Python programming: a drawn explanation of variable and parameters in functions
Disclaimer: I am not an expert on any of the topics I shall discuss below, I am just curious and I like to experiment + learn. I’m using this platform to log my thoughts, ideas and whatever else comes to mind. Please take what I write with a pinch of salt, and always do your own research. I am not a very good writer either, so be prepared to be reading a lot of fluff.
Anything I write that might be wrong, please do correct me but be polite about it, thank you!
Date: Friday 24/06/22 but the drawings are from 2019-2020
I was once offered a job as a Python teacher at a university in a BA course.
This happened right after graduating in 2019.
Needless to say that I was horribly unqualified, and the lovely educator who wanted to hire me had a last minute drop-out and needed a tutor to come in a couple days a week to teach their BA students. They were really motivating and had so much trust and confidence in my programming knowledge.
Although they knew that I wasn’t formally trained in programming, they saw me tinkering with an array of various programming languages which I mixed with AR and assumed that I had a strong enough background, and didn’t care for formality. They genuinely thought I had enough experience and basic understanding of programming that I could brush up on my Python properly and become good enough to teach it within a couple of weeks. They even suggested a fantastic online course called ‘How To Think Like A Computer Scientist’ and said I could learn the basics, and teach whilst learning the more complex stuff.
It was no surprise that after doing the course for two weeks and shadowing the educator for a single day, I immedietaly turned down the job. I was still horribly unqualified, two weeks later!
Although I decided not to go for it, I still wanted to continue learning Python. As a quick spoiler, I did not manage to complete it at all and got stuck at the Functions chapter (so early on, I know, it’s embarassing, same thing happened with Javascript, I don’t get functions).
One of the good things that came out of the course was that I realised how I learned things i struggled with like maths and programming. I have to be able to explain it to someone else whilst using metaphors and imagery. If I can’t use a metaphor, then I deem myself to not have understood the concept well enough. That is simply how I learn, and as a result, I actually created short comics breaking down Python concepts!
Variable and parameters in functions
