Reddit reviews Learning Python, 5th Edition

Sure, like most people, I started with Python. I didn't start on codeacademy though, I started on program arcade games.

By the way, I should mention that at the time, I was a night manager at a Hostel so I got LOADS of free time to myself, and then when I got home I had even more free time so there was lots of time to practice.
In the first 3-4 months I learnt the basics of functions and classes and how to use them. After that time had passed, I dug deeper and bought Learning Python and read that a lot. I learnt pretty quickly about the cool things about Python like list comprehensions, anonymous functions (Lambdas), operator overloading, all that stuff. By the way, that book is not a beginner's book, it's a book on pretty much everything about Python

I kept programming in my spare time, I made a lot of crappy things and gradually my code got cleaner and easier to maintain. I made things that interested me, like a MIDI parser, a reddit bot that converts images to ascii Python C#, a bruteforce directory scanner and some other stuff. As you can see, I was pretty busy. This is what's important. By all means, do Project Euler and participate in Daily Programmer but don't expect it to nail you a job. That stuff is useful, but a lot of those are just algorithms, not programs that will impress the person interviewing you (who might not be technical in the first place).

Eventually I just sort of 'got' Python, and decided to learn other languages that interested me. For some reason, that was C. Choosing to learn C was a really good choice but at the time I found it too difficult so I gravitated towards slightly newer languages like C#.

When I started to think my programs had some sort of quality to them I applied for jobs. I looked at job listings and if I saw a requirement that I didn't have i.e. (Version Control) then I'd learn it.
The caveat with learning Python at the time, was that it left me pretty useless (bare in mind I live in Wales in the UK, not uber-progressive,technology wise). The majority of the listings wanted PHP, or VB.NET (yes you read right)

Eventually I got my lucky break with a duo of awful businessmen, they didn't know what they wanted and I didn't know how to deliver, but I tried and I learnt a butt-load as I tried to make their product. Their product was an entire website (frontend, backend and DB) that was to start off small and grow internationally, and they wanted it in 10 weeks... Needless to say, they didn't keep me on (surprise surprise) but with that experience I managed to nail a decent job with other developers using a similar set of skills. By the way that job with businessmen was in VB.NET, not an awful language but why not C#?

The new job is good, I create backends for websites, create frontends from photoshop files that are handled by our designer and I also create plugins for an in-house CMS (Think Joomla and similar stuff). This current position is in PHP, it has it's quirks - naming standards vary wildly, the $, foreach loop is backwards in syntax, -> instead of ., and a bunch of other stuff, but it's easy to use.

As it stands currently, I'm working on trying out different architectural patterns. The good thing about the position I'm in is that it's lots of small projects so I can do something new with each new project. Maybe I'll try a different design pattern, maybe I'll go MVP over MVC, I'm pretty much free to learn and do as I want since there is no codebase (well there is a codebase, but I can still try out new methods) for a module that doesn't exist.

TL;DR

• First 3-4 Months learnt basics (functions, classes, loops)
  
• 5 Months onwards - Read 'Learning Python' and made programs
  
• 6 months onwards - Tried out new languages
  
• 8 Months on - basic SQL queries and commandline stuff
  
• 12 months on - Applied for jobs, a lot.
  
• 16 months on - Got first job with bad businessmen
  
  
• 19 months on - Got second full time permanent position and it's fun
  
  
  Hopefully I answered what you wanted
  
  

La scelta del linguaggio di programmazione dipende molto dal contesto e dalla applicazione specifica. R é ottimo per l'analisi statistica, ma appunto si adatta solo a quello.

Per iniziare, mantenendo una forte connessione con quello che desideri studiare, ti suggerisco python.

Leggi "Python Data Science Handbook: Essential Tools for Working with Data" e "Learning Python"

• https://www.amazon.com/Python-Data-Science-Handbook-Essential/dp/1491912057
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-5th-Mark-Lutz/dp/1449355730/Installa python 3.7 tramite Anaconda, ed usa Spyder come editor ( già incluso nella distribuzione ) . In alternativa PyCharm è ottimo ma richiede delle conoscenze più approfondite per l'installazione e la configurazione dell'ambiente e la creazione di ambienti virtuali.
  
