Week 3: Thinking about Python

Feb 9 – Feb 15

The main reason I am learning how to use Python is that I want to be able to use it in TouchDesigner. I know I have said this multiple times but I think I am struggling with wrapping my head around the math that involves Python. I think a huge part of the reason why that is, is because I know when using Python I will be using it in a different way than the way I am learning it. That being said, I really need to nail the basics and forget that I am just learning it to use it for TD

Sadly I did not get to finish the 4-hour video I had been working on the last couple of weeks. I put it on pause because although it gave me a lot of information I wanted even more information about the basics. I turned back and gave W3Schools another shot by doing the readings and working through some of the exercises. It was a nice refresher. I also looked into working through learnpython.org. Under “Learn the Basics” I went form ‘Hello World’ to ‘Functions.” Each website that I have gone through has given me more information than the next and I really like that.

I think the hardest thing for me is that. individually I understand what I am coding, but I struggle to connect it all together. I understand how to do a for loop, a while loop, an if/elif/else statement. Once I start to put it all together, I get lost. I don’t know if I need to spend a bit more time really understanding the individual components before I try to put them together, or if I should just keep practicing putting them all together and hope one day it clicks. Maybe I will do both.

Also, in doing research, I have discovered that Java Script and using Processing is better for creating graphics. I think that once I have mastered Python, or at least have gotten very comfortable in it, I will try my hand at using Processing again. I just have to take it one coding language at a time.