New to Python/Programming

[Mark]

Hello. I am new to programming and Python and was wondering if someone
could help get me started. I picked Python to start learning to prgram
because of some things I have read about it (easy to learn, object
oriented, clear syntax, etc...). Can anyone assist in getting me
started with learning to program and Python? Recommended reading
material? Online tutorials? Recommended development tools (wxpython,
pythonwin, etc...)? I am a network admin by trade and have done little
programming except for the occasional script or router config. this is
something that has always interested me, but don't have the time to take
any formal classes. Thanks for the help.

 

[Larry Bates]

Lots of online documentation and tutorials here:

http://www.python.org/doc/2.3.4/

If you are working on Windows, "Python Programming
on Win32" is a great book that has "Windows specific"
information.

Monitoring this list and watching for "newbie"
questions is also beneficial as many will help
with examples.

I found Python Bible by Brueck and Tanner to be
another excellent book (I purchased both books
at Books a Million).

HTH,
Larry Bates
Syscon, Inc.

 

[Neuruss]

I was in the same situation a few months ago. I wanted to learn
programming with a solid foundation of programming principles (OOP,
etc) but with a language that could allow me to do it without
unnecessary complications. Obviously, the choice was Python, so I can
tell you what worked for me:

1) Starting from zero:
I recommend Josh Cogliati's "Non-Programmers Tutorial For Python".
It's a very easy to follow online tutorial that will teach you the
basics, with exercises and all you need to get started.
Although it is aimed to begginners, with the lessons learned you will
have a very good knowledge of python basics and programming in
general.
Find it here: honors.montana.edu/~jjc/easytut/easytut/
I recommend taking the time to do the exercises and play a little bit
after each lesson. They are very easy and simple, but take them
seriously.

2) After getting comfortable, you will want to get into the object
oriented side of programming. It's not hard, but it takes a mental
shift to begin thinking in objects. I learn best by example, and the
best one I found is Alan Gauld's online tutorial (there's a book also,
but the online version was just what I needed to "see the light"). You
can find it here: http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld/
If you swallowed Josh Cogliati's tutorial, you wont find nothing new
here for the basics, but there's a very good example of a banking
application that will help you understand the object oriented
paradigm.
I think this is a very good example for teaching OOP and it shows you
in a few lines all you need to know: classes, innheritance, etc..

After that, any other tutorial or book would be easy to follow.
I recomend these books:

- Lerning Python by Alan Lutz .This is the favorite of many people.
It's very good but not nessesary the best, at least not for me.
- Core Python programming by Wesley Chun. Another very good one.
- Python Bible (don't remember the author..)
- Python Visual Quickstart guide.

Take this advice:
Work with the online tutorials listed above. Take your time and follow
them at your own pace, and use also the official python tutorial which
comes with the IDLE (see the HELP menu).
There's no need to buy books, because I sincerelly think that all you
need is available online, but getting a book or two wont harm you...

Once you reach the comfortability level, you can go to a bookstore and
see briefly which style suits you best. All the books listed above are
very good
(and sorry for my english).

Good luck and enjoy...
Python is fun!

Luis

 

[John]

Hello. I am new to programming and Python and was wondering if someone
could help get me started. I picked Python to start learning to prgram
because of some things I have read about it (easy to learn, object
oriented, clear syntax, etc...). Can anyone assist in getting me
started with learning to program and Python? Recommended reading
material? Online tutorials? Recommended development tools (wxpython,
pythonwin, etc...)? I am a network admin by trade and have done little
programming except for the occasional script or router config. this is
something that has always interested me, but don't have the time to take
any formal classes. Thanks for the help.

I really haven't read any books. All I used was online tutorials.
Python probably the best teach your self documentation online compared
to any languages I know.

A LOT of good online docs included in ActivePython. PythonWin is a
very good IDE.

Lots of links here
http://www.python.org/doc/Intros.html
I listed some below that I am familiar with. I see that the number has
grown since I last checked. So decide by yourself.

Begin with
Non-Programmers Tutorial For Python (ActivePython)
How to Think Like a Computer Scientist
(http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/thinkCSpy/)
"Instant Python" (http://www.hetland.org/python/instant-python.php)
looks like a good start

Intermediate
Python Tutorial (included in all Python distributions)

Advanced
Dive Into Python (ActivePython)

 

[Brian Zimmerman]

I'm new to all this too. I recommend Michael Dawson's "Python
Programming For The Absolute Beginner" (Premier Press, 452 pages).

It's really fun as it walks you through Python basics by having you
make little games. By the time you are done with the book you will
have made an Asteroids like game with sounds, music, and animation. I
think it was written with kids in mind, not that it's simple, just
somehow really clear.

THE BAD: The book's CD has only MS Windows versions of the software
used. Most of the book's examples are cross platform (if you do your
own downloads and installs), except for things that use Livewires. The
author says that he made changes to the standard Livewires library, so
you might get frustrated towards the end if you use Linux or Mac. I
hope that gets fixed because other than that, I think this is just
about the perfect intro book for younger programmers.

Not to knock Alan Gauld's "Learn to Program Using Python"
(Addison-Wesley, 270 pages). It's also a great beginner's book. I
enjoyed reading that too.

Alan's book gets straight to the point, and feels more "Intro to
Computer Science" minded. It explains some theory and terminology,
then shows how that works in Python, and a bit about other languages.
Dawson's book is more like we're gonna make a game, here's what we do
to build it.