“The feeling is less like an ending than just another starting point.” – Chuck Palahniuk, Choke

I’ll be done with my second challenge on Saturday. Here are a few things I learned from spending one month learning Python:

Going to the gym is easier than writing code.

During my first challenge I didn’t get distracted at all. This time things were a little different. Because programming is done on a computer, I’d often get sidetracked and start screwing around online. To combat this, I ended up setting a timer and forbidding myself from doing anything but program during that time. It worked surprisingly well.

Writing code isn’t very hard.

Aside from getting distracted, I thought this challenge was fairly easy. Codecademy made learning Python incredibly simple and fun. If you can play a video game, you have enough technical aptitude to start learning how to program.

Programming is a boring subject to write about.

As you may have noticed, I didn’t have a lot of posts about writing code. This is because I didn’t think that there would be much of an audience for stories about functions, loops, and other technical details. Starting out, I didn’t know a whole ton about Python anyway; I didn’t feel like I should try and claim expertise over the subject.

Programming is exciting to learn.

Despite the fact that programming is a dry subject for me to write about, I had a blast learning it. Coding is like playing with LEGOs; it’s fun, creative, and only limited to what you can imagine. Unlike LEGO, there are no pieces to step on; which makes programming even better.

I’m still a liar.

I promised to write about backlinks, and wrote about why not to use them. With hacking I did a similar thing. Not being able to predict the future means that I’ll often discover that I don’t want something I thought I had needed. In turn, I decided not to write about subjects that I had no personal interest in.

I don’t need to like everything I try.

Discovering you don’t enjoy something, is important. Before I developed indifference towards backlinking, I would waste a ton of time worrying about whether or not I should research it. To quote GI Joe: “knowing is half the battle,” if I know a battle is pointless there’s no reason to engage in it.

Stay tuned for next week’s post, where I’ll be revealing my third challenge.

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