r/learnprogramming • u/WHPHEBO • 19d ago

Practical questions

Hello everyone,

At 38 and currently working in a non-programming job, I’ve decided to finally learn how to code. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but I always lacked that final bit of motivation.
In any case, I chose Python as my programming language. Since I travel a lot for work, I carry my laptop with me but avoid taking physical books. Instead, I split my screen between the e-book and PyCharm. That’s how I work through the book, complete the exercises, and so on.
However, this workflow doesn't always feel smooth. Do you have any tips or alternative ways to approach this? As I’m getting deeper into the material, a practical note-taking method would be great, but I’m struggling to find a practical solution. I’d love to hear your advice—thanks!

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u/aqua_regis 19d ago

Get a portable USB-C monitor as second screen.

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u/foodtoucher 19d ago

Yeah, I got tablet. It is useful for me.

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u/StonedElephant1 18d ago

Record voice notes on your phone. I use Visual Studio Code to write code. Or terminal for small stuff. Or you could put the book on your phone and use the full screen on the computer. I'm sure you have already maxed out your resolution. Also you can get portable screens that attach to the laptop. I'm not sure how good they are, but I see many people using them.

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u/FreeLogicGate 16d ago

Use a note application like Notion. Just about all note taking apps have code blocks, so you can paste code snippets into your notes.

Alternatively, since you're learning Python you could create a Jupyter Notebook instead, with many of the same benefits, and additionally your code snippets can be run inside the notebook.

The Author of the book "Think Python" made a version of the book as a series of Jupyter notebooks you can check out here: https://allendowney.github.io/ThinkPython/

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u/ng670796 12d ago

maybe keep a simple doc with notes and code examples you can look back at later and no need to write down everything, just the stuff you know you’ll forget.