Python Programming Books?

[John Bokma]

Free online resources for learning Python:

To get started, I strongly suggest Josh Cogliati's "Non-Programmers
Tutorial for Python" ( http://honors.montana.edu/~jjc/easytut/easytut/
).
I learned programming with this little tutorial, which is a very good
introduction.

After that, you could check these ones:
"A Byte of Python" by Swaroop CH
"Learning to Program" by Alan Gauld
(http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld/)

The last one is specially good to grasp the basics of object oriented
programming. It has a very good example of a banking application that
was a real eye opener to me.

How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python
<http://greenteapress.com/thinkpython/>

Haven't read it myself yet though.

Thanks for the links, have added them to my local wiki :-D.

 

[BartlebyScrivener]

"Learning to Program" by Alan Gauld
The best by far, for a n00b, in my opinion.

 

[3KWA]

http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/

How to think like a computer scientist is a great first read I think.

 

[John Salerno]

Of the books that are out there, Learning Python and Dive Into Python
are best for the hobbyist as opposed to classroom setting, but my sense
is that both of them go a bit too fast for the typical beginner with no
formal training.

I agree that Dive Into Python moves too fast, but it's not really for
beginners anyway. It doesn't really teach the basics, it assumes you
know some Python already.

But I disagree about Learning Python. I think it's laid out and paced
perfectly. You start with data types and move slowly on from there. You
don't even learn about the actual syntax of Python until well into the book!