Chapter 15: Moving Forward

Congratulations, you're a Python programmer! You've started from scratch, perhaps with no programming experience at all, and are now speaking in terms of classes, modules, function references, and all kinds of other wonderful and geeky terms. You have the ability to open up a text window and to take charge of your computer in a way that most people perceive as pure magic. You can write complicated programs that perform data analysis, verify homework problems, or even play games. Great work!

The challenge doesn't end here though. This is not a comprehensive list of Python functions, and there isn't enough space to go through other modules or applications that you might attempt to tackle. Your path from here is your own. If you'd like to continue programming, and I certainly hope that you do, do some brainstorming and come up with programs that you'd like to write. If you're a gamer, write a text adventure game. If you come from a finance background, start designing a tool that can help you crunch numbers in an effective way. If you feel like automating parts of your career or your life will give you more time or money, start writing those tools!

It might sound cheesy when I say this, but there really isn't any end to the types of applications that you're able to create in a programming language. Even the programming language itself was written by somebody, right? Use the experience that you've gained from working through this material to start working on the things that you want to write. Programming is a very fulfilling activity. Let your creativity go wild, and see what kind of programs you come up with.

Best of luck!

Scott Grant

http://scootah.com