What sparked my interest in programming?

It all started with the Python 3 programming language. So, how did my experience with Python 3 actually start?

This is an interesting topic for me as I had turned 15 and was choosing my subject combination in secondary school. While I did have some knowledge of programming languages in general, like HTML and CSS, I have never had any interest in actually doing programming myself until I learned about Python 3. Another reason I liked Python 3 so much was that it was rather new and it seemed fun at the time.

My experiences with coding

It has been a good experience so far, I find it very interesting that even though there are many types of programming languages out there, it does not mean that all of the programming languages will be suited for beginners, like for example, Python 2, 3, HTML and CSS are more for beginners who are just starting out on their coding journey like me.

The programming languages that I feel are for more advanced coders would be Java, JavaScript, Ruby, React, C+/C++ as these deal with more complicated functions.

Examples of Python 3 code

Hello World Example

Key point: The print function is case sensitive, so a Print would not work here.

print("Hello World!")
#output = Hello World!

Variables

Key point: No need to initialize variables, unlike with other programming languages, like Java/JavaScript/HTML.

s = 3

If/else loop

Key point: There is no need for brackets and to have the loop work, the end of the if/else function has to be a colon (:), or else there will be an error.

a = 3
if a == 3:
    print("Equal")
else:
    print("False")
#output is Equal

Competitions

I joined a few competitions that were programming-related, like a StrITwise Hackathon and a BuildinBlocs competition, the Hackathon was quite fun and I liked participating in it, while for the BuildinBlocs competition, I really liked working with other people and coding.

Conclusion

My thoughts on programming as a whole are fun but frustrating when you have no idea what to do next and how to progress further. All I can say is:

Continue to try, seek help when you get stuck, have fun and you will be rewarded when your code finally works.