5 Python Books for Beginners

Another blog post about books!

1. Learn Python the hard way.

  

 Learn Code the Hard Way is offered as free PDFs. You can learn Python, Ruby, C, SQL or Regex ‘the hard way’. These books are written by Zed Shaw and will give you more insight in how to get started. Learn Python the Hard Way is written for beginners how know nothing about programming and it will teach you the basics of programming. You will learn how to use the terminal and the text editor. And most important: Read the examples. Type the code precisely (no copying and pasting!). Fix your mistakes. Watch the program run and learn from it. This book is really about learning by doing.

2. Learning Python, 5th Edition 

This book offers you a comprehensive learning tool for Python. It covers almost everything you need to know about programming in Python: Types & Operations, Statemens and Syntax, Functions and Generators, Modules and Packages and much more. I really like the first chapter, it’s a Q&A session about Python and why people use Python. If you’re a beginner, this can help you a lot. A nice feature of this book is that every chapter ends with a quiz, so you need to challenge yourself all the time.

3. Think Python. How to Think Like a Computer Scientist 

This is a great book if you’re new to programming or coming from another language. Each chapter ends with debugging tips, a glossary and some exercises to keep you going. This really is an hands-on guide that will teach you Python one step at the time.

4. Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional. 

This book gives you a great overview and covers the Python fundamentals in-depth. A really like that the first part of the book guides you through a series of tasks including working with files, databases, web programming and testing. The last ten chapters consist of ten programming projects: ‘one must program in order to learn to program’. The projects include: automated text markup, remote text editor, file sharing with XML-RPC, a ‘do-it-yourself’ arcade game and much more.

5. Python Pocket Reference (Pocket Reference (O’Reilly))

If you’re travelling a lot, this book is right for you! A convenient pocket guide worth keeping close at hand. This reference covers both Python 3.4 and 2.7. It’s accurate, easy to understand and very well-written. If you’re on your way and aren’t able to go trough Python’s documentation online, this pocket-book comes in quite handy. 

 Of course there are many more Python books, so if you have suggestions about which books are really worth mentioning, please let me know!