(Part 2) Top products from r/learnpython

> Python with Github? Of course I can google plenty of guides, but the fact that I read many of them and still don't use it, shows me that I don't think the guides were good or sufficient (or I just suck at google). To me (for now) it feels like a big hassle with the commits, etc. for a very small profit (despite the sharing with other people). Is there a good and concise resource that you'd recommend?

Is it really GitHub you need help wrapping your head around, or is it git itself that causes the problem?

>101 of bad habits/beginner mistakes link/resource? I've seen plenty of links now that say "don't import *!" or similar stuff. But never a real compilation. Can also be about habits of programming or little shortcuts or tricks and tips, not only common mistakes people new to Python make. I know I'm asking for a lot but it might help and turn out to be very useful.

Well, there's the Zen of Python, which you can see for yourself at the REPL using import this. But for more concrete advice... if I found a compilation like that, I don't know that I'd trust it. A lot of these things are subjective. And anyway, if you're expecting to be able to read through something like that and magically get rid of bad habits, I can tell you it just doesn't work that way. You need to practice, and you also need to focus on the positives rather than negatives. Get used to the techniques by which code is improved. If you like physical books for this sort of thing (I don't), the best I can recommend is this one - you might be able to find online versions, but as far as legality goes, you're on your own to figure that out.

Mark Summerfield's book Rapid GUI Programming with Python and Qt

It's kinda old, but it will certainly give you a strong foundation.

Just curious, why did you find "Qt is the way to go"? Qt is a lot prettier but it has a much steeper learning curve. For someone with ZERO knowledge of GUI programming I would recommend to start with Tkinter.

I wouldn't worry. Some may pick up programming quite quickly and others (myself included) may take years to get their heads around things. I also had a bit of un-learning to do (80's kid with head full of BASIC). As it is, I still have quite a bit to learn (and unlearn) but I've been able to produce some useful Python scripts with very little effort that aid me in my job. I've found that getting two or three books and jumping back and forth between them has helped me understand Python a bit better as one author may explain certain concepts better than another. Here's the three I've been working with:

Learning Python

Beginning Python

Rapid GUI Programming with Python and Qt

I was watching Derek Banas Python tutorials and he recommended some books he consider are useful, and amongst them was this book. Being beginner my self I give it a go and it really is a good one.
I mean, dude is a pro, and he finds it great, so why not to try.

And you can check his tutorials as well on links below.




you tube




personal site




Good luck, and don't give up!

I have two books which I think are excellent, and both do what you describe.

One is Rapid GUI programming with Python and Qt which teaches you GUI programming through examples. It's a really good book, the only thing it lacks is that it's not Python3.

The other one is Python programming for the absolute beginner which lets you create games, one at a time, to teach you Python programming by example. This book also has a continuation called More Python programming for the absolute beginner which continues where the first one left off. I don't have the second book, but they both seem to be rather good and well liked by their readers. Like the Qt book I mentioned, these two are also Python2, which is a bit boring but they will at least get you started.

WHY DO YOU ASK MAINTAINS THE PROPER ATTITUDE OF A DECENT THING?

:)

> From experience, one book is barely enough to get your feet wet

Ha! Definitely. I keep getting ideas for other books I should write.

I'd recommend the following as good general books to read. They're all good no matter what type of programming you do:

• Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software
  
• Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction, Second Edition
  
• The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master
  
• The Mythical Man-Month
  
• In the Beginning...was the Command Line
  
• Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World
  
• User Interface Design for Programmers
  
• Don't Make Me Think
  
  That should keep you busy. :)
  
  EDIT: Oh, also, you can read my other two Python books. One is on graphical games with Pygame and the other is on classical ciphers and how to crack them. http://inventwithpython.com

One thing that's awesome about Python is the language itself helps solve a ton of the gang of four's design patterns. That said, I really appreciated reading Head First Design Patterns because it helped me understand what I already did intuitively better https://www.amazon.com/Head-First-Design-Patterns-Brain-Friendly/dp/0596007124/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540609515&sr=8-1&keywords=head+first+design+patterns&dpID=61ZG-hATOeL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch.

CLRS is the classic for learning about different algorithms and concepts (e.g. sorting, graphs, data structures, etc. etc.). I didn't really like books when I was learning, but hacking my way through the K&R C book wasn't too painful

At university we learnt C, Java (and he marked us down if we used an IDE...), and then we had freedom to pick up whatever. So I would say having a look at C or C++ couldn't hurt and will definitely teach you fundamentals better than Python. But bear in mind there are some concepts in lower-level languages that you can (for the most part) ignore in Python, e.g. Garbage Collection, memory allocation, pointers.

