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Free Python Books

123 points by AlSweigart 12y ago

bluekeybox 12y ago
There is a brilliant new book (albeit somewhat advanced) that I don't see in this list: Introduction to Python for Econometrics, Statistics and Data Analysis (2014) by Kevin Sheppard. PDF available for free here: https://www.kevinsheppard.com/images/0/09/Python_introduction.pdf https://www.kevinsheppard.com/images/0/09/Python_introductio...
- AlSweigart 12y ago
  I'll add it to the page. Thanks!
- grandconj 12y ago
  As an economics major, thanks!
wodenokoto 12y ago
Wouldn't a curated list be much better? We can all type "python programming" on amazon and get a pretty similar list of books. It is not interesting. What is interesting is to know which book to read.
- wyclif 12y ago
  Agreed. So many times I've wished there was either a high-quality, curated list (by pro Python programmers for new-to-intermediate Python programmers) or a place where such books are reviewed by pros. Does anything like that exist?
- PostOnce 12y ago
  Mm. He's adding books to the list he hasn't read, see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8714541 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8714541 Whoring for amazon affiliate money would be fine if he were making recommendations based on knowledge and experience, but this is just plain whoring for change regardless of its impact on readers. A bad programming book can set you back by wasting your time. These books might not be bad, but how would he know, without reading them? 99% of the knowledge on that list can be found on http://greenteapress.com/ http://greenteapress.com/ and the pygame stuff here http://thepythongamebook.com/en:pygame:start http://thepythongamebook.com/en:pygame:start no affiliate links on either.
jdnier 12y ago
What a huge list! There are many new titles coming in 2015.
publicfig 12y ago
Thanks for this! Would be nice to use multiple filters (such as "Free" and "Web Apps")
Alex3917 12y ago
This is great. I notice a ton of these came out within the last year. I wonder if the advent of so many colleges switching to Python for CS 101 is driving a surge of new titles.
finid 12y ago
Spent about 15 minutes on that site and found five, free books that I could use. Thank you.
cranklin 12y ago
It would be cool to have a filter for PDF downloadable books
AdmiralAsshat 12y ago
Aspiring programmer here. So, I've completed the following from that page and on the web: - Google's Python course (https://developers.google.com/edu/python/ https://developers.google.com/edu/python/) - Learn Python the Hard Way (http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book) - ThinK Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist (http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/thinkpython.pdf http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/thinkpython.pdf) Also working on the O'Reilly Python book. Three books later, I still don't really feel like an "expert" with Python. I mean, I know the syntax well enough, I know basic programming idioms, I just need something of intermediate complexity to work on, somewhere between "Learn Python From Scratch!" and the Python Standard Library. Coming from a C background, I don't need to be told what most of these concepts are, I just need to know how Python does them. I also made the mistake of trying to learn several languages (e.g. Java, Javascript, and Python) simultaneously, and by poor choice or poor availability of free materials, nearly all of them ended up being along the lines of these "Learn X Language with no programming background!" The end result being if I have to hear someone tell me again what an "if" statement and a "for loop" are, my head is going to explode. To reiterate, where does one look for an Intermediate level Python book?
- detaro 12y ago
  Could you go a little bit more into detail what exactly you are looking for? As in, what don't you know right now that you expect to learn from the book?
- commandar 12y ago
  What do you want to do with Python? My personal experience is that "learn language X" is more difficult and less productive than "learn to do Y with language X." Figure out what you want to accomplish with the language and worry about the rest along the way.
- mknits 12y ago
  Try to solve a real world problem using python. I'll give you more details/answers once I'm at my home.
- nikhilalmeida 12y ago
jorgeborges 12y ago
Thanks for sharing. Adding sorting in an ascending/descending manner would be useful as well.

123 points by AlSweigart 12y ago

There is a brilliant new book (albeit somewhat advanced) that I don't see in this list: Introduction to Python for Econometrics, Statistics and Data Analysis (2014) by Kevin Sheppard. PDF available for free here: https://www.kevinsheppard.com/images/0/09/Python_introduction.pdf https://www.kevinsheppard.com/images/0/09/Python_introductio...

AlSweigart 12y ago
I'll add it to the page. Thanks!
grandconj 12y ago
As an economics major, thanks!

wodenokoto 12y ago

Wouldn't a curated list be much better? We can all type "python programming" on amazon and get a pretty similar list of books. It is not interesting. What is interesting is to know which book to read.

wyclif 12y ago
Agreed. So many times I've wished there was either a high-quality, curated list (by pro Python programmers for new-to-intermediate Python programmers) or a place where such books are reviewed by pros. Does anything like that exist?
PostOnce 12y ago
Mm. He's adding books to the list he hasn't read, see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8714541 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8714541 Whoring for amazon affiliate money would be fine if he were making recommendations based on knowledge and experience, but this is just plain whoring for change regardless of its impact on readers. A bad programming book can set you back by wasting your time. These books might not be bad, but how would he know, without reading them? 99% of the knowledge on that list can be found on http://greenteapress.com/ http://greenteapress.com/ and the pygame stuff here http://thepythongamebook.com/en:pygame:start http://thepythongamebook.com/en:pygame:start no affiliate links on either.

jdnier 12y ago

What a huge list! There are many new titles coming in 2015.

publicfig 12y ago

Thanks for this! Would be nice to use multiple filters (such as "Free" and "Web Apps")

Alex3917 12y ago

This is great. I notice a ton of these came out within the last year. I wonder if the advent of so many colleges switching to Python for CS 101 is driving a surge of new titles.

finid 12y ago

Spent about 15 minutes on that site and found five, free books that I could use. Thank you.

cranklin 12y ago

It would be cool to have a filter for PDF downloadable books

AdmiralAsshat 12y ago

Aspiring programmer here. So, I've completed the following from that page and on the web: - Google's Python course (https://developers.google.com/edu/python/ https://developers.google.com/edu/python/) - Learn Python the Hard Way (http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book) - ThinK Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist (http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/thinkpython.pdf http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/thinkpython.pdf) Also working on the O'Reilly Python book. Three books later, I still don't really feel like an "expert" with Python. I mean, I know the syntax well enough, I know basic programming idioms, I just need something of intermediate complexity to work on, somewhere between "Learn Python From Scratch!" and the Python Standard Library. Coming from a C background, I don't need to be told what most of these concepts are, I just need to know how Python does them. I also made the mistake of trying to learn several languages (e.g. Java, Javascript, and Python) simultaneously, and by poor choice or poor availability of free materials, nearly all of them ended up being along the lines of these "Learn X Language with no programming background!" The end result being if I have to hear someone tell me again what an "if" statement and a "for loop" are, my head is going to explode. To reiterate, where does one look for an Intermediate level Python book?

detaro 12y ago
Could you go a little bit more into detail what exactly you are looking for? As in, what don't you know right now that you expect to learn from the book?
commandar 12y ago
What do you want to do with Python? My personal experience is that "learn language X" is more difficult and less productive than "learn to do Y with language X." Figure out what you want to accomplish with the language and worry about the rest along the way.
mknits 12y ago
Try to solve a real world problem using python. I'll give you more details/answers once I'm at my home.
nikhilalmeida 12y ago

jorgeborges 12y ago

Thanks for sharing. Adding sorting in an ascending/descending manner would be useful as well.