Python Crash Course, 2nd Edition: A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming

So far I've only made it to "for loops" chapter 4; but I think this is a really good book. I had an online class from a local University and this book has covered somethings that the class did not. Not that what the book covered and the class didn't has been major; but is interesting that only having reached chapter 4 in the book that there are things the class left out. So far the biggest change between this book and the class I took is that the book does a much better job of explaining for loops. I even watched a video on Youtube to teach you Python with no experience and even that did not do as good a job of explaining why a for loop is written the way it is. Being that the class I took was online and was one of those classes done in half the time (warp speed) I didn't bother to ask why a for loop is written the way it is I just wrote it and followed the class examples (and yes I passed the class with an A but Python is not my first programming language). I feel way more confident in learning Python after the book did such a good job of explaining for loops that as I continue with the book I believe it will explain things better then the class I took or the video I watched. On a side note the class I took, as all college classes I have taken do, required a book and that book just didn't do a good job of explaining for loops (go figure). You might be wondering why am I using this book if I took an online class and the answer is it has been awhile since I took that class so I need a refresher. Also the college that I took that class from doesn't offer another a following Python class to take unless you sign up for a degree program (and I already have a degree I just want to become proficient in Python). I would recommend that if you want to learn Python to use in a job to take at least one class from a college or another way to get proof that you learned Python other than studying it on your own. Also another reason to learn from a book with no class attached to it is you can learn at your own pace. Now I could learn from the book that I bought for the college course since the class only went so far into the book; but I just didn't find that book to be very well written and full of information one doesn't really need to learn how to program with Python. I feel like a "college" course book has a lot of bloat while a book like this one is more straight forward. A book like this one survives and sells or not because it is good etc while a college course book is chosen by the teacher or school regardless of the reviews it got. So after this extremely long review I would recommend this book; but I think one does need something (a class, certificate etc) to show proof that one has at least some Python knowledge outside of ones own studying.

I haven't had time to sit down with this book other than a precursory glance through the chapters. Looks to be a decent reference and textbook.

This book opens the door for many to learn and understand Python programing. I am a self-taught basic, C, and a few other programming languages and now Python. Love it.

The programming concepts are very clear. Which are illustrated with good examples. Also, the projects are very useful and practical. A good starting point for any programmer. I use this book to teacher intro computer science.

This book was great. We used it for a 1 semester intro to programming course with high school students. The only issue was that I tried to cram both the main content and one of the extra projects at the end all into one semester, which was too much. There are a couple chapters that cover more than one topic that really should be broken up into individual weeks. We're still going to use the book, but do it over an entire year, and use some supplemental No Starch Press Python books to fill the extra weeks. NOTE: The one area that this book doesn't cover is creating GUI interfaces. So we will use other sources for that at the end of this book in the future. ALSO: Student all had VERY strong praise for this book. Well written and well designed.

I think this book is a decent read for those who are starting out as programmers and this is their first language. But for someone like me who has taken a few programming courses, I did not enjoy it as it is a lengthy read. I would have been fine with doing a quick online course. I think I would have preferred, "Automate the Boring Stuff With Python," rather than this one.

For context: I'm a web developer and programmer with ~15 years of experience reading this book to get up-to-speed on Python. So my brain might be filling in some things that other people miss. However this book seems very straightforward and easy-to-read with lots of examples and written descriptions which explain what the code does and why. I'm about halfway through so far, and covering topics that I'm familiar with in other languages.

I have read about 150 pages so far and am very pleased with "Python Crash Course". Organization is great in that subjects are introduced in a logical order. Instructions are clear and explanations are concise. The exercises are peppered throughout and allow you to practice what you've just read. At first I thought they were too repetitive but soon realized repetition is advantageous to imprinting new procedures on my brain.

all you need is this book and a computer and you will be on your way to learning Python code. it’s up to date AND totally worth the investment considering what Python code can earn you.

