Difficulties with ArcGIS, looking for guidance

[DougEpling]

​I have just spent three frustrating days trying to make sense of a simple job work process in ArcGIS 10.3.1 -- whatever that is.  I am not a geographer but a computer science geek and Python afficianado.  But ArcGIS is like something out of Carlos Castena

EDIT

Took the liberty of editing the title and more your original into the question section.  I also provided tags to facilitate a better chance of meeting your target audience... Dan

[KevinBell]

With code, it's usually a typo.  In this case, it's "Carlos Castaneda" I believe.