Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner, 3rd Edition

I was a little hesitant to buy this book since some reviews pointed out that due to a publisher change the sample files were no longer available for download. I grabbed the Kindle sample anyway, though, and found that the author's website (the url of which is in the book) has the files. So while it may be slightly confusing to have the wrong url in the text of the book, the author's website (which is also printed right in the front of the book) does have the files you need. So this criticism of the book is not warranted.Anyway, as for the book itself, I'm about halfway through and have found it very useful. I was taking a beginner's class in Python before buying this book, but since the classes were only once per week I wanted to learn faster. As such, I'm able to compare how this book teaches the concepts of Python programming against how the teachers in my class present the same concepts. And while there's no substitute for personal, interactive instruction, I can say that I'm very impressed by the readability of this book and the way it teaches programming. The code samples are very useful for showing how Python works, and the writing style is very easy to follow. He uses good analogies to illustrate concepts, and in general I've made steady progress through the book and am retaining a lot of knowledge. The searchability of the Kindle version is especially helpful, since it's easy to skip back to previous concepts if you need a quick refresher.Anyway, I just wanted to share my thoughts on this book and let people know that the code samples are indeed available, though the url in the book is sadly incorrect. But again, just check the author's website and you can obtain them, which is highly recommended because they do make the learning much more interactive and hands-on.

I have tried many programming books. I have even taken a programming class or two but it has never really clicked before. There have always been to many jumps from explanation to assumed understanding. I would get lost and things never clicked. Recently I decided to give programming another chance because I believed somewhere in the back of my mind that I should be able to figure this out. I have been a system administrator for years but have never delved into scripting or programming before because I thought maybe I was just never meant to be a programmer. I decided maybe it was just the way I learn. So I decided first to start out with a HeadFirst book. It lost me immediately. The way it was presented in that book definitely didn't click for me. I set back to the task of finding a book and came across this one. This is it. I love the way he goes through the code and then has you run it and then explains what every line of code is doing. This approach has finally made things start making sense. I am even able to figure out the Challenges at the end of the chapter and I am loving it! Thank you Michael Dawson!On another note...I notice that people are having problems finding the files that go with the book. If you take the link recommended it the book and then go to downloads it is rather confusing, but if you go to the link recommended in the book and then do a search for python and then take the link for this book, another screen will come up that will give you an option to view available downloads. Harder than it needs to be admittedly, but that is how I found them.

I am a beginner with respect to programming, and do not have a particularly technical background: I know almost no math though I know formal logic pretty well. I was interested in learning something about computer programming just for fun and have looked through a number of books about a number of languages. I even spent some time with C before I decided on Python. To an absolute beginner, it seemed a relatively intuitive language without some of the messy detail required by C, for example, about memory allocation. I chose this book simply because it looked fun and very clear. Each chapter focuses on tools needed to create games. I do not have any interest at all in playing computer games of any kind, but it is a relatively painless way to learn Python. I also found the exercises at the end of each chapter very good. They are hard enough but not too hard. They generally required a fair amount of time and effort, but I was able to finally figure out all of them. This is important since I am doing this on my own.The Cons: The book aims to be simple and brief, but sometimes it is too simple and brief. Yes I learned to get the computer to do this or that, but I did not fully get some of the concepts. In fact, I think the book moved on to fancy stuff like graphics before I got down all I needed of the basics such as file control. Perhaps someone who already knew something about programming would have had less trouble. For example, the material on writing to a file stored on the hard drive for future use was fine, as far as it went. But I realized, when trying to write a program of my own, that I did not understand a key point. If you have recorded some data to a file, and then want to revise that data, Python rewrites the entire file. Huh? What about my original data? It gets over written. There has to be a solution to this problem, but I did not find it in the book. After hours of work I devised a way to get the right result, but it was very messy and, when I posted a question on a Python forum, I found there was a simple way to do what I wanted. Maybe I am a bit thick, but I think this could have been directly covered in the book. There were several other topics that needed more discussion.Still, keeping in mind that this book only goes so far, it is a very good introduction to Python. But if you are serious about learning Python, at some point, you are going to need one of those big fat and far more boring books.

