Best way to get into new library?
Posted by Tornad_pl@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 11 comments
(I am talking mostly about python, but idk if that's revelant)
As I slowly move toward practical projects, I often need/want to use some library that I've never used before. I don't know what functions it has, some functions are hidden deep inside documentation or not even there, etc..
For my last project (where I first used sympy) I tried using documentation, and managed to get some code working, but quickly stopped being able to find methods, I need. So I turned to AI, when I asked it for something, it spat some code out, it made me learn about new function. About half the time code was rubbish/not exactly what I wanted, so I reworked it anyway. Once I had access to definition of function, it was easier.
Now... what would be your reccomendations to tackle simmilar problems next time?
MagicMagnada@reddit
Read it line by line
Tornad_pl@reddit (OP)
It? The library? Damn that's hardcore
MagicMagnada@reddit
It gets you understanding of Stacks you havent even heared of and you can skip most of it based on your skill
Commercial-Risk4561@reddit
The thing that helped me most: stop reading docs front to back. That's where everyone gets lost. A library's docs are a reference, not a tutorial, and reference material is miserable to read linearly.
What I actually do with a new library, 20-ish years in. First I find one working example that's close to my use case, official examples folder, a real GitHub project that imports it, whatever. I get that running unchanged before I touch anything. Then I open a REPL and poke at the objects it gave me. dir() on the object, help() on the methods that look relevant. With sympy specifically, tab-completion in IPython is how you discover that buried stuff, way faster than the docs site search.
The other habit worth building: when AI hands you code, treat the function names in it as search terms, not as the answer. The value isn't the code, it's that it pointed you at Matrix.rref or whatever you didn't know existed. Then you go read that one doc page properly.
So it's example first, REPL to explore, docs to confirm. Reading source is a last resort for when the docs are actually wrong.
fulfillthevision@reddit
I face the same issue at times. The documentation doesn't always show every fine detail/trick that you can use, and I have to find it through someone else's code, examples, AI, or just by reading the source code itself
grantrules@reddit
I check the readme for documentation, I'll look at examples, I'll read the docs or the code itself, I'll search for other projects that use the library and see how they've implemented it.
lawful_manifesto@reddit
yeah checking other people's projects is smart way to learn, sometimes the official docs miss the practical stuff you actually need in real situations
grantrules@reddit
And it's nice to see how people implemented it.. example code is often very straightforward and not how you'd use it in a projectÂ
Tornad_pl@reddit (OP)
I forgot to look at exaples, thank you.
And about looking at otjer projects, good idea aswell
illuminarias@reddit
Documentation, examples, and depending on language sometimes the implementation might inform you how it should be used.
Don't offload thinking and struggle to an AI. Being confused and learning how to dig yourself out is the point.
Tornad_pl@reddit (OP)
That's why I'm asking how to do it properly.
Ai really sometimes feels like dark side of force.