I learned C++ first, then Java, and now I’m trying to learn Python. I honestly expected Python to be much easier, but somehow it feels harder to understand and even remember the syntax.

C++ and Java feel more structured to me, while Python sometimes feels too different.

Has anyone else felt this after switching from C++/Java to Python?

Hey everyone,

I was taking a look at the TIOBE Index today. I hadn't checked it in a while, and I was surprised to see how much Python has dropped.

It's down by roughly 8 percentage points compared to a year ago, which seems like the first really significant contraction after years of pretty consistent growth.

What's even more interesting is that I don't see another language gaining a similar amount of ground.

I don't use Python myself, so I'm curious: what do you think is behind this decline? Is it actually meaningful, or is it mostly an artifact of how the TIOBE index is calculated?

Google just laid off the entire Python mainteners team, I'm wondering the popularity of the lang is at stake and is steadily declining.

Respectively python jobs as well, what are your thoughts?

I'm developing a chess engine in python right now, just a hobby project. At first I began programming it any way I knew how to, and along the way I would learn optimization tricks which I would then apply when refactoring. I'm now realizing I'm changing a lot of my simple readable code into a bunch of optimized bitwise operations and just different logic structures in general.

I keep optimizing because I'm not satisfied with the speed of my chess engine and I usually rewrite entire functions or change the logic here and there just to save on another few milliseconds of thinking time for the engine. At one point, I rewrote a whole function just for it to be 0.1 or so seconds faster, at the cost of the simplicity of the code of course. This was kinda when I took a step back to think if it's even worth it.

I'm just wondering for future projects in general, are there any pointers to know when readability and simplicity of the code just isn't worth trading? Cause for this project which is only 1-2k lines and only in 3 files, maintenance and debugging has been bearable but I'm sure the same can't be said if I did the same thing in larger projects. Any tips and experiences shared will be largely appreciated.

Where is it more convenient or necessary to use python instead of for example C# / C++ / Rust? I really can’t understand it, for me it’s easier to write in C++ than in python and I know that for other people it’s the other way around. But ignoring human factor, when program is better / faster in python than in cpp or are they things that python can do that cpp cant?

Edit: I don’t talk about one time use scripts or prototypes (which python is good for), I mean full on apps

Currently I am using multiprocessing.Pool to parallelize the loops but it works only if each iteration is independent of previous iterations.

I already know Python and JavaScript. I want to expand my skill set, but not sure whether to go for Go, Rust, or Java. Any suggestions?

I’m trying to learn more about how modern software works, and one thing that keeps surprising me is the sheer size of projects. 80k files is not uncommon.

I’ll download or clone something that seems like a relatively focused application, and suddenly I’m looking at tens of thousands of files. A lot of it appears to be dependencies, dependencies of dependencies, generated files, frameworks, package managers, etc.

It feels like a copy of a copy of a copy. The developers maintain a relatively small part of the code, while the finished program ultimately relies on millions of lines of code written by other people.

Is this the new normal in software development that I just have to accept?

from a security perspective, how can anyone trust all of this?

I have been writing Python code using camelCase for years and just never really cared, but PEP 8 suggests using snake_case, so is it really necessary for, say, a senior dev?

I’ve been automating more things with Python lately, and I keep running into the same decision.

Sometimes I look at a paid tool and think “I could probably build most of this myself in a weekend.”

And sometimes I actually do.

But then you add authentication, edge cases, retries, logs, hosting, maintenance, API changes, and suddenly the “simple script” becomes something you have to keep fixing forever.

I still like building things myself when the workflow is specific enough, but I’m starting to wonder where people draw the line.

At what point do you decide it’s not worth coding anymore and just pay for an existing tool?

It makes no logical sense whatsoever to import self into every class function. I mean, what's the point in having a class, if the functions don't have some sort of globally accessible shared variable that's outside the normal global scope? Why would you have to explicitly declare that relationship? It should be implied that a class would have shared data.

I've been saying this since I first transitioned to Python from BASIC, and even more so after transitioning back from NodeJS.

For instance, i am working on a email service in python but instead of using the complicated method, i am just using https (flask)

So I’ve learned Python and Django, although I’m still a beginner. I’ve also learned C++ through courses, and I’ve learned what algorithms and data structures are. Sometimes, I build small projects with the help of AI. It gives me the complete plan, and I follow it and write the code myself. If there’s an error, I ask AI to give me hints about where the problem is instead of fixing everything for me. I also try to solve problems on LeetCode every day.

So, my question is: Am I on the right path?

I feel like I’m stuck in a loop, and there’s something missing that I’m supposed to learn, but I don’t know what it is.

I’ve never done an internship or worked in programming before. I’ve also never read any books except one that I used to learn Python.

