Python is where most people here write their first working program. The syntax stays out of your way, error messages are readable, and you can build something that does a real job within a couple of meetings.
What you will actually do
- Get it running. No installing required to start — we use an online editor for the first few sessions so nobody loses a meeting to setup problems.
- Variables and printing. Make the computer remember something and say it back. This is a smaller step than it sounds and everything builds on it.
- Loops and conditions. Do a thing many times; do a thing only sometimes. Most programs are mostly these two.
- Functions. Wrap up something useful and give it a name so you can use it again without copying and pasting.
- Ship something. Add a real command to the club Discord bot. Roughly ten lines, and there is a template in the repo to copy.
On errors
You will see a wall of red text. It is not a punishment and it does not mean you are bad at this. Read the last line first — that is the actual problem. The rest is the computer showing its work.
Everyone in this club, including whoever is teaching it, still gets these constantly. That is not encouragement, it is just true.
When you are done
Look at the Build page for a project using Python and claim a task.