• https://www.anaconda.com/distribution/
  
• https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/
  
  Impara a manipolare e filtrare dati con Pandas, Numpy, Scipy,
  
  
• https://pandas.pydata.org
  
• https://www.numpy.org
  
• https://www.scipy.org/
  
  Impara a mostrare dati preacquisiti con matplotlib, seaborn, bokeh,
  
  
• https://matplotlib.org/
  
• https://seaborn.pydata.org/index.html
  
• https://bokeh.pydata.org/en/latest/
  
  o dataset che possono evolvere rapidamente con pyqtgraph
  
  
• http://www.pyqtgraph.org
  
  Mi stavo quasi dimenticando, per analisi statistiche uso Statsmodels
  
  
• http://www.statsmodels.org/stable/index.html
  
  Quanto tempo serve? Non lo so. Io imparo linguaggi e librerie nuove ogni giorno perchè ogni mese disegno qualcosa di nuovo, diverso, migliorato.
  
  
  Edit: aggiungo un commento finale. Arrivati ad un certo livello di affinità con la programmazione, il linguaggio di programmazione scelto non importa quanto la disponibilità di librerie affidabili, ben documentate, e ben mantenute. Dal mio punto di vista avere buone librerie è essenziale perché creare ex novo una libreria ha un costo {temporale, di skills, di focus, etc..} che spesso preferisco allocare diversamente.

Python crash course is excellent and the 3 books I would recommend for anyone just starting with python would be:


Python Crash Course (I like this book but I think it can be skipped)

How to Think Like a Computer Scientist

Problem Solving with Algorithms and Data Structures using Python

If you are more into theory I would choose:
Learning Python, 5th Edition

Here is my list if you need to become a good programmer with Python as your language of choice.

Follow this order for rigorous course on learning Python thoroughly.

• Learn fundamentals of programming - How to Think Like a Computer Scientist.
  
• Learn Data structures and algorithms - Data Structures and Algorithms in Python.
  
• Learn Object oriented analysis and design - Python 3 Object Oriented Programming.
  
• Dive deep into internals of Python - Learning Python 5ed.
  
• Mastering Object oriented programming - Mastering Object-oriented Python.
  
• Learning design patterns - Mastering Python Design Patterns.
  
  By the end, you will be famished but you will have a very solid base to understand and design code for complex systems. To get more hands on experience, start with any popular open source project and delve into the source code. Don't start with the master branch of the codebase, start the version 1 tag of the codebase and progress through the next version tags and check for changelog and move on.
  
  E.g mitsuhiko/flask
  
  Finally you will have a solid understanding of Python as well as how objects communicate behaviors.

Looking at your posting history you really need to pick up a book or two. Very unfocused learning going on here.

OpenShift is probably the most unusual way of deploying or learning how to deploy Django. This is confounding your learning troubles. Omit OpenShift.

If you already know Python, skip this one, but at least think about it: Learning Python. Then.

Pick up Two Scoops of Django. Learn it, read it. All. Local. Do not use a "real" database, use SQLite. Do not think about deploying at all.

Once you're comfortable with Django. Experiment with understanding what a database actually is, how it works and how to administer it, how to configure it. How to configure it with Django. Use something other than MySQL, which invariably means Postgres.

Once this is done and I mean done. Only then is it time to think about how to get deploying Django. Use a VPS, do not use a magical "we'll do it all for you" thing. It's just clouding too much for you to clearly understand what's going on. It's hindering learning. Omit things which cloud understanding.

I think /u/swingking8 was spot on when s/he said to find a project that captures your interest. You'll be using the language and not just following a tutorial.

But, once you have a feel for the syntax, I can't recommend strongly enough that you look up presentations and writing by Raymond Hettinger and David Beazley.

If you learn best by reading before doing, Mark Lutz's Learning Python seems intimidating because of its size. But it's so big because it is both comprehensive and accessible for beginners. So depending on what you already know, you can skip large parts. But if you really understand everything in that book, you are well on your way to being an intermediate level Python dev.

O Steve Yegge fala uma coisa que é o seguinte, você não pode dizer que sabe uma linguagem de verdade até conseguir escrever um compilador dela.

Por isso, se você quer viver de uma linguagem, é melhor encarar logo um camalhaço de mil e quinhentas páginas que ensina tudo de cima até embaixo do que tentar ficar aprendendo gambiarra ( e no caso de python tem muitas ).

