Most people who talk about Python describe it as their very first programming language, the perfect gateway into coding. My story is a little different.

Back in 2013, I was already dabbling in PHP and JavaScript, building real community and professional projects for Oxwall and WordPress. By 2015, C++ entered the picture — not by choice, mind you, but because it was part of my university curriculum. Java followed soon after. These languages taught me structure, object-oriented principles, and the discipline of system programming.

Yet, in every developer circle, Python kept coming up — described as simple, elegant, even fun. Naturally, the idea of progressing beyond “print ‘Hello, World!'” in Python2 had always been present and was long overdue by the time I finished college.

Completing my college degree (officially) 2 months ago meant I have extra time in hand to try something new. Viz., Python! I knew I’d get to it eventually. It just took me a few extra years.

Python should be easy, right?

Or so I thought. My first impression was less about learning Python and more about unlearning the rules of C++ and Java. Suddenly, semicolons and curly braces were gone. Whitespace and indentation weren’t just formatting choices — they were syntax.

I spent nine days immersed in the basics: variables, loops, functions, classes, modules, and eventually Tkinter for GUI programming. At that point, I thought I had cracked it. Confidently, I attempted the LinkedIn Python quiz to validate my skills.

The result? Failure.

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all — in which case, you fail by default.

J.K. Rowling

Thanks, Rowling! It wasn’t the triumphant debut I’d hoped for, but it was an important reminder: syntax alone doesn’t make you proficient. Problem-solving does. Still, there were bright spots. One of them is—

My very own first Python GUI program, Xcalc

Xcalc was my first hands-on Python project. A simple calculator with a graphical interface, written in Python 3 with Tkinter. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division — nothing groundbreaking, but functional.

What made Xcalc special wasn’t what it could do, but what it represented. At just 168 lines of code, it demonstrated how Python encourages you to get to the point quickly. Compared to the verbosity of C++ or the boilerplate of Java, Python felt liberating.

Xcalc was also my first lesson in user-facing programming that dosn’t run on a browser. It wasn’t just about writing code that compiled; it was about creating something another person could actually use.

Key Lessons for New Python Developers

Unlike most programming languages, learning the basics of Python is unbelievably easy if you are new to programming in general. However, if you are transitioning from a different programming background, such as Java and C++, unlearning the old habit of ending a line with a semi-colon can be a bit tricky.

Looking back, a few lessons stand out from those early days:

Beware of semi-colon: In Python, new line indicates the end of the preceding statement. Commas may be used but only to separate statements on the same line.

"""Code to calculate Simple Interest in Python3"""
#statements on each line; notice that semi-colon is not used
P = 1000
r = 3.82
t = 7
A = P * (1 + r * t)
print(A)

#statements in one line; notice the use of semi-colons
P = 1000; r = 3.82; t = 7; A=P*(1+r*t);print(A)

Whitespace is law: Python used indentation in place of curly braces used in Java and C++ block statements. Forget indentation, and your program won’t run. It’s both a curse for the careless and a blessing for readability.

C++ Function

//create a function in C++
int main(){
    cout << "Hello, World!" << endl;
    return 0;
}

Python Function

#create a function in Python
def main():
    print("Hello, World!")
    return

#call the function
main()

Dynamic typing saves time: Python is a loosely type programming language. Meaning you don’t have to define a data type when you initialize a variable or function.

Readability counts: “Simple is better than complex” isn’t just philosophy; it’s how real-world Python code is written and maintained. Some of the core principal ideas behind Python include:

• Simple is better than complex.
• Beautiful is better than ugly.
• Readability counts.
• Special cases aren’t special enough to break the rules.
• If the implementation is hard to explain, it’s a bad idea.
• If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea.
• More from The Zen of Python.

Failure is part of the process: That failed LinkedIn quiz taught me more about my gaps than success ever would.

Beyond Xcalc: How Python Shaped My Career

At the time, I thought Python would just be another line on my CV. But it became more than that. Since Xcalc, I’ve used Python to:

• Build Tkinter-based GUI apps for remote data synchronisation.
• Experiment with Pygame, creating cross-platform games.
• Write automation scripts that saved hours of manual work.
• Support real-world projects alongside PHP, JavaScript, and other core languages in my toolkit.

Python also influenced how I think about code today. It trained me to value clarity, simplicity, and expressiveness — qualities I’ve carried into Laravel, WordPress, and every other framework I work with.

Looking Back Now

That failed LinkedIn quiz no longer bothers me. If anything, it makes me smile. It marked the start of a journey where Python went from being “the language I should probably try” to one of the tools I use to solve real problems.

Xcalc Source Code

Python comes with a lot of very useful libraries and modules that can make your job a lot easier. The Xcalc GUI program for instance, was written with Python3 TK GUI toolkit. It took only 168 line of codes to produce the Xcalc program.

You can download Xcalc full source code from Github >> https://github.com/eobasi/xcalc

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