After you finish that and are comfortable in python check out Python Data Science Handbook. I am not a data analyst, I am a PhD student doing research in fields that generate/require a lot of data.

The handbook goes over pythons numpy package and then gets into pandas. Pandas should be the tool you want to learn. Under the hood it uses numpy a lot so don’t skip the first half. Numpy implements a lot of matrix operations in FORTRAN/C if you use it properly (avoid loops when possible) it is incredibly efficient on large datasets.

While you are learning python I highly reccomend using jupyter lab.

Good luck!

(edit, books are not for beginners and black hat has better reviews)

There are two books, not sure if they are too advanced and I think both are writen for python 2.7 but they are more or less on the subject, one is called 'Gray Hat Python' and another 'Black Hat Python'

https://www.amazon.com/Gray-Hat-Python-Programming-Engineers/dp/1593271921
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Hat-Python-Programming-Pentesters/dp/1593275900/

You could read reviews of these two books to see if this would be a good starting point. Othervise I would search youtube for keywords like 'python network security' and similar...

I'm in a similar boat. I did pick up a couple of books to read on my commute which are super helpful.

Python 3 Object Oriented Programming

Mastering Object-oriented Python

Mastering Object-oriented python is meant as a follow up to the first book.

And in terms of Lambda - 'it should of been called make function'.
Transforming Code into Beautiful, Idiomatic Python - Raymond Hettinger

If you're willing to pay money, I suggest Introduction to Computing Using Python: An Application Development Focus

I used this book during my first Intro to Computer Science class and it was a pretty great book. There's diagrams of certain concepts to help you understand them better and what I love the most about the book is that it has a lot of assignments you can work on to really make sure you understand the material in certain chapters (such as working with dictionaries, HTML parsing, recursion, etc.) I'm can't remember if there's example code to check your answers or not, but there is always more than one way to do something, just as long as you get the right answer.

I get quite a lot from books, reading them, working through problems when I need to. But if I could go back in time and tell myself which books I should read, I'd go with (in order):

• Bare-Basics
  
  
• What you need to afterwards learn stuff on your own - more focus on classes, what an algorithm is and how to start thinking about them, data structures
  
  
• Filling out the missing pieces, including web stuff, databases, microsoft office, computer graphics, cloud computing
  
  
• Some of the more difficult to grasp concepts of Python, but very short; functional programming, closures, decorators, etc.
  
  But there are so many really amazing resources on the web for free, that beyond some of the more basic stuff where you really need someone to explain to you why your code doesn't work and that sort of thing it really shouldn't cost you a lot of money.

The book Clean Code will help with improving your code in general.

Head First Design Patterns is great! But in Java. The patterns still apply to Python though.

Here are patterns in Python https://github.com/faif/python-patterns

I am half way through Problem Solving with Algorithms and Data Structures. It is an extremely well written book. It explains the fundamental data structures (queues, stacks, deques, trees, graphs, maps, linked lists, and more) and algorithms (breadth first search, recursion, traversing trees, search/sorting, hashing, caching, priority, and more) in great detail.

I'm half way through it and honestly I had no clue what on earth data structures and algorithms was, now I am way more knowledgeable. I solved every single problem in the textbook so far and each problem is presented in such a way that it utilizes material from previous chapters and encourages synergizing different concepts.

I really enjoyed Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python. This is what helped me take the next step I was struggling to make with other material. This book actually supplements the lecture series for this class at MIT. They have an online version of this on EDX, but I liked the lecture series from MIT OCW better.

The book Clean Code was recommended to me by my manager when I asked about writing more efficient code. The author goes through best conventions of naming/organizing/etc for keeping your code base super clean and legible. Other people also recommended the Pragmatic Programmer, but I haven't had time to get to it.

If you haven't purchased the book yet, you might want to check out the Amazon reviews, which are somewhat mixed.

A supporter says "the perfect companion to MIT's course on edX" and many others echo that sentiment.

However, one detractor says "it repeats the content of the class, but adds very little."

I'm still on the fence. As a beginner, I think the book would probably do me some good. But would I use it? And wouldn't it be too heavy for transport? (Maybe I'd need one of these.)

This book is a great reference for Python an for computing in general. It's worth the money for sure.