Try Learning Python by Mark Lutz. It provides a comprehensive, in-depth introduction to the core Python language (Support Python 2 and 3). It's a hefty read, 1648 pages, only to discuss the about the core of Python.

Or his Python Pocket Reference might suits you better.

This. I swear the best non-course instructed way is using this great e-book.

http://learnpythonthehardway.org/

Otherwise if that is what you are using already, then I recommend Learning Python 5th edition from the O'Reilly series of technical books.

http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-Edition-Mark-Lutz/dp/1449355730

In the interim, I suggest the following books:

• Digital Design and Computer Architecture, by Harris & Harris - covers the circuitry & hardware logic used in computers. Should also cover how data is handled on a hardware level - memory's a bit rusty on this one, and I can't find my copy of it right now. Recommend that you read this one first.
  
  
• Computer Organization and Design, by Patterson & Hennessy - covers the conversion of system code into assembly language, which itself turns into machine language (in other words, covers the conversion of programs from operating system code into hardware, "bare metal" code). Knowledge of digital circuitry is not required before reading, but strongly recommended.
  
  
• Operating System Concepts, by Silberschatz, Galvin & Gagne - covers all the basic Operating System concepts that each OS today has to consider and implement. While there are Linux-based ones, there are so many different Linux "flavors" that, IMO, a book that covers a specific Linux base (called a Linux kernel) exclusively would be incomplete and fail to address all the key aspects you'll find in modern OSes. Knowledge of coding is required for this one, and therefore should be read last.
  
   
  
  As for the coding books, I suggest you pick one up on Python or Java - I'm personally biased towards Python over Java, since I think Python's syntax and code style looks nicer, whereas Java makes you say pretty much everything you're doing. Both programming languages have been out for a long time and see widespread usage, so there's plenty of resources out there for you to get started with. Personally, I'd suggest going with this book for Java and this book for Python, but if you go to Coursera or Codecademy, you might be able to get better, more interactive learning experiences with coding.
  
  Or you can just skip reading all of the books I recommended in favor of MIT's OpenCourseWare. Your choice.

Sure!

1. Learning Python, 5th Edition Fifth Edition. This book is huge and it's a fairly exhaustive look at Python and its standard library. I don't normally recommend people start here, but given your background, go a head.
   
2. Fluent Python: Clear, Concise, and Effective Programming 1st Edition. This is your next step up. This will introduce you to a lot of Python coding idioms and "soft expectations" that other coders will have of you when you contribute to projects with more than one person contributing code. Don't skip it.
   
3. Data Structures and Algorithms in Python. I recommend everybody get familiar with common algorithms and their use in Python. If you ever wonder what guys with CS degrees (usually) have that self-taught programmers (often) don't: it's knowledge of algorithms and how to use them. You don't need a CS degree (or, frankly any degree) to prosper in your efforts, but this knowledge will help you be a better programmer.
   
   Also, two other recommendations: either drill or build pet projects out of personal curiosity. Try to write code as often as you can. I block out time three times a week to write code for small pet projects. Coding drills aren't really my thing, but they help a lot of other people.

You don't have to know anything about programming going in, as aixelsdi mentions. If you want to get ahead, here's some information which may help you do so. The rest is up to your own initiative. It can never hurt to know more about CS or more languages, as long as you don't waste time complaining about what's better in [insert language of choice].

I wouldn't recommend learning data structures and algorithm analysis before coming to UCI. Not because they aren't fundamental, they are. But because most people find it harder to learn those abstractions before learning the tools that utilize them (Python, C++, etc), which is why ICS 46 and CS 161 aren't the first classes taught. If you like math proofs more than math problems then maybe go that route, it could be helpful as iLoveCalculus314 mentions.

Languages: The CS introductory series (31-32-33) which you'll be taking first year is taught in Python. It switched to this because it's a good first language as a teaching tool. Right after you're done with Python, 45C will teach you C++ and 46 will use C++. The lower division systems core (51-53) generally use C or C++ but it differs by professor. Knowledge of Python will be useful in making your first year easier. Knowledge of the other two will make your next three years easier because they're common mediums for upper division courses. But you should be able to pick up a new language for a specific problem domain by the time you reach upper division.

Courses: If you want to get a head start on planning your courses, check the UCI Catalogue - Computer Science page. At the bottom it lists a sample of what your schedule over the 4 years might look like. That page is for the "Computer Science" major, for other majors in ICS see here.

