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Closed 10 years ago.
I have taken it upon myself to learn python. As it is my second language is has not been that hard to get the hang of. I am looking for some simple python projects to undertake so I can better learn the syntax of the language in general. I would specifically like to learn the syntax of arrays, lists, and dictionaries.
Edit:
I cant say that one of your answers are right or wrong but between all of you i have alot of material! Thanks everyone :D
ps I particularly liked Google's Python Class
Google's Python class has a bunch of projects you can work on.
The Python Challenge has been by far the coolest exploratory stuff I've done with Python.
Take your time working through the problems - it's worth it.
Python Koans is a good interactive tutorial that covers basic syntax and advanced concepts.
A usual response to such things is Project Euler. Not necessarily special to python, but all those problems are solveable with python, and by working on them, you especially learn a lot of things that make Python special.
You can try pyschools.com
There are many small exercises categorized into different topics. Quite a fun way to learn how to program.
Steve Lott's Building Skills In Python is great. He's prominent on this site, too.
I would highly recommend the following e-book for learning Python. It covers several different programming paradigms and is a very good introduction to Python in general.
www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/thinkCSpy.pdf
If you are already familiar with programming in general then Dive into Python is an unbeatable resource for getting the foundation of the language fast.
I have read both of the above and found them to be very helpful.
Also something similar to Project Euler is Rosalind
http://rosalind.info/problems/list-view/
Most of the problems are solved by writing programs that perform opetarions on strings, which makes it a goot tool to learn about lists and dictionaries. And you also learn something about bioinformatics which doesn't really help you much in your programming career but is really cool =D
Sorry to state the obvious, but why not read a good book or two, like:
Learning Python: Powerful Object-Oriented Programming
If you like more of a learn as you go approach, there's always the venerable:
Python Cookbook
Also in line with the Project Euler answer already provided, I'd recommend looking into some Code Kata. I generally go through these as part of learning any new language, and here's a link to several good ones:
http://codingdojo.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?KataCatalogue
Also a Stack Overflow question discussing Kata:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44533/your-favorite-code-kata
Python challenge is cool. And I see another good http://projecteuler.net
Related
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Closed 10 years ago.
I am very interested in learning web programming.. I want to use something from python but not sure if I want to use web2py or django.. Django seems difficult to set up for a beginner such as myself.. But I do not want to throw it out just yet.. Soo what are some expert opinions on web programming frameworks? Also, if django really isn't as hard as it seems, could someone please explain how I would set it up. Thanks in advance!!
I'm a beginner also. I started in about 8 months ago knowing no computer science, programming, powershell, or even html/css, and now I just about have a full django website ready, minus some minor issues because I need video and video is still above my head and hard to find info/learn about. Anyway, if you don't already know html/css, I used codecademy.com to learn that and some javascript, then learnpythonthehardway.org to learn python, followed by djangobook.com for django. All are great resources. They even point you in the direction of other things you need along the way. It won't be easy, but there are great learning resources available, and since I myself began learning, codecademy has also added python. I quit my job to focus on programming full time so that I can learn it while chasing a dream, so I know from personal experience that it can be done with the free resources available online. I still don't know A LOT and it will take time for things to start clicking, but if you want to learn it just start. I know you asked for expert opinions, and trust me I'm no expert, but from my experience django wasn't too bad. Yeah, you will find yourself banging your head against the wall from time to time, but communities like stackoverflow can also help you figure out answers to your questions. I don't however have any experience with web2py so I can't speak about that. Good luck!
OK, let me suggest you give a try for both frameworks, test Django, then test web2py. take which you like more. All good frameworks.
For web2py I suggest: http://killer-web-development.com/
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Closed 11 years ago.
I already bought a good book on Python 2.5. Should I return it and get a book on 3.1 instead? that I know this question has already been asked, but I wanted a more up-to-date answer.
Linky: Python2orPython3
Synopsis:
Python 2.5 is old but the general consensus is Python 3 if you don't have any dependencies or a large code base already in production, if this is the case then writing more future ready code might be a better option. On the other hand bigger projects have already started the long process of porting their code.
When you learn python really you should learn 2 and 3 and then just remember the differences between them. Its not like a different language all together and you could probably get most of the differences on a cheat sheet.
You probably should learn Python 3, unless you're planning to work on a significant 2.x codebase anytime soon.
2.x and 3.x aren't actually all that different. It's quite possible to use a common subset for most things. EG, I just wrote a 4000 line deduplicating backup system that runs on 2.x and 3.x.
They are similar enough that it makes sense to learn either 2.7 or 3.2, then learn the differences if they are important to you.
