Fundamentals of Python Programming [pdf] • Hacker News Board

Re: Fundamentals of Python Programming [pdf]

#31

Post by krumpet » Fri, Oct 04, 2019, 8:33 PM UTC

anongraddebt wrote: post #11

hmart wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you learn JS?

I wish the author had written a Fundamentals of JavaScript Programming as well. I read bits and pieces from a lot of different JS books, and studied the first half of Eloquent JavaScript. I spent most of my time reading stuff online (especially the MDN docs).

Consider using a site like CodeWars where you're tasked with solving actual challenges.

For years, I've read books and blogs as well as watched videos and learned some things, but, working through challenges is more motivating and forces me to produce. I rely on the same resources (books, blogs, videos), but through the lens of, "how can I accomplish X ?"

Not sure you will have a similar experience, but it works for me.

Re: Fundamentals of Python Programming [pdf]

#32

Post by neoncontrails » Fri, Oct 04, 2019, 8:34 PM UTC

anongraddebt wrote: post #4

Love this book. I decided to make a career change about six months ago, found this book, and started learning Python. Over the past six months I've built four apps (after learning JS and a couple different frameworks), and have multiple interviews lined up for back-end roles. For anyone interested in possibly writing an intro book (or some such material) in the future, here are a beginners thoughts on what makes this…

> I learn a lot through examples, and seeing so many examples of functioning code was very beneficial.

Quick sidebar: if you're looking for an intermediate/advanced-level book with a similar style of pedagogy, I can't recommend highly enough The Python Cookbook by David Beazley. There are recipes in that book that I'm quite honestly unsure how I would function without. And to the credit of the author, every code example functions as a complete, minimal, working example: paste it into a live python3.8 REPL session and it "just works" (which is contrary to what you might expect of a book published in 2013). Also, it's one of a few books that has a puckish, hackery-sort of mentality and doesn't shy away from hot-button topics like metaprogramming, tampering with the GIL, mining program runtime data from previous stackframes, etc.

Re: Fundamentals of Python Programming [pdf]

#33

Post by Bostonian » Fri, Oct 04, 2019, 10:31 PM UTC

runxel wrote: post #17

Bostonian wrote: post #2

Skimming the book, it does not use type annotations in its functions. I would talk about type annotations and encourage their use soon after presenting the concept of functions. Agree?

No. Type annotations are pointless because they are not enforced in any way – if you're coming from another language it might be really misleading. It's good the author omitted this information. Also most code in the wild doesn't use it anyway.

They are not pointless if you run code through mypy, an optional static type checker for Python. Most Python code does not use annotations, but that's because annotations are a relatively new feature and because Python programmers are not used to using annotations. Maybe beginners should get in the habit of using annotations when a function only makes sense specific argument types.

Re: Fundamentals of Python Programming [pdf]

#34

Post by Animats » Fri, Oct 04, 2019, 10:48 PM UTC

This is an intro beginning programming book that uses Python, not a Python book for programmers. That's fine, but there's a distinction, which should be clear in the title.

Re: Fundamentals of Python Programming [pdf]

#35

Post by victor106 » Sat, Oct 05, 2019, 12:40 AM UTC

anongraddebt wrote: post #4

Love this book. I decided to make a career change about six months ago, found this book, and started learning Python. Over the past six months I've built four apps (after learning JS and a couple different frameworks), and have multiple interviews lined up for back-end roles. For anyone interested in possibly writing an intro book (or some such material) in the future, here are a beginners thoughts on what makes this…

What books did you find that helped you the most in learning JavaScript and web development in general?

Re: Fundamentals of Python Programming [pdf]

#36

Post by userbinator » Sat, Oct 05, 2019, 2:14 AM UTC

undecidabot wrote: post #15

I apologize for going off topic, but if the author is reading this (perhaps I should email him instead), please be informed that your work has been plagiarized on Amazon, by a book called "Python Programming: A Step By Step Guide From Beginner To Expert" [1]. Read the first few pages of the print book's "Look inside" and you'll see a word for word copy of the book. Not only did they plagiarize your work, but they did…

Apparently someone thought it valuable enough to "pirate", so you can see it yourself here, unfortunately minus the bolded 'q' and bad paper quality:

https://bookflare.org/python-programming-a-step-by-step-guid...

It's perplexing why someone would copy only the first 4 chapters --- and do it poorly --- but I suppose it's enough to sell; maybe they're not as rational as me, since if I were to plagiarize and sell books, a search/replace of the author's name would've been sufficient. No doubt whoever is doing this is expending more effort for an inferior product.

Re: Fundamentals of Python Programming [pdf]

#37

Post by anongraddebt » Sat, Oct 05, 2019, 5:59 AM UTC

krumpet wrote: post #31

anongraddebt wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish the author had written a Fundamentals of JavaScript Programming as well. I read bits and pieces from a lot of different JS books, and studied the first half of Eloquent JavaScript. I spent most of my time reading stuff online (especially the MDN docs).

Consider using a site like CodeWars where you're tasked with solving actual challenges. For years, I've read books and blogs as well as watched videos and learned some things, but, working through challenges is more motivating and forces me to produce. I rely on the same resources (books, blogs, videos), but through the lens of, "how can I accomplish X ?" Not sure you will have a similar experience, but it works for…

Definitely. I find that making solid progress on sites like codewars has been one of the best ways to improve my coding. Makes me better at planning as well as coming up with better solutions and is inherently motivating because you can hit well-defined goals in rapid succession.

Re: Fundamentals of Python Programming [pdf]

#38

Post by JBlue42 » Sat, Oct 05, 2019, 6:57 PM UTC

halterman wrote: post #24

undecidabot wrote: post #15

I apologize for going off topic, but if the author is reading this (perhaps I should email him instead), please be informed that your work has been plagiarized on Amazon, by a book called "Python Programming: A Step By Step Guide From Beginner To Expert" [1]. Read the first few pages of the print book's "Look inside" and you'll see a word for word copy of the book. Not only did they plagiarize your work, but they did…

Original author here. Someone else discovered this and notified me about three weeks ago. Amazon has a site for reporting infringement, so I submitted my claim of ownership. I received an immediate automated response promising a follow up, but I have yet to hear anything more. In the book's front matter I grant permission for anyone to use the book freely and to make as many copies as they like as long as the origina…

Thanks for writing this book. As a someone who has had some starts and stops with Python I look forward to giving this oen a shot.

It might be worth calling up Amazon customer service. They are usually very helpful and might be able to route you to the correct person.