Course Resources: You can actually view the Schedule of Classes without being a UCI student. Select a term (like Fall 2014) and a department (like I&C SCI) and it will list what classes were offered that term. Most lower div will be I&C SCI, most upper div will be COMPSCI. From the results you can go to the websites for those courses to see a syllabus, books used, etc. For example, here are the current websites for the introductory series ( ICS 31, ICS 32, ICS 33 ).

Your course professors and books and assignments will NOT be identical to those, but looking at what's currently taught will give you a pretty good idea of what the course entails so you can pre-learn anything that sounds difficult.

Books: If you have to pick one book to learn before coming to UCI, I would highly recommend C++ Primer, 5th Edition. It's very well structured as a self-teaching tool AND as a reference manual. You won't come away with any Python knowledge, but picking up Python as someone versed in C++ is easier than the other way around, and you'll find 45C much easier as well since you can focus on language quirks rather than fundamentals.

If you choose to learn Python first, Introduction to Computing Using Python: An Application Development Focus is the book currently suggested for ICS 31/32, and Learning Python (5th Edition) is suggested for ICS 33.

Another solid circlejerk book in the CS community is Code Complete, but I wouldn't recommend reading that until later on since it's more of a "best practices" book.

> I'm just afraid to fail that too or be too overwhelmed.

You said you learned math on your own via Khan Academy and you're afraid to fail. Clearly you need a refresher about what Khan Academy is all about. :)

I think you need to become more structured in your studies and really sit down to complete something from start to finish rather than knowing a little bit about a lot of things. I'd suggest picking up a book like Learning Python and setting a schedule each week where you'll sit down and read the book. Once you complete that book cover to cover, you can move onto a book like Programming Python.

​

I absolutely think college is a great option for you. If you're scared, start off by getting 2 year degree then move onto a 4 year degree. What a disservice to the world it would be for such a curious mind to be wasted working in a construction store.

​

Always remember bud, life is a marathon not a sprint.

​

"Automate the Boring Stuff" and other books the same author are free online - http://inventwithpython.com/


There are other free books for beginners

• Dive into Python 3
  
• A Byte of Python
  
• Learn Python The Hard Way
  
  
  See more links on /r/python (in right column)
  
  ---
  EDIT:
  
  Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner is for absolute beginners. Every chapter describes one element and you write one program or game.
  
  Learn Python - a lot of information - 1600 pages.

The feedback about "jargon for development" can be solved by going through some books cover to cover, making sure you understand the theory, and implementing the exercises. I understand that feedback to mean that the person who gave the feedback believes there is too high a chance you will inflict damage on the codebase by making decisions not grounded in solid theory.

Examples of titles that are classics and widely known:
Algorithms (4th Edition): https://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-4th-Robert-Sedgewick/dp/032157351X (there is an accompanying coursera course).

Code Complete: https://www.amazon.com/Code-Complete-Practical-Handbook-Construction/dp/0735619670/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469249272&sr=1-1&keywords=code+complete

Clean Code: https://www.amazon.com/Clean-Code-Handbook-Software-Craftsmanship/dp/0132350882/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469249283&sr=1-1&keywords=clean+code

Functional Programming in Scala: https://www.amazon.com/Functional-Programming-Scala-Paul-Chiusano/dp/1617290653/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469249345&sr=1-2&keywords=scala

Learning Python: https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-5th-Mark-Lutz/dp/1449355730/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469249357&sr=1-1&keywords=learning+python

Effective Java: https://www.amazon.com/Effective-Java-2nd-Joshua-Bloch/dp/0321356683/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469249369&sr=1-5&keywords=java

Haskell Programming From First Principles: http://haskellbook.com/

I included multiple languages as well as language-agnostic ones. Functional programming is the near-to-medium term future of software engineering, and most languages converging towards that as they add functional features.

I don't think bootcamp is required. Learning how to learn is the most important thing. If you get into these books, lose track of time, and feel "aha! that's how these things that I previously thought were unrelated are actually the same thing!", and are able to keep it up for weeks, then that is a good sign that you can get to where you want to be.

