Python for beginners: One of the best books to start with Python
The following is a review of the book Python from the Very Beginning: With 100 exercises and answers: One of the best texts to start with Python for beginners by John Whitington (Twitter here).
Review
Python is the 3rd most used programming language in the world (with over 8M developers all over the world), and the first one in the realm of Machine Learning thanks to its ease of use, syntax, versatility and community [1] [2].
Packages like Numpy, Scipy, Pandas, or Sklearn make it incredibly easy to start building python projects for beginners, however, with so many books and courses out there, it is not always evident how to start learning this amazing language.
In Python from the very beginning John Whitington takes a no-prerequisites approach to teaching complete beginners about this great, general-purpose programming language. We think it is a great text for starting from scratch, as the chapters are small, self-contained, and very well written.
They tackle the fundamental concepts you need to know to start creating your own little applications, and to make people with no previous programming experience understand and adopt the mentality needed to write excellent code.
The book is very practical and it contains many exercises and questions with answers, and hints, tips and tricks that will help you get up and running in no time. At the end, it gets you coding through 4 different projects that will already get you to start making your little Python portfolio.
Python from the Very Beginning will appeal both to new programmers, and to experienced programmers eager to explore a new language. It is suitable both for formal use within an undergraduate or graduate curriculum, and for the interested amateur.
We think this book is best for Python beginners, but it is true that some insights can be extracted too for more experienced users. Awesome, now that we’ve seen a little bit what the book contains and who it is for, lets check out its contents.
Contents
As we mentioned above, the book covers how to get started with Python, setting up your Python start IDE, and then the main and fundamental data types of the language. The chapters are the following:
- Getting Ready
- Starting Off
- Names and Functions
- Again and Again
- Making Lists
- More with Lists and Strings
- Prettier Printing
- Arranging Things
- When Things Go Wrong
- More with Files
- The Other Numbers
- The Standard Library
- Building Bigger Programs
- Project 1: Pretty Pictures
- Project 2: Counting Calories
- Project 3: Noughts and Crosses
- Project 4: Photo Finish
- Answers to Questions
- Hints for Questions
As you can see, at the end it has the projects we mentioned earlier, and the answers to the questions and exercises that end each chapter. We highly recommend doing these excersises, and also coding along as you read each chapter, in order to try different modifications and curiosities with the code.
Summary and how to start with Python
We think this book serves as a great introduction and programming guide to Python for those with no previous knowledge. It will take you by the hand on the first steps of your programming journey in a practical and friendly manner, covering all the fundamental building blocks of the Python programming language and setting your mind to the coding mentality.
It will get you started so that later on you can go onto more complex or specific Python texts, and you will really feel like you are making progress as you advance through the chapters. Overall, a great book that we highly recommend for newcomers to the programming world.
Find it on Amazon at the best price here:
- Whitington, John (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 238 Pages - 10/03/2020 (Publication Date) - Coherent Press (Publisher)
Once you finish this book to start with Python, if you want to keep learning and complementing your knowledge, check out these other resources:
- Think Python: How to Think like a computer scientist.
- Architecture Patterns in Python.
- A great list of Python programming online courses.
- Awesome tutorials to start with Python.
We hope you enjoyed the review, thanks for reading How to Learn Machine learning and have a fantastic day!
Tags: Python for beginners, How to start with Python, Quick starts with Python, Python project for begginers.