There's a guide on the Python site: http://wiki.python.org/moin/Python2orPython3
For the time being 2.x and 3.x will live side by side. So you should learn "both". BUT actualy they are so similar, that you will learn the differences as you tag along. Keep your book, you won't learn something wrong, which you would have to relearn later.
Actualy it may be better, NOT to start with 3.x, becuase you may come along some legacy code which you might have problems understanding, because they use "deprecated" constructs to accomplish something.
On the other hand if you come accross some new constructs, you will begin to compare it, with how you would do it in python 2.x and you might find it easier to remember how something is done generaly in python, because you gain experience and understanding through overthinking the underlying concepts and reasonings why something changed.
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Closed 11 years ago.
I am still kind of new to programming and after playing around with a lot of languages trying to find which one worked best for me I stumbled across python and have been doing really well with it.
The only problem/concern I have is that I do not mainly want to do web development. I want to create desktop apps with nice GUis as well. Unlike most other programming languages that I have dabbled in python doesn't seem to have one definitive ide for this sort of thing which kind of sucks imo, especially since it's such a cool language.
I've searched and found quite a few IDEs that include GUI designers with code editing as well but I can't decide which one to use. Of those I am interested in the following
BlackAdder - http://www.thekompany.com/products/blackadder/
Pythoncard - http://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/
Boa Constructor - http://boa-constructor.sourceforge.net/
SPE - http://pythonide.blogspot.com/
Dabo (is it even an ide?) - http://dabodev.com/
Eric IDE - http://eric-ide.python-projects.org/index.html
Xrope - http://xrope.sourceforge.net/
I am not looking for opinions on which one is the "best" or anyone's favorite. I want to know which one is the most widely used and which one I would be able to find the most documentation on and get the most user support from whether it be via forums, here, community, etc..
P.S. If anyone cares to post any links to some documentation/tutorials with their answer it would be greatly appreciated.
P.P.S. Does anyone know if there are any plans for a larger company maybe thinking of creating a full fledged ide comparable to Delphi, Visual Studio for python in the foreseeable future? Would make things a lot easier IMO.
Thanks..
You can use Visual Studio to build IronPython GUI applications as well: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb165375(v=vs.80).aspx
EDIT: You can now use pytools (http://pytools.codeplex.com/) to develop non-IronPython apps in VisualStudio.
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Closed 10 years ago.
Does anyone know where I can find a quality online Python course that would be suitable for someone with a math/engineering background, but not in software?
One Source would be even Better It is Intro to CS101 "Building a Search Engine"
here you can learn Python and Develop a web crawler with the google's page rank algorithm capabilities.
This course from MIT Open course ware - A gentle introduction to programming using Python
This one has video lectures too - Introduction to Computer Science and Programming
Though they are good introductions to programming, reading a good book/tutorial must be enough to get you up to speed in Python.
I strongly recommend just using the python tutorial, it's one of the more documented programming languages in terms of it's tutorial out there. The best way to learn to program is to start writing a program that you want, and the tutorial will help you do so.
Try Google's online Python class too.
I have just started learning Python too and I have found the e-book Think Python very useful.
Learn Python The Hard Way is specifically made for non-programmers.
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Closed 10 years ago.
I'm not sure what it is about me but I seem to learn and retain information better through a classroom setting where what's being shown is explained clearly and easy to understand examples are presented. I rarely do my own reading or research, but I do occasionally stumble upon some neat things. Maybe I'm just used to the classroom setting from all the years of the education process or it could just be the lazy man in me.
In any case, if anyone could recommend some video tutorial sites, particularly for beginners, that would be great.
I am particularly interested in the following...
Web 2.0 (AJAX, XML, DHTML, Javascript, CSS, etc)
Python
Of course, if anyone knows some sort of wide-range, general site for tutorials of all kinds to help programmers out there, that would be great too.
Thank you.
PS - For the purposes of my software development needs I've decided to give Eclipse a try as it seems to be one of the most widely used IDEs in the industry.
MIT has a great Intro to Computer Science course using Python.
MIT 6.00 Introduction to Computer Science and Programming
For Django (Python MVC framework) try here
For CSS try here
For jQuery try here
For DHTML try here
My advice don't go for eclipse if oyu are beginner use a texteditor. Eclispes features can be overwhelming for beginners.
ajaxprojects, learning python through videos, python link on showmedo, a video tutorial site where you can find many other topics being covered as well.
http://pycon.blip.tv/
ShowMeDo(Python) has plenty of screenscasts for the whole gamut of experience levels.