I tried learning Python using youtube videos but was unable to find a class that did a good job of explaining the basics for absolute beginners. Decided to give this book a shot and it was a night and day difference. I think those videos would be a good follow up AFTER I finish this book, but this is the perfect place to start. Well, almost perfect. The reason I'm giving it 4 instead of five stars is that it lacks the answers to the exercises presents. During the preamble of the book, it basically says "google the solutions." I'm not happy with that. Answers to the exercises should be provided somewhere in the back of the book. Would be nice to confirm that I did an exercise the way the teach (author) intended. I've tried googling the answers and had a hard time finding anything definitive. If the book actually contained the answers to the exercises, then this book would be 100% perfect, but as is, it's "almost" perfect. If you want to learn Python, this is the book you're looking for.

So far I've only made it to "for loops" chapter 4; but I think this is a really good book. I had an online class from a local University and this book has covered somethings that the class did not. Not that what the book covered and the class didn't has been major; but is interesting that only having reached chapter 4 in the book that there are things the class left out. So far the biggest change between this book and the class I took is that the book does a much better job of explaining for loops. I even watched a video on Youtube to teach you Python with no experience and even that did not do as good a job of explaining why a for loop is written the way it is. Being that the class I took was online and was one of those classes done in half the time (warp speed) I didn't bother to ask why a for loop is written the way it is I just wrote it and followed the class examples (and yes I passed the class with an A but Python is not my first programming language). I feel way more confident in learning Python after the book did such a good job of explaining for loops that as I continue with the book I believe it will explain things better then the class I took or the video I watched. On a side note the class I took, as all college classes I have taken do, required a book and that book just didn't do a good job of explaining for loops (go figure). You might be wondering why am I using this book if I took an online class and the answer is it has been awhile since I took that class so I need a refresher. Also the college that I took that class from doesn't offer another a following Python class to take unless you sign up for a degree program (and I already have a degree I just want to become proficient in Python). I would recommend that if you want to learn Python to use in a job to take at least one class from a college or another way to get proof that you learned Python other than studying it on your own. Also another reason to learn from a book with no class attached to it is you can learn at your own pace. Now I could learn from the book that I bought for the college course since the class only went so far into the book; but I just didn't find that book to be very well written and full of information one doesn't really need to learn how to program with Python. I feel like a "college" course book has a lot of bloat while a book like this one is more straight forward. A book like this one survives and sells or not because it is good etc while a college course book is chosen by the teacher or school regardless of the reviews it got. So after this extremely long review I would recommend this book; but I think one does need something (a class, certificate etc) to show proof that one has at least some Python knowledge outside of ones own studying.

I haven't had time to sit down with this book other than a precursory glance through the chapters. Looks to be a decent reference and textbook.

This book opens the door for many to learn and understand Python programing. I am a self-taught basic, C, and a few other programming languages and now Python. Love it.

The programming concepts are very clear. Which are illustrated with good examples. Also, the projects are very useful and practical. A good starting point for any programmer. I use this book to teacher intro computer science.

This book was great. We used it for a 1 semester intro to programming course with high school students. The only issue was that I tried to cram both the main content and one of the extra projects at the end all into one semester, which was too much. There are a couple chapters that cover more than one topic that really should be broken up into individual weeks. We're still going to use the book, but do it over an entire year, and use some supplemental No Starch Press Python books to fill the extra weeks. NOTE: The one area that this book doesn't cover is creating GUI interfaces. So we will use other sources for that at the end of this book in the future. ALSO: Student all had VERY strong praise for this book. Well written and well designed.

I think this book is a decent read for those who are starting out as programmers and this is their first language. But for someone like me who has taken a few programming courses, I did not enjoy it as it is a lengthy read. I would have been fine with doing a quick online course. I think I would have preferred, "Automate the Boring Stuff With Python," rather than this one.

For context: I'm a web developer and programmer with ~15 years of experience reading this book to get up-to-speed on Python. So my brain might be filling in some things that other people miss. However this book seems very straightforward and easy-to-read with lots of examples and written descriptions which explain what the code does and why. I'm about halfway through so far, and covering topics that I'm familiar with in other languages.

I have read about 150 pages so far and am very pleased with "Python Crash Course". Organization is great in that subjects are introduced in a logical order. Instructions are clear and explanations are concise. The exercises are peppered throughout and allow you to practice what you've just read. At first I thought they were too repetitive but soon realized repetition is advantageous to imprinting new procedures on my brain.

all you need is this book and a computer and you will be on your way to learning Python code. it’s up to date AND totally worth the investment considering what Python code can earn you.

