Head First Python: A Brain-Friendly Guide

I'm learning Python for my job. My specific application is focused on data science and rote task automation. Before getting this book, I had picked up a copy of "Automate the Boring Stuff With Python" and "Python for Data Analysis". Both books do a solid job of introducing you to the areas of interest, but neither do a very good job of teaching a novice like myself how to start programming in Python (in my humble opinion). In those two books, I would struggle to get through the end-of-chapter test programs, because they required a lot of information that either wasn't addressed, or wasn't discussed until later in the book. That's where this book comes in. The explanations are intuitive, easy to follow, and the topics are covered in a way that facilitates (successful) user experimentation. Right now, I'm using all three books in tandem and things are starting to click and my code is starting to work with a lot less Googling and a little more tinkering on my part. Head First Python is a pretty quick read because of all of the graphics and generous spacing. Although I tend to prefer a sense of order, the cartoonish-looking page layouts really do aid the learning process. I believe that there is a psychological effect experienced by some people, wherein turning a page imparts a sense of progress. You will certainly turn a lot of pages quickly when reading this book, because of the layouts. This may give some people the fuel to keep going for longer stretches than they would if they were reading 50-page chapters of dense, verbose material. At the end of the day, I highly recommend this book, especially if you want to supplement it with something that pushes you a little more toward a specific application of Python. In my spare time over the last three weeks, I've cleared about 200 pages of each of the 3 books and I've written around 20 or 30 little programs (on top of dozens of hours in the iPython shell). By the end of week 4, I expect to start producing code for some of my medium-scope projects, and I'll continue to build on it as I learn.

Excellent introduction to Python. The book focuses on being fun to read and providing a real understanding of why things work the way they do. The other two intro to Python books I have are not fun to read and concentrate more on trying to teach the reader as many functions as possible but at the cost of being a bit dry. The author spends several chapters explaining how Python can be used to create a web app that stores and manipulates user entered data in text and SQL databases. This is also a topic I was very interested in but assumed I would need another book for it. I invested about 30 hours over 2 weeks going through this book and I feel that I now truly understand the foundation of how Python works. This book is definitely not a reference book but that's what Google is for.

This book does a great job at explaining all the fine details of Python 3, and makes it easy for both beginners or intermediate developers alike. I was able to quickly get back up to speed with my programming skills with this book and now feel confident in my basic understanding of Python. The practice problems in this book help keep you up to speed with each chapter as well. If you want to take you Python skills from 0-100, I would highly recommend this book as you’ll learn more than any university book that’ll be given to you. I honestly with my university had made this my first book. In my opinion, this the best beginner book by a long shot.

When faced with a bunch of different Python books, this one looked like the most engaging. I opted for the Kindle edition, as I assumed that the search function would be essential. To be sure, HFP gets you right into coding. Before you know it, you're writing programs. I also revisited some SQL statements and learned some Mac Terminal commands along the way. I found Homebrew and MariaDB far easier to navigate than MySQL. I was able to follow along and endure the inevitable bumps. (One minor pet peeve: Kindle search didn't pick up code because the publisher chose to store these snipets as pictures. This made searching more difficult.) My mind is like oatmeal because a newbie programmer cannot learn a robust general-purpose language such as Python in ten days. Still, I enjoyed the book and know 100x as much about Python as I did two weeks ago.

This was exactly what I was looking for. Get's right to the point. Starts with simple yet interesting little programs right away. I started with "Learning Python". That book is so insanely mis-titled. It's freakin 1650 pages and introduces a tiny idea followed by 100 pages of permutations. The most boring book in the universe. Okay if you want a reference. This book has you start programming right away. It's written in a readable style and teaches you the stuff you want to know to get rolling. Infinitely preferrable.

I've been learning from O'Reilly books for 21 years now, and I've never found anything to complain about in them. The Head First group of books has over the last few years become on of my favorite series from them. I've been programming for 24 years. My first O'Reilly book was the Camel book--the PERL reference, which helped me quickly reach a new level of competency in programming. My affinity for the Head First books is that they take the usual 101 textbook format and make it fun, interesting, and dialectically unique, in a common format. Down to a science. The writing, images, diagrams, asides, and everything else makes each book familiar but distinct, and easy to work through as leisure. I've been programming since I was 17, and most books back then were aimed at college students or professionals. It's nice to find books I can learn from leisurely, as I want to learn as many languages as I can. And these are also books I would suggest for younger programming enthusiasts at any level as a thorough introduction.

I am a little surprised at the lack of reviews of this book here in UK. It's a great book to get started with Python. When it introduces new things, it doesn't let the student just go in the wild world of Google to search them. For e.g. when writing a web app, it actually walks you through the basics of flask - other video tutorials just say install flask and run these commands. And you are expected to follow without understanding what it all means. I am not expecting a detailed web development lesson in a python book, but good to understand the basics. I will say this - do not attempt to read the kindle version - not available in UK anyways. The book uses various visual tools to enhance stickiness of what it teaches. There are "snippets" - hand-written-note-style text and all, which is impossible to read on a kindle. Perhaps you can if you are using an iPad to read kindle book. But still not as functional as the actual book, which makes me feel like I am back in college. It's a good feeling to have in mid-30s. Content wise, absolutely top notch for a beginner.

I strongly recommend this for beginner and intermediate developers . Even advance python developer can use this . Paul has very well explained every concept . I am just reading the chapter on Decorators and came here just to give comment ! This book == learn by doing . He used Flask web framework to explain the concept of Python which is very engaging !!!!

A great book to start your Python journey. Guides reader through a well-rounded experience involving webapps and databases. It pushes one gently out of comfort zone, into the learning zone. I also like the sharing of insights on various aspects of Python and OOP. The informal writing style and adequate repetitions were great for reinforcing the lessons. The mini 'tests' were helpful in internalizing knowledge and working the brain. The book is by no means exhaustive, but I found it a great learning aid.

Bon ouvrage

Es un libro que tiene una organización didáctica notable. Sigue los principios psicopedagógicos disponibles derivados de las investigaciones mas recientes en torno a el aprendizaje y la enseñanza contingente. En el prólogo destaca los fundamentos sobre los que se ha elaborado el contenido orientado a la adquisición del conocimiento mediante la práctica y el ejercicio de las habilidades basadas en la ejercitación de actividades que consoliden el aprendizaje tendiente a una aplicación profesional del conocimiento. Un lenguaje de complejidad creciente expresa los temas guiando al lector-aprendiz en la adquisición del conocimiento que al cabo de cada capítulo se admira de haber logrado superar la complejidad inherente a la programación. Cumple eficazmente con las promesas ofrecidas. Es un libro que se podría emplear en una clase de pedagogía para evidenciar cómo lograr la aplicación de los principios descubiertos en las investigaciones psicopedagógicas sobre el aprendizaje de temas complejos.