r/learnpython • u/Glittering-Heart-399 • Jul 12 '25
Learning Python: can AI tutor me?
I'm trying to learn Python programming. Could I use AI (like a chatbot) to help teach me coding? Maybe it could explain concepts or give practice problems. Has anyone used chatGPT or other models to learn a programming language? How effective was it compared to online tutorials or a human tutor?
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u/shiftybyte Jul 12 '25
It should be fine as long as you ask it to teach you, and not solve stuff for you...
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u/Turbulent_Spread1788 Jul 12 '25
Personally also I’m a beginner and I use quite often chatGPT to create problems or learn something. I think it’s fine for problems but I find more useful tutorials on YouTube or books on the internet to actually learn the code
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u/sukkj Jul 12 '25
These kinds of posts should be banned to be honest. Every single one is the same question. Can't it be added to faqs or something?
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u/LatteLepjandiLoser Jul 12 '25
I think you’ll get a great learning outcome if you find a course (lead or written by a human) and use the AI for further explanations, follow up etc, even debugging your code when you have stared at it for an hour. The risk is that you let it solve stuff for you and you don’t really learn anything from that. Avoid that and it’s a great tool
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u/sporbywg Jul 12 '25
Coding since '78 - I work with no less than 4 systems; they are teaching me React and TypeORM and I am rocking it. AI can tutor some folks, that is for sure.
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u/MisterFatt Jul 12 '25
Absolutely, but I’d use it in conjunction with a typical python online course. I’d use it to get deeper explanations and interact with examples
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u/Individual-Brief-239 Jul 12 '25
I'm learning through the help of ChatGPT, It's very helpful than you ever realize!
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u/joe0027 Jul 12 '25
AI helps those who are experienced in programming but hinders those who are beginners. I suggest you don't touch AI until you got your fundamentals down. Here is a free resource that teaches programming fundamentals with python: https://share.google/2tsxQz144XTfvTmJd
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u/MakingAMonster Jul 12 '25
I use it when I am learning new languages, frameworks, etc...
The way I do it, is I learn from my main study source - could be a udemy course or something like CS50. After every section or so, I go to chatGPT and upload some screenshots of the course material I just finished and I give it the following prompt:
I’ve just completed a section of my <whatever I am studying> course. I’m uploading screenshots that summarize the key concepts. Please create a set of quiz questions to test my understanding of this material. Include a mix of question types (multiple choice, short answer, code output prediction, and “write this from scratch” style). Make sure the questions are thorough enough to ensure I truly grasp all the key points covered in the section.
That prompt was actully given to me by chatGPT (very meta). It then makes me a quiz (usually about 16 questions). some multiple choice, some short answer and some coding or debugging. It then grades me, and tells me where I need to reinforce my knowledge.
You can tweak the prompt and make it rigorous as or light as you want. You can ask for only a certain type of question or even for it to give you mini-projects.
If there is a concept you don't understand, you can keep asking questions, keep asking for examples and keep getting excercises. An example would be explaining list comprehension.
Additionally, You could ask it to find you learning resources.
As long as you are not turning off your brain and letting it do everything for you, it's quite a handy tool.
The problem is lots of kids are using it to do their HW or their coding projects.
I would NOT, however use it as a primary source for learning. I think it's still a bit off from being able to do that.
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u/waffleassembly Jul 12 '25
AI can be like dr jekyll mr hyde. Sometimes it will start giving you the worst advice after you've been on a winning streak. You can still do what you're suggesting, but you need to establish a roadmap first of the concepts you want to learn and stay on that track. Then if AI starts getting all weird, make sure to ask stack overflow or soemthing
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u/cwaterbottom Jul 12 '25
Yes, this is what I use it for and it works great. I'm currently a student in a data analytics BS program and for my python, SQL, math, HTML, etc I come up with my best solution (if I can come up with one) and then show it to Gemini and ask if there are better ways to go about it. ChatGPT was good but once I tried Gemini I haven't looked back, but I do get the pro tier for free as a student.
Edit: it's also taught me modeling using Fusion, I've gotten to be pretty damn good at designing my 3d printed projects if I do say so myself.