What you might want to do is pick up a book on design patterns. I am not aware of an good ones specifically aimed, at python though.

Learning the mechanics of doing OOP in python really isn't that hard. Learning how design your objects is the tricky bit. A book on design patterns basically is just a cookbook of things that work. It is about giving you practical examples of when you would use OOP.

Here are a couple books I have on the subject, and have found useful. Reading about design patterns was basically what let me actually understand the point of OOP.

• http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-Design-Patterns-Freeman/dp/0596007124/
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Design-Patterns-Elements-Reusable-Object-Oriented/dp/0201633612
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Design-Patterns-Dummies-Steve-Holzner/dp/0471798541/
  

I haven't read it myself, but it has been recommended to me. https://www.amazon.com/Hands-Machine-Learning-Scikit-Learn-TensorFlow/dp/1491962291

Edit: PM me if you want a free copy(have it in epub, mobi and pdf)
EDIT: I stand corrected, I was thinking of another book that was azw3 format.

Take a look at Python 3 Object-Oriented Programming. A friend recommended it to me and it's been incredibly helpful.

I'd search for an algorithms book that uses Python. This one, perhaps: Python Algorithms: Mastering Basic Algorithms in the Python Language https://www.amazon.com/dp/148420056X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_8HnczbRMZXS0Q

Maybe also a data structures specific text? This one has algorithms and data structures: Problem Solving with Algorithms and Data Structures Using Python SECOND EDITION https://www.amazon.com/dp/1590282574/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_EJnczbP3AAHYW

Maybe this book will give you a sense of the differences in Python and C++: Data Structures and Algorithms Using Python and C++ https://www.amazon.com/dp/1590282337/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_JKnczbWWF9XMS

There is a ton of fundamental knowledge about computing that you just can't get via Python, that Python abstracts away, and/or is very important to understand to write useful code. You'd want to study theory of computation, computing systems, operating systems, programming languages, etc.

But a basic understanding of how to devise, implement, and analyze algorithms is generally a good place to begin your education.

This pdf has some great info on systems administration

This book was a great read. Violent Python

This book goes very deep into exploit development with python in windows environments Gray Hat python

Same author as above, I have not read yet, but it is on my todo list Black Hat python

Heavily C based, but a great explanation of x86 and low level systems Rootkit Arsenal

If you're looking for an intro to programming in Python I would suggest Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python For a general language reference Python Essential Refernce For an introduciton to the included modules The Python Standard Library by example which includes a lot of simple code examples. The book Core Python Application Programming is a great subset of the above books with less over all coverage but greater detail in the example code. And last but not least, for advanced algorithm info Annotated Algorithms in Python

There is a good book, but not easy to ingest if you don't know your way around python much:

https://www.amazon.com/Hands-Machine-Learning-Scikit-Learn-TensorFlow/dp/1491962291

There are also many many walkthroughs on specific things like image recognition. Just search for them.

Even if these things aren't what you want to do - It's good to do them for the experience and knowledge while working up to the project you have in mind. They all have elements which you would need to understand for your own project.

It's all an ongoing thing. Nothing is a waste of time if you're learning and there is no rush right?

A good online resource with wiki/blog style layout:

• Source Making > Refactoring
  
   
  
  Books:
  
  
• Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code
  
  
• Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
  
  
• Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction

Since you already have a decent knowledge of Javascript, this would probably be a good book to start with: Dive Into Python 3.

As for C K&R2. The main issues you are going to have with C are memory management and undefined behavior. Sadly K&R isn't going to teach you much about that, so you will need to look for other resources online dealing with those two things. Also getting help on IRC more than likely will involve a tongue lashing.

My advice for Linux, Git and Vim, just start using them. If you don't have a computer with Linux on it, install it and use it everyday. With your projects use git to keep track of the changes you make. Add a feature? Make a git commit for it. Github has some good learning resources for it and there is also the book Pro Git which goes in depth. For vim start off with vimtutor in the terminal and keep a cheat sheet of shortcuts. After you get semi-comfortable, you may want to read Practical Vim by Drew Neil.

Here is a video I watched the other day about 7-8 mins a student summed up his entire CS undergrad. He basically goes over what to learn once you become proficient in a language like Python to have a deeper understanding. As the other person mentioned he goes after looking at low level architecture and learning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReVeUvwTGdU

He recommends learning C the book he recommends is https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0131103628/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0131103628&linkCode=as2&tag=devoncrawfo05-20&linkId=2848ad31c81353554f1744502c936f34

​

I've been using this book
as an intro to learn some Python and a nice mix of CS concepts and a bit of stats. It's the Python 3 version of the book that grew out of this online MIT course.