So, yes, I honestly don’t know what to do next. Are there any books I should read to become a better backend developer?

class Solution:
    def reverseList(self, head: ListNode | None) -> ListNode | None:
        p1=head
        p2=head.next
        if p2==None or p1==None:
            return head
        while p2!=None:
            temp=p1.next
            p2.next=p1
            p2=temp.next
            p1=temp
        return head

Im not that advanced at any point, i know a bit of C++ for arduino stuff.
but learning python is making me pull my hair out, i keep forgetting stuff like its hard to get used to, i dont know if im making sense anyways.
Any tips will help, thanks.
i find java and C++ much easier at this point basically OOP stuff ig

I’m learning Python, but my main problem isn’t the syntax. I understand concepts when someone explains them, but when I’m given a basic problem and told to write a program, I just don’t know where to start or how to arrange the code.

Is there a good book, course, or YouTube channel that teaches how to think through programming problems step by step, recognize patterns, and build the logic, kind of like how you learn methods and patterns in math?

I don’t want to just memorize Python syntax. I want to actually learn how to think like a programmer.

Hello.I have a problem because i want to learn socket for example and i always forget what to type.I don't understand the docs easily.Do programmers write code and at the same time watch videos explaining a library?.I don't want to always use AI.I have poor memory too.Or maybe I'm just too stupid.

Hey guys, I need help with my college project. I am doing an app to help a nursing home organize the medication stock.

My group wants to save on the local PC since they don't have a server, what type of archives should I use to save this type of file?? I'm pretty new at programming, any suggestions will help. Thks for your time :)

Hello, I’m learning Python and I'm learning about Lists right now. I know this is probably the most basic thing ever, but I was solving some Lists problems and came across this one problem where I had to remove the duplicates.

I used raw logic with what I currently understand, I could've also used while loop but ended up using this approach. Is this a crazy approach to take and is overly inefficient?

My approach:

• Iterate through the list by index
• Temporarily remove the current element so it’s not compared with itself
• Tag all other equal elements as duplicates
• Reinsert the original element back at the same index, restoring the list structure
• Delete whatever's tagged as duplicate later

Here’s the code:

names = ["a", "b", "a", "c", "b"]

for x in range(len(names)):

stripped_for_trial = names.pop(x)

for y in range(len(names)):

if names[y] == stripped_for_trial:

names[y] = "duplicate"

names.insert(x, stripped_for_trial) #this line is outside the 2nd loop and inside the 1st loop

One limitation I noticed is that this approach relies on a tag value ("duplicate").
If the user’s list already contains the same value as the tag, it will collide with the tagging logic.

If somebody could give me suggestions that would be great.

Hello!

I'm a first year Computer Science student learning how to program. The language we are going to be learning in my class (for first semester anyways) is going to be Python and I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how I could practice python in my own time? Programming is something I am deeply passionate about and want to do good at, so I'm hoping I can get some help with this! :)

Hey everyone, I’ve built a small career platform, but I don’t want it to end up as just another CRUD app + LLM API on my resume.

Currently it has:

• Resume Builder — templates, drag/drop, live preview, PDF export, AI content generation.
• AI Voice Interview — user provides a Resume + JD, an LLM generates 10 questions, and the user takes the interview through voice with basic scoring/feedback.

Since this project will be on my resume, I want to add some genuinely technical features that would actually impress a software engineer interviewer and give me interesting engineering problems to discuss. As the current resume building and AI voice interview can simply be done by chatgpt also, need someting better?

I'm building a packet sniffer in Python using Scapy as a way to improve my Python and cybersecurity skills, and I hit a problem I wasn't expecting.

The issue isn't writing the code, it's figuring out what functions I should even be using.

Everywhere I look, the advice is, "Read the documentation." So I open the Scapy docs... and then I'm staring at pages of classes, methods, and examples with no idea where to begin. The hardest part is that I don't even know the name of the function I'm looking for, so I can't search for it either.

I know I could ask AI and get an answer in seconds, but I'm trying not to rely on it too much. Since I'm still a beginner, I want to build the skill of finding things on my own instead of just copying solutions.

So I'm curious, how did you get past this stage? Was there a workflow or mindset that helped you navigate documentation more effectively? How do you discover the right methods when you don't even know what you're looking for?

I'd love to hear how you all approached this when you were beginners.

I’ve been learning Python for a while. I’m comfortable with OOP, functions, and the basics but I still struggle with how to think through and structure an entire project from idea to implementation.

I want to reach that “builder” level, being able to design the system, decide when to use classes vs functions, plan data flow, and build something that actually works and scales a bit.

How did you make that jump?

Any books or courses that really helped you understand design & architecture?

Or did you just learn by doing real projects and refactoring?

I’m not looking for basic Python tutorials. I’m after resources or advice that teach how to plan and structure real applications.

Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone, I'm mainly looking for guidance about learning advanced python concepts. I know basics ,loops , control flow ,data structures etc.

I need a proper guide on how to learn modules and library. Idk how to start ,where to start.

I want to be able to work with any library as i need them ,so how do u actually learn to use new library for a given task . ?And i get overwhelmed understanding the structure, working of library

And could u also suggest important python concepts other than basics which i should learn ???

Pls guide !!!!

Looking to host a python server on a host server, how would I go about doing this?

I looked up a few websites but couldn't find anything reliable?

Do the python server i'm hosting require alot of compute power, because when I was researching nothing was free?