No worries, Deborah. Python is by most measurements a relatively easy/simple language to learn, but there are always the dusty corners. If you've not already, I recommend going through the online Python tutorial in it's entirety ( https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html).
After that, learn the language syntax that wasn't covered in the tutorial by reading the Language Reference ( https://docs.python.org/3/reference/index.html). The tutorial should be fairly easy for a straight beginner to follow. The language reference assumes a little higher-level understanding of programming language grammar. The Python Language Reference uses a modified BNF syntax (BNF being Backus-Naur form. You can read about BNF at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backus%E2%80%93Naur_form). To be honest, I'm not sure what modifications Python uses to BNF, maybe someone else can shed some light (or skin) on it. After you'd done those, peruse the standard library. I don't recommend deep reading there at this point, but at least a cursory reading so you're cognizant of libraries that are built-in that may help do things may you want to do now, or in the future (i.e. make a web request, parse JSON or XML, handle datetimes). Remember: Python comes with batteries included. -Nate On Mon, Apr 3, 2017 at 5:09 PM, Deborah Swanson <pyt...@deborahswanson.net> wrote: > Nathan Ernst wrote, on April 03, 2017 1:59 PM > > > > I was a bit surprised when I looked at the language reference > > for 3.6.x. I expected there'd be a direct link to > > comprehensions, but there's not. > > > > You have to know what you're looking for: > > > > 6.2.5: List Displays > > 6.2.6: Set Displays > > 6.2.7: Dictionary Displays > > > > And, then, click on the appropriate element of the sub > > grammar to find the appropriate syntax. > > > > So, it took me about 30 seconds to find the appropriate > > grammars, when I expected it'd only take about 5 seconds, > > since I'm very familiar with the python docs & how the > > grammar documentation is laid out. I can fully understand > > how someone less familiar with the documentation might have a > > harder time finding the grammar than I did. > > > > FWIW, If one was completely new to Python, even knowing the > > syntax is known as a "comprehension" might be unknown. I > > certainly didn't know what a comprehension was when I was > > learning Python. A coworker showed me, some 13 years ago. > > > > Regards, > > Nate > > Thanks Nate, for your comprehension of the plight of many, if not most, > newish Python coders. And it certainly doesn't help to ask the list to > fill in some of the holes and be met with criticism for asking, but I > digress. It is what it is. > > Before I started reading the list a few months ago, I'd heard of list > comprehensions in an article I'd read, and hardly understood the gist of > it. But look at me now Ma, I've learned not only how to use list > comprehensions but also a small tribe of other kinds of comprehensions! > > (If there's a moral to this story, heck if I know exactly what it is. > "Keep on trying" is as good as any.) > > Deborah > > > On Mon, Apr 3, 2017 at 3:47 PM, Jerry Hill > > <malaclyp...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > On Mon, Apr 3, 2017 at 10:30 AM, Deborah Swanson > > > <pyt...@deborahswanson.net> wrote: > > > > Regular updates as the docs are updated would be a good idea too. > > > > It's obvious that today's Google isn't up to it, although > > it occurs > > > > to me that I haven't tried Google's site search on python.org. > > > > > > So, when you search google for the phrase "dict comprehension" or > > > "dictionary comprehension", nothing useful comes up for > > you? When I > > > search either of those phrases, I get lots of useful > > results, all of > > > which spell out how to do what you were originally asking about. I > > > know Google search results are skewed by past usage, but > > I'm surprised > > > that you didn't find anything useful in the first couple of search > > > results. > > > > > > When I do a search for 'dict comprehension' I get a boxed result > > > linking to PEP 274 as the first hit, then two Stack Overflow > > > questions, both of which demonstrate how to do dictionary > > > comprehensions. Following that is another link to PEP 274, > > a link to > > > the Python docs on data structures (which does talk about dict > > > comprehensions, but it's way down on the page), and then links to a > > > bunch of tutorials. If you had to judge based on my search > > results, > > > Google does a fine job of answering python questions, at least when > > > you already know the key phrase to look for. > > > > > > -- > > > Jerry > > > -- > > > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list > > > > > -- > > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list > > > > -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