I'd say its approachable to both CS and python beginners, but if you're entirely new to coding it may move a little fast. But this is great next step after something like Codecademy's or DataCamp's Python courses.

On the flip side I kind of envy you for your confidence in the underlying math... that shit is melting my brain currently.

Check out https://automatetheboringstuff.com/ great starter book for basic python programming with more of an emphasis on just making a basic program vs the underlying data structures or algorithms. Anyone who says they don't still use these programs or an improved version of one is lying lol


For Machine Learning stuffs: https://www.amazon.com/Hands-Machine-Learning-Scikit-Learn-TensorFlow/dp/1491962291 the current cause of my brain melting.

If you don't like the idea of a textbook:
http://interactivepython.org/runestone/static/pythonds/index.html

http://www.fast.ai/ (this is EXTENSIVE I've been working on it on-off for like a year)

I don't love the Dummies books for technical subjects; O'Reilly books are far superior. Their Python Data Science Handbook by Jake VanderPlas is worth its weight in gold, IMO.

• Python Essential Reference (4th edition): David Beazley
  
  
• Violent Python: A Cookbook for Hackers, Forensic Analysts, Penetration Testers and Security Engineers
  
  
• Grey Hat Python: Python Programming for Hackers and Reverse Engineers
  
  
• Python in a Nutshell, 2nd edition
  
  
• Python 3 Object Oriented Programming
  
  
• Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python, 2nd edition
  
  
• Core Python Applications Programming (3rd edition) (core series)
  
  
• Making Games with Python & PyGame
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

So more about data structures and algorithms ey? Well the main book pretty much every college uses is this one:


Introduction to Algorithms Third Edition by Cormen, Leiseron, Rivest, Stein

This book is basically an encyclopedia of algorithms and data structures.

Desktop applications are just programs. You can make python into an executable using: http://www.py2exe.org/index.cgi/Tutorial

If you mean how operating systems work there are books out there that explain that. But I don't think that's what you mean't haha.

Hope this helps.

I just purchased (and, in the meantime, have been reading the free .PDF of) "Foundations of Python Network Programming" by Brandon Rhodes. So far I'm finding it to be a great text about learning the fundamentals of networking using simple Python scripts. The author does assume a background in Python, but no knowledge of networking is required. Amazon link here.

There's always the Python Pocket Reference book,
its a good book to have handy, it doesn't go into too much details though

I am in a similar position and I have found this book to be helpful.

Python 3 Object-Oriented Programming

Python Data Science Handbook is awesome. Doesn't cover Scikit-Lean, but it covers Pandas (which inherently means Numpy), and some visualization stuff too.

Check out this video.

I also recommend her book.

If you haven't read/heard of it yet, check out Black Hat Python. I'm reading it right now for projects to work on, and it will put you on the right path for Python and cyber security.

Classic Computer Science Problems in Python
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1617295981

Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python: With Application to Understanding Data (The MIT Press) second edition Edition
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262529629

Python for Programmers: with Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Case Studies
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0135224330

Problem Solving with Algorithms and Data Structures Using Python
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590282574

Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science, 3rd Ed.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590282752

I'm currently reading and learning off of, "Python for Kids" (Book). The section of code that is listed above is what I was guiding myself with so I may better grasp on how importing different modules worked.

Refactoring

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Computing-Using-Python-Application/dp/0470618469

This one but our professor doesn't really use the book at all and he just distribute his ppt and let us to self-educate it.

https://www.amazon.com/Python-Kids-Playful-Introduction-Programming/dp/1593274076

https://www.amazon.com/Invent-Your-Computer-Games-Python/dp/1593277954/

What I've done so far I learned in the first few chapters of this. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1491910291/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Hands-Machine-Learning-Scikit-Learn-TensorFlow/dp/1491962291

There's a chapter on that on Automate The Boring Stuff :
https://automatetheboringstuff.com/chapter11/
and you can read the BeautifulSoup docs and learn about urllib.request and requests.
And if this is not enough material :
https://www.amazon.com/Web-Scraping-Python-Collecting-Modern/dp/1491910291/

If you're looking for exercises, just look for textbooks. Since they're textbooks, they always have homework practice problems at the end.
My school uses Introduction to Computing using Python