Experiment: Learning Computer Programming

Today I am beginning to learn to program in Python.  I'm not totally sure why I am doing this- those Makers make you feel you should just jump in and do things, I've seen some jobs for computational biologists that don't seem stressful and I am bored by job hunting are all reasons.  A couple weeks ago, a computer programmer friend of mine said that "Not everyone has the mentality to code." and he suggested I just take two weeks to see which camp I was in.  Then he made an "If/Then statement joke" and everyone else at the table laughed.  That might be the real reason I am doing this.

I have been saying "I am going to learn computer programming and get a job" for a while now, so I have already amassed some tools to get started.  I have also set the bar really low- I don't need to be an elegant programmer, I just need to know if I am the kind of person who can break problems down into codable, solvable, chunks.  If in two weeks, I am ready to pitch my computer out the window, well, lesson learned.

Anyway, if you, for whatever strange reason, want to follow along with the Are You a Programmer? Challenge, here is what I am doing.
My intent is to learn Python, as this is a language that might be relevant for a biologist, and is not entirely dissimilar from MatLab- which is the other language people in the know have suggested.  I've downloaded Enthough Python as my python-ing environment.

And while that was dowloading and installing, I learned Java.  Ha!

Actually, I did take a lesson at Codecademy, which has some very gentle resources for learning the basics of programming (what is a variable, how is it defined...).  I passed my first (free!) course online in about an hour and half, and that gave me a boost of confidence for Project Python.  Oo, and that is the name I am going to stick with.

My personal outline for Project Python: 14 days.  If I have to take breaks for contract work or meetings, I'll skip a day.  But, since I've promised the internet I am going to give it a try, I feel obliged.

Here are some other resources that were recommended to me by former colleague @synapticarbors,

Learn Python the Hard Way -- http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/  (It's not really the hard way)

Think Python http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/thinkpython.html

Anyone else have resources or encouragement to send me?