Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Python

Is coding in python enough to build experiments on Psychopy?

Hi everybody, i'm Francesco from Italy. I'm a psychology student and I know nothing about coding. Recently i've decided to learn how to build psychological experiments on Psychopy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PsychoPy), which is an open source software package, written in Python. I'm trying to build a basic experiment (lexical decision task if somebody knows what it is) but i've realized that i need some coding skills to personalize my script going beyond the few options that the builder interface offers. I would like to know (hoping someone of you knows Psychopy) if learning how to code in python will allow me to know everything about to build my experiments or if Psychopy needs other knowledge than coding in python. I'm asking that because learn how to code it will take much time so i would like to be sure that it will be a good investment start your treehouse program and learn how to code in python.

Thanks for any suggestion, Francesco

2 Answers

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
243,318 Points

I"m not familiar with PsychoPy, so I can't comment on programming for it specifically.

But Python is a great choice for a first programming language to learn. It has the potential for very advanced functionality, yet the fundamentals are easy to learn in a minimal amount of time. Since you're already a treehouse member (or trial user?) I would suggest you start with Python Basics, and then consider continuing with the Learn Python track. My guess is that you'd reach the level of capability you need well before finishing the track.

Thank you Steven for your suggestions, i subscribed the free trial today but i'm really interested to become a member and study python. For what i've understood about Psychopy until now, learning python could improve my skills in build experiments, but i'm trying to understand exactly what I have to learn to become a psychopy developer before dedicate myself to study python.

Anybody there?