Python Basics: A Practical Introduction to Python 3

As a beginner in python I have found this book very frustrating overall. The only programming experience I have was with visual basic for applications (mainly ) back in the early 2000s. I taught myself from books and ended up reasonably proficient.In general the book is well written and the explanatory sections are fairly easy to follow. The concepts are explained well, but further usage examples would be useful in places. There are review exercises at the end of each section that are generally useful and help embed what was covered in the previous section. I found that typing out the examples in the section helped me to complete these exercises. However be prepared for a lot of typos as you learn!!There is quite an emphasis on the Real Python website, where there are further free resources, a downloadable zip file of the answers to exercises and challenges, as well as a quiz for each chapter. These resources are useful and varied. There is a lot of content on the site, however some of this needs to be purchased.Issues:There are Challenges at the end of chapters and these, as well as some of the exercises, have been a big problem for me as a beginner. The issues started from around chapter 8 onwards. I have found many of them impossible to finish despite sending some time on them, usually around 2 hrs each. The issue generally is that the solution to the problem depends on some usage of a python structure that has not been taught. While these principles may be obvious and well known to experienced programmers a novice has little chance of working it out. This is very frustrating, especially since it happens frequently after the early chapters.As mentioned above, example code can be downloaded with the solution to the challenge and these examples tend to be understandable and well documented. However constantly being set up for failure is dispiriting. I shall be mainly ignoring these going forward, you may have more luck with them than me.The other main gripe is that there is no index. Really.Some of the language used is a bit irritating such as the repeated use of "Let's dive in!", but I can live with that.Overall, this seems to be a reasonable introduction to Python for the beginner, but I am pretty sure it is not the easiest.Loss of one star for poorly graded ChallengesLoss of one star for no index

Like the style very much: informal, amusing, but getting the point across very clearly. Great to have answers to the exercises online, particularly since - the first time I've seen this - offering alternative ways of approaching a problem. The only thing that stops me giving it 5 stars is the lack of an index: quite extraordinary when it must be so easy to get the software to produce one. Still, very happy with the book, which is really good value.

Great boo. However, felt had over. Received an email saying to buy now to secure launch pricer, which I did. As it claimed the real price should 35, only to find that the day after the price had in fact gone down. Meant to be 35, sold at 20 as an offer then drops immediately to 15. Not impressed!

Really good book for learning basic Python and a great reference for doing the basic stuff.Page quality is good unlike allot of books these days.One thing it could do with is an index at the back however the contents at the front are so clearly stated this isn't a great loss.Would definitely recommend to anyone starting out learning Python.

This book is great for beginners! I’ve tried for a long time to learn a programming language and this book is the one for me! It’s easy to read and understand. Comes with online resources so you can check you’ve learnt what you’ve read and coded! Thank you for this! I recommend this to anyone seeking to learn python as it even tells you how to set it all up as well as teaching you!

Excellent Beginner’s book. Although I’m not a complete beginner, the book is an excellent to refresh knowledge and I’ll be using it as reference.

Well written and covers all the topics needed to get started with Python3. Would recommend for those starting to learn Python programming.

Great book, what I have read. I haven't finished this book yet