Programming scripts in Dynamo - which language to start with for a non-programmer

[HerrKaLeu]

I'm a mechanical engineer (HVAC etc.) and work with a Building Information Model (BIM) software called Autodesk Revit and that has a visual programming plugin called dynamo. In dynamo scripts can be used. AFAIK Python and C# are most common languages used for that. My goal is to use Dynamo and also scripting to make my workflows in Revit more efficient. I also want to exercise my brain to learn something useful without an anticipation to become a real programmer. I also wouldn't mind to make standalone programs in windows.

 

I'm not someone who just learns programming that easily. All my prior experience was following a book or tutorial without a lot of genuine programming. but that was also due to a lack of actual need to program. Over the years, I learned some BASIC on a C64 (yes, I'm that old), some JAVA tutorials, but nothing serious and nothing I really remember. So assume I have no real prior knowledge. 

 

Is it a good way to learn Python as a beginner, or is there a better interim step to learn it? 

 

any other advice (how to start, what software to use etc.) is greatly appreciated. 

 

[shadow_ray]

Unlike visual studio, vscode is cross platform https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/python-tutorial

 

There are sites where you can solve bite sized problems and see other's people solutions. Just a few of these hackerrank, codingame, codewars

[HerrKaLeu]

Thanks to both of you! 

I downloaded and installed the Visual Studio, VScode and PyCharm software.

 

I also ordered all kind of Python books from our local library. To my surprise they had quite a few that were less than 2 years old. Looks like they also had a few for Raspberry Pi, which is another future hobby idea. They also had some for kids, which may be a good thing for my 9 year old daughter (they program in scratch at her school). I skipped the books about snakes, and the ones about Monty Python.