I tried learning Python using youtube videos but was unable to find a class that did a good job of explaining the basics for absolute beginners. Decided to give this book a shot and it was a night and day difference. I think those videos would be a good follow up AFTER I finish this book, but this is the perfect place to start. Well, almost perfect. The reason I'm giving it 4 instead of five stars is that it lacks the answers to the exercises presents. During the preamble of the book, it basically says "google the solutions." I'm not happy with that. Answers to the exercises should be provided somewhere in the back of the book. Would be nice to confirm that I did an exercise the way the teach (author) intended. I've tried googling the answers and had a hard time finding anything definitive. If the book actually contained the answers to the exercises, then this book would be 100% perfect, but as is, it's "almost" perfect. If you want to learn Python, this is the book you're looking for.

Wanted to add in a few tips, so beginners don't get discouraged. Just started reading this book yesterday, and immediately I ran into an issue with getting Sublime Text to work properly. If you're having the same problem, here's what's going wrong. On page 9, the author mentions that you can skip the part that says to create a "New Build System" if Python 3 is running correctly. If you were like me and you did not skip that part, then you might run into some issues. When you get to "print("Hello Python world!")" and go into Tools/Build System, choose "Python," DO NOT choose "Python3." By creating a "Python3.sublime-build" you are creating an extra, and unnecessary, choice under "Build System." Also, the program will not run if you choose "Python3" that you've created. So skip the part that says to create "Python3.sublime-build." When the author says to create a folder called "python_work," you can create that folder anywhere, but you should actually create it on your Desktop because he later references it on the Desktop. Any file saved as ".py" is similar to files saved as .docx, .xlsl, or .txt, so don't worry about messing things up or crashing your program; it's just another file. You can move that folder and file around, and it will still work, just like any other Word file. Also, when you see ">>>" it means that you need to run in terminal session. Go back and read page 4 or 6. Or click on the main Python 3.10 (64-bit) application, to go directly to Python terminal window. Lastly, remember that this book was written in 2018-2019, so the author is using Python 3.7.2. We are currently on 3.10.2. Certain things may look and function a bit differently, but the program language and concept will remain the same. print("Good luck and happy coding!")

Easy to understand and it has great projects!

Layout is great and I really liked the online helps . I would like to see the book supplemented with a searchable digital copy also. Maybe it has one and I just missed it in the resource page . Author has a great view of the world and how to use Python !!!!

This is a great introductory programming book that starts with the basics and teaches about variables, lists, dictionaries, classes, and many other topics. The author explains each concept thoroughly which makes it very easy to understand. After introducing a concept, the book has exercises that test your understanding to ensure that you fully understand the content. Unlike some other books, the author provides solutions to all the exercises on his website. After teaching the basics, you work through a game, data visualization, and designing a website. In essence, this is a great and affordable book for those with little to no experience to learn how to program in python.

First: This book has a LOT of Information. The format is broken down in a way that makes it easy as a newbie gettig into Python. It covers more things than I originally anticipated. It's one of the few books(6) I originally purchased when getting into the Python Language. It also remains my favorite in starting out. For some reason a lot of "beginner's" books about SQL, C++, Python Ect seem to either assume you somehow already know how to code or project the feeling your 4yrs old. This book is NOT that. It's a prefect balance imo and even though I now have moved on, I still find myself referring back to it every once in a while. Starts out with how to install, how to code, make your own game within Python more. Best book I've bought that got me into learning hands down.

Heard a lot of good things about this book, finally decided to buy it! Came fast and I’m great condition.

Just used a paper clip dumped some glue between center of the book and cover. It should fix the problem. In terms of content, I just read a couple of pages here and there and seems to be a very decent pace for a beginner. If you already have programming background, you should blast through the book quickly. One star off due to "no starch" (lack of glue for the cover).

This is a really very good book.

