I began my programming journey in undergrad during the spring semester of 2018. The first programming class I took in undergrad was titled Intro to Python. I was a first-year student, still 18 years old, and finally achieving a goal that I had set years prior. Although I have played around with other languages before—C#, Ruby, HTML/CSS—I was far too green to really understand what I was doing. Additionally, I had no instructor to guide me nor answer any questions that I had. So, during this spring semester, it was finally my time to shine.
Python was the first programming language that I have formally learned and built applications with. I found it to be one of the easiest languages to learn as a newbie since its syntax is comparably uncomplicated, it has an extensive set of libraries and is a great way to introduce students to programming with an interpretive language. Moreover, you can also learn the basics of Object-Oriented Programming before learning an OOP language like Java or C++. By the end of the spring semester, I was able to create simple data structures—lists, dictionaries, tuples— and learn why Python is so largely utilized. Web scraping, data analysis, and server architecture were just the beginning of the many concepts that Python conquers so eloquently.
After learning Python, I learned Java, C/C++, JavaScript and several other languages to date. I will admit, though, that it was a huge learning curve switching from Python to Java due to how strictly OOP it is. While exploring the other aforementioned languages, I learned that Python wasn’t as perfect as I had originally assumed. Compared to Java, it’s not nearly as fast or powerful. From creating simple GUIs to large projects like MineCraft, Java has definitely taken the world by storm since its birth in 1995. Nevertheless, it still has its disadvantages when compared to Python and its dynamic nature.
As many of you may know, Python was born in 1991 (Which is insane for me to consider, along with Java because they’re both older than me!) and has grown exponentially since. In the last 32 years, its library sets have blossomed, open source Python resources are now ubiquitous, and developers continue to push the boundaries of Python as we currently know them.
I knew that I wanted to join the software development community since I was in the 8th grade. Although I didn’t have exposure to computer science theory prior to undergrad, I am very happy with the journey that I have traveled. Learning Python has allowed me to understand the basics of software development, create applications & websites, dip my toes into the world of Artificial Intelligence and so much more. Now, as an early career dev, I can utilize my years of work and practice to create anything I set my mind to. Which is really awesome to be able to say! Python set the foundation for my software development career, and for that, I genuinely love it and am very grateful for it. I am thrilled to see where it’ll lead me next!
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