"Dive into Python 3" (http://www.amazon.com/Dive-Into-Python-Mark-Pilgrim/dp/1430224150/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411398040&sr=1-2&keywords=dive+into+python) and Learning Python (I have the fourth edition, but this is the last one: http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-5th-Mark-Lutz/dp/1449355730/ref=sr_1_1_ha?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411398055&sr=1-1&keywords=learning+python)

haha oh no I literally had just watched it. Though I wish :(

for reference here are the other syncs I remember:

• Magicians EP (4/13 and 4/4)
  
• Persefone (prog rock band) (4/12)
  
• Rats in my ceiling (too long - not soon enough)
  
• Doing misc stuff today/night when
  
  There was a 3rd persephone sync but I have not slept so my memory module is a bit floppy

I guess it depends where you're starting from. If you have limited experience in programming, then I suggest CodeAcademy >> Lynda >> Fiverr. This is the method I use for interns where I don't actually know what they're starting off with.

If you have a little more experience, I suggest the Lynda course & then Learning Python, 5th Edition. This is the method I used for myself.

http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-Edition-Mark-Lutz/dp/1449355730
Learning python by Mark Lutz is another exceptional book for python beginners would absolutely recommend it.

To get you acquainted with some of the basics, I recommend starting out with Codecademy's Python course.

Then perhaps move on to auditing this Intro to Computer Science 6.00 from MIT. It's completely free, has all the lectures as video, assignments and quizzes as PDFs.

Check out this playlist from a separate MIT course for the Recitations. Since this is also a 6.00 class the recitations are still relevant for you, and I recommend going over them as well once you've covered the appropriate material. (Or you could simply take that class)

Both codecademy and that class use Python 2.x, which is a bit different from today's 3.x, but honestly not so different that you can't learn from them (it seems basically the same to me except for a few expressions).

If you like books, I picked this one up after some research. Learning Python by Mat Lutz 5th ed. Pretty big textbook, about 1600 pages, but it's pretty clearly written and has a lot of exercises. It's also only $40 bucks so that's a plus.

A lot of people also recommend "Learn Python the Hard Way", but I haven't been using it.

Here are some books to get started (they are available online for free)

​

https://www.amazon.com/Head-First-SQL-Brain-Learners/dp/0596526849/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=head+first+sql&qid=1563487682&s=gateway&sr=8-1

​

https://www.amazon.com/Automate-Boring-Stuff-Python-Programming/dp/1593275994/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1P184JBOKVQAL&keywords=automate+the+boring+stuff+with+python&qid=1563487721&s=gateway&sprefix=automate+the+%2Caps%2C132&sr=8-2

​

These books will put you in a position to create some interest in the subjects and then you can read the standard textbooks to go deeper and gain mastery

for sql Advanced

​

https://www.amazon.com/SQL-Cookbook-Solutions-Techniques-Developers/dp/0596009763/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3GKVQHG48HTXT&keywords=sql+cookbook&qid=1563487850&s=gateway&sprefix=sql+cook%2Caps%2C134&sr=8-3

​

https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-5th-Mark-Lutz/dp/1449355730/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Learning+python&qid=1563487873&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Just for the exercises, I'd recommend Mark Lutz's Learning Python. Normally, I wouldn't recommend it, but since you ask for exercises, that's the only Python book I've read that's got exercises.

"Learning Python" is designed for experienced programmers getting into Python. http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-Edition-Mark-Lutz/dp/1449355730

https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-5th-Mark-Lutz/dp/1449355730

o'reilly books are pretty good, but a bit pricy (imo worth it)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1449355730?keywords=o%27reilly%20learning%20python&qid=1449793873&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

I found Learning Python to be very good but I couldn't say whether it's the best.

> where do I start?

What's your learning style?

• Do you prefer e-learning exercises with short feedback loop?
  
• http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/python
  
  
• Do you prefer following along with a textbook?
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-Edition-Mark-Lutz/dp/1449355730
  
  
• Do you prefer to learn in a more traditional course environment with lectures, readings and assignments?
  
• https://www.coursera.org/course/pythonlearn
  
  
• Have you seen the learning resources in the sidebar?
  
• https://www.reddit.com/r/learnpython/wiki/index
  
  > Is the RPi Python the same as PC Python?
  
  The Pi runs a version of Debian Linux by default, I think. So you'll have access to full-blown python 2 and 3.
  
  > I want to make robots, should I use Python 2 or 3? Or Python at all?
  
