Python for Absolute Beginners Transcripts
Chapter: Problem solving techniques for writing software
Lecture: Getting started when you're lost
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One of the first realizations you're going to run into when you start programming is you'll have learned some of the language
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features and some of those techniques. For example, you'll be able to loop over a list using a for in loop or create a string or
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do simple math or work with a list those types of things. And you'll be able to practice those and so on.
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But when you sit down to actually write a program that accomplishes something meaningful something useful, it can feel much like Microsoft
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Word with a blinking cursor and just a white screen staring back at you when it's time to write that term paper or something like that.
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It's challenging. How do you start? How do you break this up and just get going? So that's what this chapter is all about.
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If you're getting started and you're feeling a little bit stuck or you're not sure which way to go I'm going to give you a bunch of ways
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to think about the problem ways and techniques to decide what data structures to use or how to break up your code or your ideas into functions or steps
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and also a few other things as well. So, in this chapter we're going to build a new game from scratch. We've had a lot of fun with rock paper scissors
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and don't worry we're going to come back to it. We're going to do bunch of more cool things with rock paper scissors.
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I don't think it makes sense to do something as a continuation when we talk about problem solving. No, what we need to is start from absolute scratch
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from buy new project, blank file what do you do now, here's what you want to build. So what I'm going to do, I'm going to give you some advice
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and give you some techniques and then we're just going to go and build a game and we're going to kind of fumble around through
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the creation of it together and I thought it would be a good place to start and I'll try to leave mistakes if I make any or ideas.
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I'll try to talk about why I decided to go one way or another or alternatives and so on. And, yeah, I think you'll get a lot out of this one.
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I've seen something built from scratch and thinking through the problem. Not going to be hugely complicated because, well
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we don't want to spend hours and hours on it but it will be complicated enough that it might not be entirely obvious how to do it.