Learning Python

Finally here!! Welcome to my new blog dedicated specifically to Python programming. My old blog at LiveJournal is getting a little long in the tooth, plus their spam filtering was lacking... something. However, I'll leave that blogsite up for personal posts, but I'm moving here for Python stuff. In fact, I think I'll "refactor" some of those old posts here from time-to-time.

As you can see, I've named this blog (currently) the same name as my book. This was not done intentionally as some marketing effort to promte the book as I do want to focus on having readers/users understand the core elements of the language. This in turn makes for better Python programmers, thus lowers the stress level in the world a little. Now let's really start the contents of this post, and that means going back to the beginning and learning Python:

If you don't know Python but already code, try the Google Python course first. It is basically the internal 2-day training course scrubbed and externalized for all of you. It jumps in fairly quickly without a lot of explanation. If you learn best in this style, you'll be okay. There are also 7 videos available on the site so you can follow the lectures from both days.

If you're really new to programming, consider taking a beginner course in programming. Sure Python is a great first language to learn coding with, but not all such courses feature it. If you have no time for courses, do the online Python tutorial as well as the SingPath exercises. As far as books go, online-wise you can try Learn Python the Hard Way (book+lessons) or Dive Into Python (book-only).

Since Dive Into Python is written by a co-worker of mine, you can buy a dead-tree version if you wish to support them, or Core Python Programming, to help out someone else you know. :-) The primary difference between these books is that one is a quick dive while the other is a deep dive, as so well described in this Amazon review. Here's another more recent review although it does not shed as much positive light on my colleague's tome. As far as references go, you can support yet a third Googler by buying Python in a Nutshell, or a non-colleague who wrote Python Essential Reference.

If you have children or wish to teach kids how to program, Hello World! Computer Programming for Kids and Other Beginners is a friendly and well-received book written by an engineer and his (then) 8-year old son. It's good to have a kid's perspective as kids (generally) respect other kids who are/were in their same shoes.

The cool thing is that the sky is the limit once you've learned some Python. You can take off in any different direction like Google App Engine, Pyramid, or Django for web or mobile development, SciPy/NumPy for scientific development, SQLAlchemy/SQLObject for database ORMs, Jython for Java development, Win32 for PC development, PyGame for writing games, etc. Testing is something you should always keep in mind, so look into Nose or py.test.

For those of you who already know programming, but want to learn Python as quickly and as in-depth as possible in the shortest amount of time, join me near San Francisco for my upcoming 3-day Python training course running mid-week October 18-20! You need to be proficient programming in another high-level programming language (such as C/C++, Java, PHP, Ruby, etc.). The fee covers for all lectures, labs (3 per day), and everyone gets a copy of my bestseller, Core Python Programming. There is a significant discount to primary/secondary school teachers so ask about that if applicable!

I hope this helps some of you get started! We always welcome new users to the Python community!!