  You can make robots with any language that can talk to a microcontroller. Python has existing libraries which can help with that. You'll have to do your own research into this, because I don't know much more than that.

I'm current using learn python 5th edition and i have to say its been really good covers 2.7 and 3.3, its slightly behind the most current update but a really good book in general.

Also the book teaches you about ides you can choose from and such to help you make the best choice for you.

Hello! /u/RageBill has already provided a great response, but I still wanted to add a couple of my own thoughts.

1. If you are brand new to programming I would encourage Python as your first programming language to learn as it is relatively simple to pick up and has a lot of online resources.
   
2. Programming requires a base level of intelligence that I personally think most people have. I think it mostly requires learning to think like a computer.
   
3. There is an open source MIT course that I would recommend. There are more recent ones, but the basic principles of programming don't change.
   
4. There are a lot of books, I think that two books that may be helpful for getting started would be this one and this one
   
5. If you know English I think you'll be fine.
   
6. Python, Java, Golang
   
7. Python first, then Java I think :)
   
   I would also suggest seeing if your highschool or university offers any computer science courses, and if so, sign up for the beginner class!
   
   Best of luck!
   
   Edit: most people will go back and forth all day on which language you should learn first, which are the most useful, etc. If you’re just starting out it can be easy to become overwhelmed with decision paralysis. If you’re just starting out you’ll want to pick a language based on how easy it is to pick up, and the level of support the community at large provides the language (how easy is it to find answers to problems on google?).
   
   Especially if you’re brand new, the goal is to learn the basics and fundamentals and not necessarily wrestle with more advanced or “obscure” technicalities or concepts.
   
   For these reasons (among others), the vast majority of entry level university computer science courses stick with python. If you google search the top ten most popular programming languages python is almost always on that list, along with Java.
   
   I would recommend starting with python while you learn the basics and fundamentals of programming and computer science.
   
   Of course these are just my thoughts and opinions and plenty of people will disagree. The point of what I’m trying to say is: don’t spend too much time debating which programming language to learn first, just pick one! You can always learn more later!

I picked a random low-priced popular CS textbook, $40 print and $30 ebook, so a $10 savings, but if you factor in the sell-back value it's a net price of $22 for the print. So 8 bucks more for the ebook in the end, but a better value if you keep books.

It doesn't matter how old you are or whether you can afford classes or not, you can learn to program. There are tons of resources online for learning a programming language. If you're wanting a book you could buy the book from amazon or something or you could download an ebook from somewhere for free (hint hint)

Here's a few good books for different languages:

Learning Python - Python

Beginning Java - Java

C++ Primer - C++

If you don't like reading books then a lot of people like thenewboston although I've watched a few of his videos and he teaches some bad coding habits.

If you need any more help, feel free to PM me here on Reddit or email me @ [email protected]

btw, I'm 16 ;)

http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-5th-Mark-Lutz/dp/1449355730/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452119088&sr=8-1&keywords=learning+python+mark+lutz

I found this book to be a great resource. I think it pairs well with Zandbergen.

Learning Python by Mark Lutz.

There are few reasons that fact that mentioned book is published in Poland is quite important to me:
a) I'm Polish so polish is my native language and my English could be better
b) polish issues of popular books about Python are translated very slowly, for example: we don't have polish translation of this famous book yet (older editions were published here)
c) books are quite expensive here, I'm not one hundred percent sure if my interest in Python is worth the investment
d) original editions of books about programming are very expensive here
e) I have read good opinions about this book

I'm a psychology major, I learned to code by doing literally every tutorial on the first page of google 'python beginner tutorial', used Codecademy's intro courses, and repeating a lot of tutorials a few times, because it took a while to sink in.

I've made a few games since (and am now working on this strategy game) shameless plug!), so I think anyone can learn to code if you just keep throwing yourself at it over and over again.

I also read https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-5th-Mark-Lutz/dp/1449355730/, even if it was harder to follow along with a paperback instead.

I think the tl;dr though is that it won't be easy and it'll be frustrating a lot of the time, but the highs you get are crazy satisfying.

Buy a proper book:

Learning Python - O'Reilly

Programming trial-by-fire with a book to support you is way better than copying someone else's work from a video, or even worse, just watching the video and believing that you actually understood and retained it.

If you're doing it for work they should buy you that book and if you skim through it you should be pretty decent after a few days.

