Fortuitous Are We Who Travel The Uncanny Valley

get out of bed because there’s something you’re excited about.

don’t think about people who left.

clean the clutter in the room and dishes in your sink.

smile at yourself and random people.

do something kind and out of the blue to make someone happy.

work out or meet with friends even though you have no energy to.

calm yourself down when you’re thoughts race.

remember to drink water.

don’t dwell on things you can’t control.

do things good for yourself, even though you have no motivation.

Hello, there!

If you’ve never wrote a single line of code in your life before - don’t fear. Before I took a college Intro to Computer Science class, I didn’t even know what writing code meant. So, the very fact that you are looking at this post means that you’re far ahead of the game. With that said, let’s continue!

Python is a programming language that is popular in high school and some college classes because of how easy it is to learn (whew, right?). 

So, why should YOU learn Python? The easy answer would be: because it’s totally cool. But, in all seriousness, it’s a great ‘first language" to help you understand how to communicate with computers - those darn things don’t speak English. It’s also a great way to build analytical thinking skills, and it looks great on a resume. Going back to the coolness factor: Google, NASA, and a ton of other companies program in Python. It’s pretty powerful.

Now, let’s get started!

Here’s what you will need for this Tumblr tutorial series:

1. Python 3.4

You can download Python here: https://www.python.org/downloads/

2. Wing IDE 101

You can download Wing IDE 101 here: http://wingware.com/downloads/wingide-101

Make sure you download Python first, so that when you download Wing, Python 3.4 will be set as the default version of Python to be used.

Mac users should be able to do this as well (you just have to add Wing and Python to your Applications folder). If you’re having trouble getting started, feel free to send me a message or comment below!

When you’re finished downloading both Python and Wing, open Wing and click on the blue paper icon (Create a new file). You should have something that looks like this:

(Note: I have Python 2.7, just out of preference).

If you do have something similar to what’s in the photo above: Congrats! You just set up an intelligent development environment to work with Python in.

Basically, an integrated/interactive development environment (IDE) is a program that allows you to work with code in an editor so you can write code faster, fix your code easily, and just have a nice workspace. It’s like using Word instead of Notepad or TextEdit to write a final paper - if that makes any sense.