I got this book, instead I could have bought the other one

Il libro è molto ben strutturato e molto chiaro. Mio figlio di 15 anni lo sta studiando con molto interesse. L'originale approccio, che usa la costruzione di giochi come mezzo per insegnare la programmazione in generale è davvero un'ottima idea, che l'autore ha realizzato in maniera davvero efficace ed esaustiva. Il testo è perfetto per far apprendere i fondamenti della programmazione ai ragazzi. La scelta di Python è ottima, perché Python dispone di un'interprete che consente un riscontro immediato anche a una singola istruzione e tuttavia consente di creare applicazioni che possono essere eseguite dal SO. Inoltre Python è, notoriamente, un linguaggio indipendente dal sistema operativo usato, anche se il libro fa riferimento soprattutto al suo uso in ambiente Windows.

Es ist ein klasse Buch, um Programmieren zu lernen, allerdings auch für Leute, die Spielen etwas abgewinnen können, denn die Beispiele und Challenges basieren darauf. Ich habe vor dem Buch in meinem Leben keine einzige Zeile Code geschrieben, nach dem Durchlesen konnte ich einige Game-Klassiker kopieren und mich in andere Richtungen weiterentwickeln.

This book explains things clearly and works slowly through concepts in progression. I have minimal programming experience from over 10 years ago and I've been slowly but steadily learning python in my spare time. As long as you have the aptitude for programming and the will to keep going, this is the guide you need. However, I've been using the second edition because python 3 is not yet used in my industry (film/VFX).It doesn't matter if you run windows, linux or a mac... once you get up and running the actual programming is the same.

I've had a great deal of programming experience - I started with punch cards and Fortran!! I've also programmed in a plethora of other languages (BASIC, Pascal, various flavours of C and a few languages I can't even remember). My last serious language was Borland Delphi (Object Pascal), which I loved. My licence was for Delphi 7 - a little out of date for my hardware.I needed to update to a language that offered similar possibilities to Delphi - OOP, database applications, web applications, GUIs, simulations. and just general programs that would let me calculate difficult stuff like 2+2. I didn't want to pay a giant licence fee so I looked around to see what was available and Python seemed to be what I wanted.Since I had some programming experience, I actually started with Mark Lutz's book "Programming Python". One of the reviewers of that book had a similar background to me in terms of programming experience. He stated that he had hacked his way through Mark's book (my summary of his words), so I decided to try that. Result...I could have done it, but I too felt that I was having to hack my way through a bit of jungle. So, I decided to take a step back and try a different approach.Don't get me wrong...I strongly suspect Mark's book is a perfect SECOND Python book and I look forward to giving it a great review when I've worked my way through it (notice I didn't say "hacked my way through it").So, I bought Michael's book. And I'm delighted with it. It introduces subjects in a simple manner e.g. constructors and private methods in a program that contains just a few lines of code!!??!! OOP programming is difficult for some people to get their head around (I wonder if it's easier for people with no non-OOP background as opposed to us old hacks who didn't even know what an OOP was until we publicly embarrassed ourselves). But it also gets you into the basement of programming - loops, lists, reading and writing files etc etc. Brill!The writing style is terrific. It's light, humourous (in my part of the world, "humour" comes with a "u" ... or is that AN "u"?) and sometimes a little self-depracating. But it's fun to read...chapters are bite size...the examples are excellent.And Python is a truly great language in which to program (or "to program in" if you're not a grammar Nazi. Its developer has been classified "Benevolent Dictator for Life". What more can you ask?One minor criticism...it would be nice to have an exercise project/thread which started early in the book and developed throughout the book. By that I mean a thread which stands alone from the text. The exercises at the end of each chapter modify the author's code or present fairly simple new projects. It would be nice if readers could develop a program which is not related to the text/exercises but builds succesively chapter by chapter. Of course, programmers with experience can do this for themselves, but it might be handy for newbies.In summary, if you are interested in programming in Python, buy this book. It's a great book.