I did this in 15 minute chunks on my breaks. I used /r/inventwithpython a free web book to get started.

I used http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-Edition-Mark-Lutz/dp/1449355730 to get a primer on all the hard core stuff.

and then I just started browsing /r/learnpython , /r/python , the python.org docs and practicing my own stuff.

and all of it 15 minutes at a time.

This is a great resource for the community - thank you for it!

I'm curious as to where the list of books comes from, and how they get categorized. Is that done manually?

In particular, I didn't see Lutz' "Learning Python" on the site, but it is listed in the GitHub issues. That's one I could definitely provide a review of!

3 approaches:

1. Whenever you need a function, try to search online and see how other pythonist use for what you intended to do. This way you can quickly accumulate a list of commonly use function in your task/daily job, but usually its lands on a function and a few lines of code, and hence you wont have a good understanding of the overall picture of the libary
   
2. Skim through https://docs.python.org/3.6/library/ and see what seems to be useful to you. Be expected more searching needed after locating a function you need. This way you will have a more comprehensive idea what python offers, but reading without an aim is always a pain, be expected you will read a lot of unused functions.
   
3. Read some beginner-mid level Python books. I have read though learning python by Mark Lutz, https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-5th-Mark-Lutz/dp/1449355730 which is a good intro to a lot of libraries, but also a very time-consuming piece. For the time you spent you will gain a better overall understanding of Python and common libraries as well as detailed examples and codes.

If you were serious about wanting some deep as-you-go knowledge of software development but from a Pythonic point of view, you cannot go wrong with following a setup such as this:

• learning python by mark lutz
  
• programming python by mark lutz
  
• fluent python by luciano ramalho
  
  Mark Lutz writes books about how and why Python does what it does. He goes into amazing detail about the nuts and bolts all while teaching you how to leverage all of this. It is not light reading and most of the complaints you will find about his books are valid if what you are after is not an intimate understanding of the language.
  
  Fluent Python is just a great read and will teach you some wonderful things. It is also a great follow-up once you have finally made it through Lutz's attempt at out-doing Ayn Rand :P
  
  My recommendation is to find some mini projecting sites that focus on what you are reading about in the books above.
  
  
• coding bat is a great place to work out the basics and play with small problems that increase in difficulty
  
• code eval is setup in challenges starting with the classic fizzbuzz.
  
• codewars single problems to solve that start basic and increase in difficulty. there is a fun community here and you have to pass a simple series of questions to sign up (knowledge baseline)
  
• new coder walkthroughs on building some fun stuff that has a very gentle and friendly learning curve. some real-world projects are tackled.
  
  Of course this does not answer your question about generic books. But you are in /r/Python and I figured I would offer up a very rough but very rewarding learning approach if Python is something you enjoy working with.
  
  Here are three more worth adding to your ever-increasing library :)
  
  
• the pragmatic programmer
  
• design patterns
  
• clean code
  
  

If you want a serious book recommendation: Learning Python 5th Edition by Mark Lutz. It's a monster at 1600 pages but to say it's thorough is an understatement. I got the ebook so I can quickly search through it on my phone. Even though I wouldn't consider myself a beginner anymore, I find between this book and the Python Cookbook I find answers to most of my problems (unless they're related to a library).

You can also read Learn Python the Hard Way (my introduction to Python 2). Which is free but not anywhere near the scale of Learning Python. As a warning, there's some coarse language used in it.

If you don't know any Python -- and this will probably stir the pot a little -- learn Python 3. BUT learn how to make it Python 2 compatible. Sure, you'll give up things like advanced tuple unpacking and yield from (to name two off the top of my head) and you'll probably have to use six but when the day comes that you can fully move your library to just Python 3, you'll be thankful.

If you feel comfortable enough with Python to begin approaching a web framework, I would personally recommend Flask. I'm sure quite a few people would disagree and they probably make valid points. But Flask is easy to start with:

from flask import Flask

app = Flask(name)

@app.route('/')
def index():
return "Hello World"

if name == 'main':
app.run()

Miguel Grinberg (you'll see him float around /r/Flask and some of the other Python subs occasionally) has both a great blog series and a great book on building Flask projects. It's not the end all be all of Flask knowledge and honestly, I'd like see more written on working with bigger projects, but given Flask is only 4 years old I'm not surprised.

For Django, I've heard lots of good things about Two Scoops of Django but I've not read it (though, I need to at some point).

