Looking for inspiration - it’s been a while since I taught anyone some Dynamo.
What are the first three things you’d teach a beginner?
I’m teaching a cowoker and started with primer, it’s excellent. When they ask questions it helps me think in other POVs so it also helps me develop deep understanding of the concepts.
3 things to learn? I guess some basics of programming like excel, foundational math and logical thinking, last one is idk how to teach or learn lol but I have noticed my coworker fails to understand how the nodes are making logical decisions, manipulating data to achieve an output. they know what the nodes are doing but not aware of overall working of the script. I guess Jacob’s suggestion of writing down process of what you want to achieve, how would you do it, step by step and then do it through nodes would help.
Here’s a counter question : How would you teach python in dynamo to someone who wants to ultimately get into plugin development using Revit API? asking for myself.
They can easily find all the information they need right here. To be honest, there’s nothing extra they need to do. What’s more, it’s completely free.
They don’t need to understand what’s going on in the scripts. They simply click on a topic, browse through users’ posts on that subject, and move on to another topic. This is a continuous learning method because our brains simply associate the relevant topic visually with what they see. All this information, which may seem meaningless at first, automatically transforms into a “I’ve seen/read this before” state when combined with this repetitive method. Later on, they can quickly find the relevant topic they’ve “seen/read” because they’ve already encountered it.
What I’m actually trying to explain in this forum is that simply answering their questions directly isn’t very helpful; instead, you should ‘Show Them the Learning Method’.
Simply being ‘curious and eager’ is enough.
I prefer a sequence/structure something like this:
- Why Dynamo
- What Dynamo is
- User interface tour
- Data types
- Lists
- Lacing/Levels
- Geometry types
- Geometry use
- Revit / Civil interaction
- Data interop
- Functional use
That said, if you only have a 15-30 minutes you can build a ‘renumber the rooms’ graph together using the bolded ones above while you discuss the core concepts and then send them loose on the primer.
Learning resource:
- Dynamo Forum - Dynamo
- Dynamo primer - About | The Dynamo Primer
- AUtodesk University - Search | Autodesk University
- For some python examples https://github.com/Amoursol/dynamoPython/
- Dynamo office hours - Dynamo Office Hours - YouTube
I also inform people that if they have a good understanding of revit then using dynamo for revit will be that little bit easier to understand then.
Then from a learning pathway I inform people that they should start with data management in the first instance, then start to expand into more complex tasks or even geometry manipulation.
Then once at a good point I would say they start to plug into python but in respects to data manipulation so they get used to for/if statements to manage data. Then once at a point go deeper into the revit api. Though above link has some good python examples to aid in this learning too.
I would recommend you first learn Python using any of the hundreds of free courses available online, and then use the same primer. https://primer2.dynamobim.org/8_coding_in_dynamo/8-3_python
That said, if you want to learn plugin development, only spend a month tops on that and move onto learning C# and Visual Studio, and then move onto this part of the Primer: Developing for Dynamo | Dynamo
Then move onto Revit API development without any Dynamo.
A good way to learn the ins and outs of it all is to take the same ‘concept’ program from Nodes > Python > zero touch node > Revit Add-In; just don’t pick something which uses a lot of geometry as the Revit API has a LOT of gaps there.
Thank you, I found another one of your great responses for the same question. those are great resources. How do I start studying Dynamo Python? - #3 by jacob.small
I believe with consistency, practice and a lot of patience, I’ll be able to achieve this goal.
100% just learn ‘normal’ Python first.
If you’re really impatient just learn what a for loop is and you’ll be happy 
I never learned “normal” python.
My trajectory was (abbreviated):
- Learn Dynamo
- Start making Revit API nodes in python by deconstructing clockwork nodes
- Take a coding bootcamp to learn ASP.net website building - build no websites in class and start making nodes for dynamo instead
- Start working on Revit plugins.
- What things are generally called ‘under the hood’. I think the first time I used the word ‘element’ at work I got blank stares, they had just got the hang of understanding that families are like really tricked out dynamic blocks. Terminology is daunting… to start getting an idea of ways you want to use Dynamo in a Revit setting, it’s kind of necessary to know where to find the things you hope to touch, and what they’d be called. Otherwise, the default assumption seems to be that the software ‘doesn’t have that’. While there’s plenty that isn’t exposed in the API, most practical things are.
- Moving data to and from Notepad and Excel/CSV. The trust level seems to go up when you can look at all of the information on a big sheet. Stretchable watch nodes have helped a bit in this general direction. Yes, multilayered lists don’t translate well, but this is for beginning scripts.
- The primer. It’s amazing how often people try to skip it. Yes, you won’t use 80% of it. You’re not supposed to always be using everything. That’s not all that different from a typical school education. It teaches you the framework and where to look next.
- Basic terminology and nomenclature.
- How to logically define a problem. (Probably the biggest challenge for most non-programmers)
- List structure and replication.
For a brand-new beginner with no programming experience at all, these tend to be the biggest hurdles to starting their own self-taught journey (in my experience). Once they know the basic pieces to use, how to structure a graph, and how to manage basic data structures they’re off and running.
- Dont rush
- Youre rushing aren’t you?
- Go back to item 1
In all seriousness though ive found renunber rooms by spline the easiest script to teach/interest people with. Some data, some geometry and introducing abstract solution finding.
Main issue i face these days is everyone is busy and drinking the AI koolaid so they skip fundamentals and have to begin by learning debugging.
Also people assume AI will fix everything, have no hallucinations or even ignore the potential risks of malware code being added without any thought(eg could install a vulnerable package that has been patched).
Thanks all - I gave them an intro…
Explained what a string, boolean, integer and decimal was along with, “here’s the canvas, here’s the library”
Showed them get and set.
Showed them a slider and how it could change a curtain wall / mullion spacing.
They were interested in the final one but I don’t think they were that interested overall sadly. 
Inspiring desire to learn is different than teaching - sometimes you can mix the two, but it’s rare overall.
A use case relevant to them and a ‘I can’t do it all but if you’d like to learn I can help you build it’ approach often works well there.
- was inspired by elegance in design (i hated 90 degrees everywhere)
- could see the netto gain in costs
- hated repetitive tasks (makes me bore out)
I like this for example, most of it is Dynamo TSplines