With the lockdown from the global pandemic, I have been forced to work from home like many other people. Since my usual job involved supporting hardware, this meant I was going to be stuck! Fortunately, my boss said that if I could spend my time learning skills useful to the lab, I could count the hours doing that. I asked whether learning Python would count. I told him that I would try to create scripts to monitor my hardware from home. He said that was acceptable. I have some programming experience, but it has been years since I coded, and then it was usually for relatively basic tasks in undergrad. I was looking for something that would not insult my intelligence, but that would still be interesting enough to keep me on task. So, after searching around I found this book. I saw the highly rated reviews. I skimmed the language that the author used in the sample. I read the table of contents and saw that the second part of the book consisted of creating games in order to solidify the skills learned. Yes! This sounded perfect. I have not been disappointed. The book walks the reader through setting up (checking if Python is on the computer already, downloading it if necessary, using an IDE and what that is, etc). And then it moves on to the usual basic programming. The writing is clear. I had no problems with the examples and found the practice problems to be well chosen. I also liked the way that the author encouraged good practices such as documentation and testing. I am currently in Part 2 of the book and have been working on the first project, a game called Alien Invasion which is basically a version of Space Invaders. I am definitely enjoying that. And I can see how some of the skills I learn from this could transfer over into monitoring my equipment. Reading files, taking user input, opening windows, drawing on the screen, making calculations, all of these things are necessary for the game, and for my own goals. I personally never had any problems, but I also noticed that the author's website includes cheat sheets, solutions, and errata, not to mention the files suggested for the projects. I am not sure if this book is for an absolute beginner. My experience is too far from that for me to be a good judge. But I can say that a person with basic programming knowledge and no prior knowledge of Python found it to be a great resource.

This book is great! It immediately has you working in Python and each exercise builds from the last one. This book is so far has easily taught basic concepts of coding in general. The only thing I would suggest is to introduce commenting right after the Hello World exercise, I was already familiar with commenting so I added them as I did the exercises. So that's really my only bit it criticism so far with this book. I'm only on chapter 4 but so far I love this book. I use this book with PyCharm and have a much better understanding of code now more than ever. Each chapter has interactive lessons and exercises to do based on those lessons through the chapter. Excellent book.

I've had some programming experience in the past. I've written very basic Perl and Python programs in the past, and have a solid understanding of the basics, such as strings, variables, functions, statements, etc. I got the book "Learning Python" and started going through it and was entirely lost; the book mostly focuses on using Python Interpreter for most of the examples, which made it confusing for me to follow along. This book, Python Crash Course is one of the best books I've ever worked with in learning to program anything. The author explains everything in a very detailed, yet simplistic way, and even puts numbers next to the areas he's explaining, so that the reader can understand what area of the code is being explained. In addition, the book has numerous exercises to do at the end of each chapter that really give the reader a clear grasp of the subject matter that has been presented. Most of the time, I tend to skip over these, because they seem so tedious and boring in other books....not so in this book. The author tells you to go find a famous quote you like, and then use that to create an exercise where you're manipulating strings (as an example). I'd have to say that so far, this is one of the best books I've ever worked with in regards to learning programming. If you're new to programming, and don't know what a variable is verses a string, this is a great book to start with. If you're like myself, and have a basic understanding of programming syntax, but have some places that are still confusing (maybe you know how to get something to work, but not know why it works for example), this is also a great book. Best book I've read in regards to learning Python, by far.

Everything was well thought out and explained. Gave me a great refresh and a great foundation for Python. I should mention that I plan to go bank into the workforce after 9+ years. I have prior coding in my background and lots of SQL & stored procedures (Teradata) in my background. My only complaint is the same as many reviewers said about the binding. Couldn't hold it open to get the exercises at the end of the chapters done. Decided to spend the $8 and get it spiral-bound at Staples. Well worth it! I wonder if the author and publisher could consider selling it this way (as an option) since most of his customers are serious about learning! Thanks Again!

I have the kindle version and I do like the content. One complaint I have is with the code examples...the pictures I have included are from chapter 7. A snippet of the book and a screen shot of my computer... The example code can be convoluted at times (tabs and spacing) and if not done correctly the program won't work as expected. Other than that I'm finding it useful to learn Python3.

Well explained Python basics. I am half through the book and loving it. I hated Python before this book arrived to my book shelf, so I changed my mind on it and started over. I have some previous Java experience, can guarantee you that Python is much easier.

