Lots of tutorials on Youtube, and the price is right for everything you need to learn/work with Python or C/C++.
And having worked with propriety OS/Programming languages in the past, I place high priority on a OS/language which is open source. I mostly program by hand and don't really care to use IDEs that generate code based on templates/GUI, etc - mostly because I don't like to spend time learning someone else's way of doing something only to wind up with a mass of bloated code.
It's faster, easier to just go grab a section of my own code for something I've built and modify it to meet a current need/application. I've built many websites and desktop applications that interacted with SQL backends, including Oracle. The time spent solving some proprietary issue/quirk exceeds the time saved by using their tools which generate the code for you and limit your creativity.
Maybe that's what I dislike most - not being able to do it my way. :-)
My way is best!!! Sounds pretty much like yours. But Mine is better than yours.