discovered after this journey of learning is that the languages did not matter, it's what you do with them. Actually, I always knew that, but I'd get distracted by the languages and forget it periodically. Now I never forget it,
and neither should you.
Which programming language you learn and use does not matter. Do not get sucked into the religion surrounding programing languages as that will only blind you to their true purpose of being your tool for doing interesting things.
Programming as an intellectual activity is the only art form that allows you to create interactive art. You can create projects that other people can play with, and you can talk to them indirectly. No other art form is quite this interactive. Movies flow to the audience in one direction. Paintings do not move. Code goes both ways.
Programming as a profession is only moderately interesting. It can be a good job, but if you want to make about the same money and be happier, you could actually just go run a fast food joint. You are much better off using code as
your secret weapon in another profession.
People who can code in the world of technology companies are a dime a dozen and get no respect. People who can code in biology, medicine, government, sociology, physics, history, and mathematics are respected and can do amazing things to advance those disciplines.
Of course, all of this advice is pointless. If you liked learning to write software with this book, you should try to use it to improve your life any way you can. Go out and explore this weird wonderful new intellectual pursuit that barely anyone in the last 50 years has been able to explore. Might as well enjoy it while you can.
Finally, I will say that learning to create software changes you and makes you different. Not better or worse, just different. You may find that people treat you harshly because you can create software, maybe using words like "nerd". Maybe you will find that because you can dissect their logic that they hate arguing with you. You may even find that simply knowing how a computer works makes you annoying and weird to them.
To this I have one just piece of advice: they can go to hell. The world needs more weird people who know how things work and who love to figure it all out. When they treat you like this, just remember that this is your journey, not theirs. Being different is not a crime, and people who tell you it is are just jealous that you have picked up a skill they never in their wildest dreams could acquire.
You can code. They cannot. That is pretty damn cool.
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***CLASS STYLE
* Your class should use “camel case” like SuperGoldFactory rather than super_gold_factory.
* Try not to do too much in your __init__ functions. It makes them harder to use.
* Your other functions should use “underscore format” so write my_awesome_hair and not myawesomehair or MyAwesomeHair.
* Be consistent in how you organize your function arguments. If your class has to deal with users, dogs, and cats, keep that order throughout unless it really doesn't make sense. If you have one function takes (dog, cat, user) and the other takes (user, cat, dog), it'll be hard to use.
* Try not to use variables that come from the module or globals. They should be fairly self-contained.
* A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. Consistency is good, but foolishly following some idiotic mantra because everyone else does is bad style. Think for yourself.
* Always, always have class Name(object) format or else you will be in big trouble.
***CODE STYLE
* Give your code vertical space so people can read it. You will find some very bad programmers who are able to write reasonable code, but who do not add any spaces. This is bad style in any language because the human eye and brain use space and vertical alignment to scan and separate visual elements. Not having space is the same as giving your code an awesome camouflage paint job.
* If you can't read it out loud, it's probably hard to read. If you are having a problem making something easy to use, try reading it out loud. Not only does this force you to slow down and really read it, but it also helps you find difficult passages and things to change for readability.
* Try to do what other people are doing in Python until you find your own style.
* Once you find your own style, do not be a jerk about it. Working with other people's code is part of being a programmer, and other people have really bad taste. Trust me, you will probably have really bad taste too and not even realize it.
* If you find someone who writes code in a style you like, try writing something that mimics their style.
***GOOD COMMENTS
* There are programmers who will tell you that your code should be readable enough that you do not need comments. They'll then tell you in their most official sounding voice that, "Ergo you should never write comments." Those programmers are either consultants who get paid more if other people can't use their code, or incompetents who tend to never work with other people. Ignore them and write comments.
* When you write comments, describe why you are doing what you are doing. The code already says how, but why you did things the way you did is more important.
* When you write doc comments for your functions , make the comments documentation for someone who will have to use your code. You do not have to go crazy, but a nice little sentence about what someone does with that function helps a lot.
* Finally, while comments are good, too many are bad, and you have to maintain them. Keep your comments relatively short and to the point, and if you change a function, review the comment to make sure it's still correct.
