Learn Python the Hard Way: A Very Simple Introduction to the Terrifyingly Beautiful World of Computers and Code Author: Zed A. Shaw | Language: English | ISBN:
0321884914 | Format: EPUB
Learn Python the Hard Way: A Very Simple Introduction to the Terrifyingly Beautiful World of Computers and Code Description
You Will Learn Python!
Zed Shaw has perfected the world's best system for learning Python. Follow it and you will succeed-just like the hundreds of thousands of beginners Zed has taught to date! You bring the discipline, commitment, and persistence; the author supplies everything else.
In Learn Python the Hard Way, Third Edition, you'll learn Python by working through 52 brilliantly crafted exercises. Read them. Type their code precisely. (No copying and pasting!) Fix your mistakes. Watch the programs run. As you do, you'll learn how software works; what good programs look like; how to read, write, and think about code; and how to find and fix your mistakes using tricks professional programmers use. Most importantly, you'll learn the following, which you need to start writing excellent Python software of your own:
Installing a complete Python environment
Organizing and writing code
Basic mathematics
Variables
Strings and text
Interacting with users
Working with files
Looping and logic
Data structures using lists and dictionaries
Program design
Object-oriented programming
Inheritance and composition
Modules, classes, and objects
Python packaging
Debugging
Automated testing
Basic game development
Basic web development
It'll be hard at first. But soon, you'll just get it-and that will feel great!
This tutorial will reward you for every minute you put into it. Soon, you'll know one of the world's most powerful, popular programming languages. You'll be a Python programmer.
Watch Zed, too! The accompanying DVD contains 5+ hours of passionate, powerful teaching: a complete Python video course!
- Series: Zed Shaw's Hard Way Series
- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 3 edition (October 11, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0321884914
- ISBN-13: 978-0321884916
- Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.7 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
I have been teaching programming for more than a dozen years and I can't decide if I love or hate this book. The fundamental approach, "type this code and see what happens" is right on the money but all too often the code is followed by the advice to "look up the details on the web." The author does not direct the reader to specific sites (like this book's website -- which contains all the content). Rather, you are sent adrift and told to find your way. As everyone knows the quality of advice across the web is hit or miss and some programming symbols are hard to find. For example in the section called "symbol review" the author suggest looking up operators like ==, {, @, ] or escape sequences like \\ or \a or string formats like %%. I agree that the exercise of trying to find these things is useful but I paid for the book and I want to have the answer key. Similarly, in the section titled "learning to speak object oriented", he introduces randint() but does not say how it works. It is easy to do a web search for it but one of the top five results on Google is just wrong and others require you to know the difference between [0, 10] and (0, 10). The repeated calls to make flashcards makes sense but not if he fails to provide the information that belongs on the cards. While the lack of detailed tables for key features is horrid, the information provided is superb and there are very few typos. Sadly the typos are fixed on the book's website but there is no errata to allow you to correct the hard copy (which will make you nuts when you get to page 133 and there are [ ] where { } belong).
I have known of LearnPythonTheHardWay.com for some time, but never spent much time on the site. I have even blindly referred friends to the site, based solely on the notion that I have heard it was a pretty good resource for learning Python. I’m glad I finally sat down to check out a hardcopy of Learn Python the Hard Way (3rd Edition), which comes with a DVD containing over 5 hours of video instruction, though I didn’t bother check it out.
One of the first things to notice is the tag line on the cover, “A Very Simple Introduction to the Terrifyingly Beautiful World of Computers and Code.” Programming can be a very rewarding hobby and/or career, a creative outlet, and horribly frustrating at times — especially to those just starting their journey. In his book, Zed Shaw uses a technique called instruction. It seeks to teach the reader to learn programming, by actually doing things in Python. Some of these things may be quite difficult for a novice, or seem trivial to someone more advanced. I suspect there is some bit of learning for everyone, no matter where you lie in the spectrum. The presentation is matter-of-fact but not cavalier. Learning is the clear goal, but may not come without some frustration along the way.
The curriculum progresses quickly from fundamentals of using computers efficiently (like a programmer does, e.g. preferring the keyboard to cycle between open application windows) to building a web-based game. I found the chapter on packaging to be especially useful because the state of Python packaging is a bit turbulent right now. The migration from Python 2 to Python 3 is also pain-point in the community. The book is Python 2-based.
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