<p>So I've been having a lot of trouble understanding the material of my IB Computer Science HL (first year) class. I try really hard in their and I go in for extra help whenever I can, but I feel as though computer science is something "I just don't get." Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that I was so bad at it until after the period of time where I could transfer out at the beginning of the year. Most of the people in the class seem to have an innate understanding of the material, which makes it increasingly hard to ask for help from them. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to study best for a computer science class (we're programming with python)? Are there any really useful websites/tutorials online I could look at? or just any advice in general. Thanks!</p>
<p>Try Python</a> Documentation
That's where I go when I can't remember syntax or general programming concepts in python. I learned most of C# .NET and Java from the javadocs + wikipedia, and I managed to get a 5 on the AP Computers AB exam. Our programming classes were a joke as well, so I took it upon myself to learn the material in order to pass the AP test.</p>
<p>I would go out and buy a decent book on Python.</p>
<p>Thanks for the website, it looks very useful! and I'm probably going to look for a book today. Any other suggestions?</p>
<p>Programming is all about experience.
Do all exercises - in real, on your computer. And then write little stuff, simple games, your own ideas.
It doesn't matter if it's Python or C or C#.net (the best language ever...)- it matters if you know how to tackle a problem.. what errors can occur and how to learn from them..
The syntax for a while-loop is easily found out from a book. An algorithm is easily found on google. To know how to implement an algorithm, how to develop your own algorithms - even how to use a for-loop or a while(1) is a completely different matter.</p>
<p>Trust me. Don't learn informatics - do informatics.
I don't know which level you are on, and I haven't got experience with Python as it is (in my opinion) a language designed for teaching infomatics (which doesn't matter by the way, because if you can program one language, you can use any).
What I know is, that most bad programmers just read the textbook and think: yes, yes, I understand that, okay..
This is simply not how it works.</p>