This is probably one of the best introductory programming books I've ever tried. Back when I was an undergraduate, I learned Pascal (yup, they still taught it at that point), C, and C++. Neither the professors or the textbooks were very good at explaining...well...anything. Luckily, I was able to figure things out for myself, but it really left a sour taste in my mouth about programming (I've done scripting professionally, but it wasn't my primary role). Fast forward to now. I have one foot in each of 2 worlds - behavioral science and IT (networking and security). Both worlds use Python. I decided to get this book and finally sit down and learn it (I was briefly introduced to Python when I was an undergraduate and asked why we didn't have a class in it, I would have preferred it). This book has very clear, concrete examples and you learn by doing. For the first half (or a little more), you'll learn the basics of what you need to navigate the language. You'll do short exercises to lock in what you learn. Later on the book, you'll actually work on larger, more involved projects and the author guides you through with excellent explanations. Needless to say, I picked up Python faster than any language before it. I've come to really like the No Starch Press books as I find them (in general) to be well-written and clear.

Good book, I’m new, good projects

First, I just want to say thank you for allowing multiple chapters in your free kindle preview! I get so frustrated when I go to buy a new score (music) book. Just this week I purchased a Halloween easy piano book. It only shows the cover and the index. Now one is going to steal any music if you show two or three pages of different scores. But, it lets me know if I've at the level to be able to play it. Which brings me to this book. I have many beginner Python books. I wanted to teach a friend python and couldn't really recommend a book. On Kindle, I saw this had a free preview. If it didn't I wouldn't have purchased this book. But, it had I think four free chapters. I read chapters two and three. And was hooked. Now...I am compltely paperless. I do everything by PDF. However, I'm a book person. I like having a physical book. I've tried e-books but it's just not the same. I ordered the paper book and while it was shipped I was able to keep reading thanks to the free preview. The book is awesome. If you have NO programming background at all. This book is definitely for you. And it's written to where you can understand it with real-world examples that are relatable. I have many of the De-Mystifying books from McGraw. What some of those authors were thinking...I have no idea. The real-world example they give are not relatable to a normal human. This book will get you quickly up-to-speed and programming in Python! It really is a crash course that people can understand! Thanks for writing such a great book! I really enjoyed it!

OK . . . .there are more than 4,000 reviews on this book, but I wanted to put my 2 cents in. The book is awesome and I'm only two chapters in . . .but seriously!!!!!! The Sublime Text editor the book has us downloading is weak. Now, you might have to register and pay for the service . . . .My copy said UNREGISTERED in bold letters at the top . . . .I'm not paying money for that thing and realized there are so many text editors/compilers you can get . . . I went out and used programiz.com. Now, you have to place code in your web browser. . . . and I'm not sure how objects will be affected . . . .but I was so relieved to find that all my source code worked!!!! The url is programiz.com/python-programming/online-compiler . I feel great and the book is wonderful . . . .but that sublime text editor has to go . . . .I downloaded Code::Blocks for my c++ coding . . .and that thing was a beast . . .tons of information and the compiler looks solid . . . .but this sublime bull text editor is so measly . . .I have no idea how 4,000 people survived without freaking out the way I did . . . .so, if you're living in 2021 using Python Crash Course by Eric Matthes . . . .you might need a better compiler . . .I'm just saying . . . .

I am a beginner/intermediate Python programmer with many holes in my knowledge; thus I am using this book both for reference and for systematic self-teaching. I've never seen such a thorough, comprehensive, and easy to use table of contents and index in any technical book. This makes the book as easy to use as a reference as it is a teaching tool through building projects. This author, who is a trained teacher, clearly has a rationale behind laying out every concept. It's no wonder it's been translated into several languages and is a best seller. The form factor, typeface, and spacing are also carefully planned, as each page draws the eye in. Another note of interest is that I, perhaps like many people, tend not to want to learn through building someone else's projects. I just want to learn what I need to build my own! Thus when I take online courses, I avoid those that are project based. But a physical book can make it worthwhile to build the projects, because doing so makes it an even better reference afterward. That is, the projects become old friends rather than throw-away. I only thought of this now, looking at this book, because I am confident that if any teacher/author can make me build their project, this author can. As programmers, we all heavily use google to find answers. I am happy to now have a physical book at my side. And just to make this book even better, it comes with lots of free meta materials which the author is actively maintaining. This book is a find.