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u/Stoned_Ape_Dev Jul 12 '25
absolutely but use a human-crafted resource as your main roadmap. Harvard CS50 is an excellent free resource for CS and they have a few courses specifically focused on Python
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u/codingzap Jul 12 '25
This is actually a great way of using AI tools! You can definitely ask it to explain concepts or summarise things for you. It’s also available 24x7 so whenever you get a doubt you can just ask ChatGPT.
That being said, it might not be a hundred percent accurate when giving you some of the answers. Sometimes the responses are too vague or generic.
However, I feel like tutors can help you understand concepts in a much easier way. They can see what level you are currently at, identify what part you are struggling with and guide you accordingly.
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u/Kind-Kure Jul 12 '25
My problem with AI is that it can be confidently wrong and you won’t know why the answer it’s giving you could be wrong
And there are other instances where it might not be wrong per se, but it can give you a really bad answer for the problem you’re trying to solve because it lacks context
That’s not to say AI is useless but I would use it more as a stack overflow substitute than a tutorial/program/course substitute
Especially considering how many quality, free sources there are online to learn python
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u/SirAwesome789 Jul 12 '25
Use it like a TA, not a prof, you can ask it specific questions you have, but it won't have the structure to teach you everything you need to know
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u/MrFresh2017 Jul 12 '25
If you don’t learn the fundamentals of coding, no matter what the language, you can’t properly assess what AI’s results are. It’s 2025 ands no matter how “good” AI seems to be, it can be confidently wrong as u/Kind-Kure says, so being blind to trusting it fully without being to check it will not be beneficial.
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u/Alex20041509 Jul 12 '25
Yes but don’t rely too much on it You shalt always be critical of AI
And never use AI alone just to deep dive in topics
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u/Active_Toe_2345 Jul 29 '25
Learning Python with an AI tutor can be a great way to get personalized support and practice. ChatGPT and similar models can explain concepts, provide coding exercises, and give feedback on your progress. However, for a more structured and comprehensive approach, I recommend trying AlgoCademy: Learn to Code and Ace Coding Interviews. Their AI-assisted learning platform offers video tutorials, algorithm practice, and guidance tailored to your skill level, which can be more effective than a general chatbot.
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u/IvyMacias Sep 24 '25
you should give polymatic ai a try, i've been using it for learning python and so far it's been great
they did not have it in the learning preferences but i just ask for it in the chat
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u/Familiar9709 Jul 12 '25
Of course! It's an amazing tool! Imagine having this in the 90s, people would go mad.
Obviously it's a tool, it won't guarantee you learn on your own and you'll need to use other sources too. But for e.g. troubleshooting, tips on improving code, etc, it's really good.
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u/help_me_noww Jul 12 '25
Yes. It would be absolutely helpful especially while practice. When you start practice and will new things or small projects you can get better assistance with AI. It really guide you with your ideas. So for the learning it is best to get help from AI.
I would suggest. Watch videos to understand concepts then start practice with smalls projects.
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u/Elliove Jul 12 '25
Yeah, it's amazing for that kind of stuff. I ask it all the time, I use DeepSeek mostly. It's good at explaining concepts, functions, providing examples of how this or that can be done, givind advice on what libraries you might want to try for specific tasks, and it can even try to help you fix broken code. What AI can't do, is write anything more complex that a few-liner for you. The code AI shits out - most often, it technically works, it doesn't crash, but what specifically that code does might differ wildly from what you wanted the code to do. So, as a rule of thumb - using AI for help is fine, it basically googles for you, but you still must have a good understanding of what you're doing to get a code that actually does what you want it to do.
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u/crazy_cookie123 Jul 12 '25
It's not going to be as effective as a human-made structured course like CS50 or the University of Helsinki MOOC for the primary learning, but it can absolutely be used as a secondary resource for explaining concepts and coming up with practice problems. If you ask ChatGPT to design the overall learning for you, you risk it going too fast and skipping over bits. I'd follow a course like CS50/MOOC, and after following each section ask ChatGPT for a few practice problems relating to it and to explain anything you didn't understand.
Do not ask ChatGPT to generate actual code for you, it will prevent you from learning how to do it yourself.