This is the order to read our Python guides in. Follow it over a few weeks and you will not hit gaps.
If you have never programmed at all, read what is programming first — it takes ten minutes and makes everything after it easier.
1. Get set up#
- Python for beginners: a complete starting guide — what Python is good at, and the whole language in one overview
- How to install Python (and check it worked)
- Set up VS Code
2. Your first programs#
3. Making decisions and repeating work#
4. Working with collections#
5. Structuring your code#
6. When it breaks#
7. Build something#
Stop reading here for a week and write code.
- Number guessing game — loops, conditions, input
- Calculator — functions and a menu loop
- To-do list with a saved file — the one that feels like real software
What comes after#
Once those are comfortable, the usual next steps are: working with files and folders, calling web APIs with the requests package, virtual environments, and then either a web framework such as Flask or Django, or data work with pandas.
Pick whichever matches something you actually want to build. Learning a framework without a use for it rarely sticks.
Free Python tools on this site#
- Code concept explorer — look up a term in plain English
- Project idea generator
- Debugging checklist generator