AI-Assisted Python for Nonprogrammers

Chapter 16. What’s Next?

This book has taken you on a whirlwind tour of programming:

• You started with some simple ideas and programs.

• You then learned about built-in data structures.

• You learned how to combine data structures.

• You wrote functions.

• You used modules from Python’s standard library.

• You downloaded, installed, and used third-party packages from PyPI.

• You got advice from AI on how to improve your code.

• You used agentic coding to write code on your behalf.

Veteran programmers often like to boast about how hard it was when they started in the computer industry, and how easy newcomers have it. And to a large degree, that’s true: when I started programming, most of the topics in this book were significantly more difficult to accomplish. Some of them, such as downloading third-party libraries, were rare and paled in comparison with the depth and breadth of today’s PyPI. And getting programming advice from AI agents, let alone asking AI to write code on your behalf? That was the stuff of science fiction.

So yes, it has never been easier to get into programming. Open source software such as Python has made it affordable for anyone with time and motivation to learn to program, and even to distribute code to others. Tools such as PyCharm and VS Code, available free of charge, have made it easier than ever to manage complex software projects. And AI ensures that you can always get feedback on your code, and even assistance in writing it.

But the list of topics ...