I'm unsure about other frameworks like Pyramid or TurboGears or WebPy.

You'll also want to have working knowledge of HTML (not hard), CSS and Javascript (much harder). And getting chummy with libraries like Bootstrap and JQuery/Angular/whatever is probably a good idea, too.

There's also specific concepts you'll want to be familiar with depending on where and what you work on: things like REST, JSON, Ajax, CSRF, etc.

I don't know any beginning X86 Assembly books but this is the closest thing I could find and strongly recommend you read this online or purchase it:

Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers

Python:
Python for Informatics

Learning Python

I personally used these books in college

C/C++:
Please see SADISTICBLUE's comment above.

Really, that's not even something I would consider all that important to know off-hand. I actually had to go to the REPL and the docs to verify how the int function behaved with alpha-numeric strings. This is the sort of thing that people might pick up with experience, but I wouldn't say it's such a commonly used feature of the language that not knowing it reflects poorly on your abilities.

If you don't know something like this, you can just say that and use the question to demonstrate your reasoning skills and your general knowledge of the language. E.g. "I don't know how that would work off hand. But I know that python is a strongly typed language, so it doesn't do implicit casting. But where this would be an explicit casting, maybe it interprets the string as a number if a high enough radix is specified. Or maybe it behaves like ord and returns the ASCII value of the character. If I was in the python REPL, I would type help(int) to see how it works, or I would go to python.org and look at the docs."

Actually, having mentioned that last part, it strikes me that it sounds like they might have actually been talking about ord, not int.

Anyway, if, on the other hand, they're only looking for the technically correct answer to questions about obscure, unimportant, or easily googleable aspects of the language, then they're probably not very good at interviewing, or aren't all that knowledgeable themselves. I don't know if there's much you can do about that, unless you're willing to pursue an encyclopedic knowledge of the language. While it's good to be more familiar with a language, I don't think it's generally worth anyone's time to try to memorize every single aspect of it. Who cares if you don't know the exact signature for the range function, or the exact string formatting syntax to left-align text and specify a 79 character width, or whatever? That's what the docs are for.

Having said all that, the int casting question sounds like it was kind of stupid, and if you're conveying it correctly, it sounds like maybe they don't even know what they're talking about there. The dictionary question, though, doesn't sound like a trick question at all. First-class functions, and the 'everything is an object' philosophy are pretty core features of python. If that's new to you, maybe bone-up with Dive Into Python, or Think Python, or Learning Python, or similar.

Good luck!

Dive Into Python 3 is always good, and one can just find the highest rated Python book on Amazon (right now it's Learning Python, 5th Edition

Books. Beginning Python and Learning Python

Yes, I'm halfway into
https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-5th-Mark-Lutz/dp/1449355730?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

I didn't have to upgrade to win10 , win 7 update was enough

Python is a good place to start because it leaves some training wheels on while taking a lot of the more important ones off. It's also widely used. I've found this book helpful:

http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-Edition-Mark-Lutz/dp/1449355730

Many programming text books have an accompanying web site where errata and answers to exercises can be found. I haven't read this book so I don't know if that's the case. The rating and reviews would certainly make me consider buying it , even at that price.

Probably the best book I have read on python. Okay, still reading.

CompTIA content is too much theory imho and having to renew them every 3 years now seems less appealing to me.

I'd say you head for the CCNA directly. While studying CCNA, you can use the Network+ study materials for any theoretical aspects you don't understand. N+ covers these better than most CCNA study materials.

Security+ is very nice but again, renewing every 3 years is not appealing. However, it does teach you a lot about security processes and a bit of law, compliance and standards.

There are other security certifications, some vendor dependent like the CCNA Security or the Juniper ones. If you're using these products, they are worth having otherwise, there are not many vendor-neutral ones as good as Security+. Careful with some of the vendor-specific ones, they tend to be more like adverts for products instead of certifications, basically "my product can do that!"

For Python, you are right. It's an excellent language for writing quick scripts for automating things. I personally liked Learning Python as reference, but if you're a beginner then Dive into Python3 might be appealing. Head First Python is also good but a new edition is due in 2015 I think.

You might have to choose between Python2 and Python3. Yes there are incompatibilities and not all libraries are available for Python3 yet but if you're starting from scratch, start with Python3 directly.