I thus enter a labyrinthian hellscape of words I don't understand - what's pandas? what's a library? what's pip? what's a package? How do I install any of this? I am blindly following anything online that sounds vaguely similar to my problem, copy-pasting code and praying.
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To make it worse, I can't figure out how to edit the code in the python box. I'm running any random internet-suggested code with the vague words 'install' and 'pandas' in it, but I can't go back to fix mistakes I made or try small variations. I figure must be a special key combo?
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I google "how to delete previous lines in python" and variations on this and am served unhelpful questions from others about how to make their programs go back and modify other outputs or something. Not what I want. My breathing rate increases.
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ok fuckit, I'll figure it out later. I find a spot on the internet that tells me I should be installing pandas (whatever tf that means at this point) into my cmd? I know what cmd is! It's weird to install things through cmd tho, how does it know what internet download to do?
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I'm used to installing things by clicking download in browsers, not by... typing just "install pls" into cmd. Seems real sus, but I'll figure it out later.
I open cmd and type install pandas. I get incomprehensible errors. I google the errors.
Google says something about... pip?
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At this point I'm deep in the murky waters of a land I do not understand. I don't know why python isn't just letting me import a csv, I don't know why there's a chain of other "installs" I have to do, if they're even installs. I don't know how to track what I've installed.
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Every google for help I do is useless. Each page is full of terms I don't understand at *all*. They're like "Oh solving that error is simple, just take the library and shove it into the jenga package loader so you can execute the lab function with a pasta variation".
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My body is tense. I feel like a shaken soda can. Angry tears are starting to well. I'm trying to install pip by punching foreign commands into this cruel black hole, dimly aware I'm probably making a hundred glaring errors I cannot possibly know about. I don't know what pip is.
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Eventually I break and post on twitter. People are split between being unable to comprehend my brain is actually this stupid and insisting I must be doing engagement bait, and a series telling me confidently that I need to this simple thing, but each recommendation is different
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Regular people can’t crowdsource so they PAIR PROGRAM. You need 1 human being that is able to work alongside you and explain this stuff as they show you on your machine how to make it work.
My suggestion was
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For specific queries Reddit is much better. There is literally a subreddit there called "learnpython". It has 600k plus members and 100s are always active at any point so your query gets answered fast
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