I love this book. My fourth No Starch Press book and like the others, clear, concise, engaging and informative. Author Eric Matthes does a fine job of gently but effectively leading a newbie into the world of programming. I must also confess to loving the artwork and book design that marks a No Starch Press book. Thank You.

Best book to start learning python coding .

This book does all it can to make programming formidable and boring. It's not concise. It's too wordy. Most of it is filled with explanations and vanilla examples that just is not very enlightening. It's first chapter "getting started" will make you never start. Reading the first chapter, I decided not to read any further. Then my friend came along and did all that was intended in the chapter in less than a minute. The book spends a whole chapter on what can be done in a minute. I'm sure it meant well, but it is excessively full of explanations that are not relevant, and stuff that will just make the beginners crap. (Do beginners really have to know anything about Python 2? Or the difference between Python 2 and 3? Seriously? If not, why did you put it on the very first chapter?) It just doesn't get any better in the later chapters. This is a passage from Chapter 2: "When an error occurs in your program, the Python interpreter does its best to help you figure out where the problem is. The interpreter provides a traceback when a program cannot run successfully. A traceback is a record of where the interpreter ran into trouble when trying to execute your code. Here’s an example of the traceback that Python provides after you’ve accidentally misspelled a variable’s name ... " WTF. If the book was intended for beginners - can't understand. If the book was intended for developers familiar with other languages - too verbose. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Actually, now that I'm beyond the very very early phase, this book is pretty fun to read. And quite helpful. I've been going back and forth between three introductory books, but this is the one that I actually find most enjoyable and helpful. Sorry about the earlier comment, but I think few points are still valid.

I was disappointed in that it didn't have a lot of details. It certainly is not a reference guide or detailed - how-to book, but enough to get someone started with Python. After using the book one can just google more about the language to learn more.

I’m new at this - never studied computer science, never programmed anything in my life. This book is set up for the true beginner like me. I’m halfway through it and have been able to understand all the concepts so far, and I’m able to make basic programs. Python seems to be a popular programming language globally, so I’m glad to be able to start learning it on my own. Very pleased so far.

Have had this for one day and the cover is already coming off. Nothing a little glue won’t fix, and that’s the downside of paperbacks that you have to put weight on to keep closed, in my opinion. BUT the inner content is well worth it. I’ve been wanting to learn programming for years but have often gone away discouraged because the tutorials and teachers randomly start throwing complicated problems at you out of nowhere. Not so with this book. It eases you into each topic, breaks it down very clearly, and has exercises throughout that you can follow along with. Make sure you follow along! There are specific exercises throughout, but I highly recommend typing out the example code and playing around with it/experimenting on your own as well. Then by the time you get to the exercises you’ll have a good idea about how to approach it. STICK WITH IT! I decided I wanted to learn to program 10 years ago! I would start for a week and then quit when it got too complicated and felt overwhelming. Then I’d come back to it a few years later, and same thing. Then it hit me one day, “If I had pushed through the first time and been patient, I’d have 10 years of experience as a programmer right now. Do I want to look back in another 10 years and feel that way again? Or do I want to push through this time so in 10 years I’ll actually have the experience under my belt!?” Easy answer! Stick with it. Be patient with yourself if things get too complicated or you “feel too dumb” to get it. If you hit a block, go back a few pages and go through it again. Everyone is selling “learn ____ quick!” books these days. It’s a good way to get random chunks of knowledge but a terrible way to master it. So be patient! And get this book. :). It makes things very simple to understand and really holds your hand through everything.

This book is very clearly written and the exercises simple to follow and advance with. As other reviews have stated, instructions are written comprehensively so that Python skills can be learned without many stumbles. But alas, the format is really dull. Surely, surely in this day and age, books of this kind can be written with appealing layouts and designs.

