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Think Python 2e
- poooogles 4y agoI can't be the only person that read this as Python5.43(...) before realising that 2e is second edition.
- Operyl 4y agoHaha, I think for a second before clicking through that somebody was attempting to revive a fork of Python2.
- snvzz 4y agoGreat completely free resource (pdf download) that can suffice to teach a sufficiently curious person to program. Something to download, bookmark and throw at people when asked about how to get started. Back in the day, single-digit years old me had to make-do with AmigaBASIC's manual, which shipped with the Amiga 500. A lucky kid who had a computer at home. It was sufficient to bootstrap my career. These days, it is all so much more accessible, and yet.
- intalentive 4y agoDowney’s “Think” series is gold. As a student I worked through the Python, DSP, and Complexity books and learned a ton. Probably the most helpful thing as a novice programmer was finding a clean and minimal coding style to emulate.
- travisjungroth 4y agoSomething extremely satisfying was feeling like Think Complexity was impenetrable then coming back a few years later and finding it approachable.
- bwanab 4y agoAgreed. His books are amazingly good resources for learning difficult subjects. I particularly liked Bayes.
- m3kw9 4y agoIf you want to learn python, don’t read anything, start by creating an interesting project then ask for help on the internet. Reading will tire you out and you will feel you don’t have enough understanding to start your own stuff but book exercises
- stainablesteel 4y agocompletely agree you don't read a book about hammers before you hit a nail
- m_mueller 4y agodepends on whether your first name is Jeremy or James...
- travisjungroth 4y agoLiterally anything? That doesn’t seem like it would work well. Someone who already knows how to code could start with https://learnxinyminutes.com/docs/python/ https://learnxinyminutes.com/docs/python/ Someone who doesn’t know how to code could probably use even a bit more of an intro.
- version_five 4y agoHuh? Not that I oppose picking it up and trying it. But (a) try asking for help on the internet when you haven't rtfm yet and see how it goes (b) personally I love reading about programming languages I'll probably never use... I've never written a line of scheme in my life but SCIP still taught me a lot; and it's always interesting to see the different ways of doing things. (c) there's a reason the word pythonic exists. It's particularly interesting to see the python way of doing stuff, again, even if you don't code in it. It won't all stick, obviously, until you do a real project, but reading is never a bad idea.
- m3kw9 4y agoNow is really ask chatGPT, seriously I don’t even need to feel bad asking something over and over even the simpler things that I forgot or even newbie type questions
- NikolaNovak 4y agoThere's huge amounts of stuff "for complete beginners", which is great. How about a "learn Python if you got your comsci degree with C 20 years ago but are now in hands off management role" though? :-) I don't need to learn what a variable is for 20th time, but can't jump into "advanced Python" books either, so I've found myself stuck a bit between two extremes.
- theblazehen 4y agoI've found https://learnxinyminutes.com/ https://learnxinyminutes.com/ to be a decent quick-start guide to many languages, where it assumes you already know the essential principles
- NikolaNovak 4y agoOh, that's a good find, thanks! And, exhaustive (across languages)!
- jjtheblunt 4y agohttps://docs.python.org https://docs.python.org is perfect for your situation. Very organized and very quick to look up syntax by idea.
- extr 4y agoThis is what ChatGPT is made for. I also like to learn concepts by analogy with concepts I already know. Before, you had to search for books and posts made explicitly with this in mind. "Javascript for Python Developers" or the like. Now you can explicitly ask GPT to formulate explanations with your specific context in mind. Game changer.
- goldfeld 4y agoAnd made, even, to help me write out a series of tutorials on ChinesePython[0], a topic which intrigued me for years but I always found daunting to learn (along with learning Chinese), what with the lack of materials that used English, so I made this for people completely new to Chinese. 0: https://chinesememe.substack.com/i/103754530/chinesepython https://chinesememe.substack.com/i/103754530/chinesepython
- arun-mani-j 4y agoI learnt Python with this book. Every chapter in this book has awesome exercises which I miss in (a few) other books. Whenever someone asks me how to learn Python, I share them this book (Python 3 version of course).