Getting Started with "The Python Thing"

Where to start

If you have never programmed before

First, bookmark the Python Beginners' Guide.

Then, install Python by following this link. You will want to install Python 2. Most tutorials and examples are written for Python 2 and it will be much easier to seek advice later on.

If you have experience with another programming language

You should read Tarek Ziade's blog post "Eight Tips to Start with Python". It provides a very good overview, but tends to assume a few things about your prior knowledge.

The Beginners' Guide is still a valuable resource, you will easily find the section for current programmers.

Next Steps

Watch a video!

• Google Code University: Python Class

• ShowMeDo Python video tutorials

• A Python love story

Read a book!

For free:

• General introductions:

  • Dive Into Python and its Python 3 successor Dive Into Python 3

  • Byte of Python

  • Learn Python The Hard Way

  • How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python (a university type text book)

  • Thinking in Python

  • Snake Wrangling For Kids (this one's written by a Kiwi too)

• Other/various free online books:

  • Building Skills in Python Version 2.5

  • Python Bibliotheca

  • Data Structures and Algorithms in Python

  • Python for Fun

  • Invent Your Own Computer Games With Python (computer games)

  • The Django Book (web development)

This list is extracted from "List of freely available programming books" on Stack Overflow. That page provides one of the best resources on programming material on the Internet.

For money:

• Programming in Python 3: A Complete Introduction to the Python Language

Do an online course

For free:

• Software Carpentry 4

• Google Code University: Python Class

• Software Carpentry 3

Some more lists

• Python Free Online Ebooks

• 10 Free Python Programming Books

• Free Programming Books - Python

Where to Ask for Help

• Consider signing up to the Python Tutor mailing list. Its subscribers are either experienced programmers that have decided to join a mailing list just to help new programmers or are new programmers looking for help from those more experienced.

• http://stackoverflow.com is probably the best site in the world to ask for assistance with programming questions.

• If you have an IRC client, #python in irc.freenode.net is best if you need direct support. There are usually several hundred programmers willing to provide assistance.

Finding examples

• Python source code is great a way to see great programming

• The Python Cookbook from Active State is full of useful examples.

• Why not Python? from the Linux Journal

Developing your skills

• The Python Challenge

• Project Euler

• Understanding Descriptors

How to write Python code in a pythonic style

Python programming has its own style and the Python community has its own culture. For example, most Python programmes have 4 spaces in indentation. Other languages do things differently. These cultural norms, are were fairly well codified in a talk by David Gooder, a long-standing member of the Python community called "Code Like a Pythonista: Idiomatic Python".

• Style Guides

  • PEP 8 the foundation for most Python programmes

  • Voidspace.org's Python Style Guide

  • Google's Python Style Guide

• Becoming Pythonic

  • Why 4 spaces is good as demonstrated by Guido van Rossum

  • Python idioms: how to write efficient code efficiently

  • Code Like a Pythonista: Idiomatic Python

Python and Mathematics

• NumPy, a full speed, native mathematical libraries with efficient matrix functionality

  • NumPy manual

  • Guide to NumPy by Travis Oliphant

  • Quickstart Guide

  • Tentative NumPy Tutorial

• SciPy (pronounced "Sigh Pie"), is open-source software for mathematics, science, and engineering. It is a collection of mathematical algorithms and convenience functions built on the NumPy extension for Python

• MatPlotLib the graph plotter for Python

• Mayavi2, the scientific data visualization and 3D plotting tool in Python

• Statistical Computing with Python