My background is in JS, so I was looking for something that would both help me navigate installing Python3, learning the language syntax and differences in rules, and delve a little deeper in classes & objects. So far, it's clear that this is set up for absolute beginners, and I wouldn't call it a "crash" course. It's extremely thorough about walking you through common syntax errors you'll probably make on your own. I do like that it encourages you to play with breaking the code, which is absolutely necessary for learning how to code, but it's a little hand-holdy. I was expecting the guidance to loosen up as you went on, but as of chapter 6 out of the 11 chapters that introduce the topics, it's still very sheltered. I'd suggest people wanting a little more challenge/for things to stick a little longer read the first "A Simple ___" section whenever a topic is introduced, then jump to the exercises. See what you can accomplish there just from seeing the example code, and if you run into trouble, then go back through all of the "how to do this exact thing" stuff. Using the book this way, it's been a great reference book, and a quick read. I wish more complex ideas were introduced earlier, like conditionals/loops, so that the exercises could introduce more problem-solving than you can get with just print earlier, but I'm looking forward to the projects section. Oh, and yeah the binding did pop off on day 1. But it was super clean, so I just dabbed some rubber cement on the spine. It's not a big deal.

The book was perfect up until where you start making your own projects. I had been following along perfectly and learning a lot, and that made me very excited, however I am currently in the middle of the Alien invasion project and it's horrible. The author uses Pygame but does not explain any of the mechanisms of behind it at all and it sucks when you're copying code from a book that would not be able to replicate by yourself.

This book has made it easy for me to get a basic understanding of Python coding in such a short time. The explanations of how and why certain codes are doing what they do are very easy to understand. I ordered a second book from them and can't wait to crack into it and have already added more books from them to my cart.

i have a very hard time with reading and comprehension. most text books or educational materials are super hard for me to read due to various disabilities. i have wanted to learn how to program for a very long time, but i was intimidated by most texts and felt discouraged that someone with these issues could never learn to program but this book is amazing. its formatted well to be informative but accessible, it explains things well and the project-based learning is awesome. ive only spent a few days reading it but ive already learned so much, when it usually takes me weeks to get where i am with only half as much comprehension. you can tell the author knows how intimidating it looks to a lot of people who dont know the first thing about coding languages, because they have explained it in a way that i could grasp immediately. if youre looking to learn Python, i would recommend this book 100000%. i hope this author has other books on different programming languages, because if this is how they wrote Python, ill definitely read the others. 10/10, amazing, im enjoying learning through this method so much. its not easy learning a language for the first time- but this books helps you work through the difficulties through small projects and encouraging readers to make errors to see what errors look like, and what fixes them

I'm not much of a reader but I think this is the only book that I've completely finished. I recommend it to everyone who wants to start in the world of programming

I’ve tried to learn Python off and on for the last 4 years. Each time I was discouraged by the content I was using to learn. Everyone seems to want to teach Python like it’s Algebra. I hated Algebra and never got higher than a ‘C’ in it. Because my new role can really make use of learning a programming language, I thought what the hell. I bought this book expecting it to be collecting dust by chapter 2. I was wrong. I have covered 1.5 chapters each week for the last 7 weeks. It is quite evident that the author is a teacher because he understands that well thought out examples make a difference. No Algebraic expressions here…just really fun, real world examples to work on. I have confidently went from zero to hero. This book, if used appropriately, can take you to a comfortable intermediate level (250-300 level). I’m now teaching fundamentals to new learners.

It took me some time to get around to learn Python scripting, but so far it is simple and straight forward in how to program in Python. If you want to get in further depth, it would definitely be good to check out O'Reillys books for Python as they are more in depth technically(have not used it, but my coworker has told me so). Reason why I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5, is due to the simplicity of the practice problems and wording. I wish it was more challenging and utilizes the previous chapters we learned and continues to implement it in the current chapters, as an ongoing and repetitive learning. If the author followed the practice problems "C Programming Language" by Dennis M. Ritchie and Brian W. Kernighan(very good C programming book by the way), then it would definitely be more challenging and allow the person to think and be more creative. The problems the author gives are okay, but I used them to think of more creative things. Definite good investment in having a physical copy, reading it and going through the book and examples. But please do your best to also make problems that you wish to solve and implement from what you learned through this book.

After buying several python book and taking several online tutorials that didn't work for me, I found this book. This book goes step by step into python concepts with examples and exercises. The answers are available online in case you need it. I really recommend this book.

This book is excellent for anyone who wants to learn a computer language from the ground up. It walks you through the free software to install (how to install it and trouble shoot any issues you may have), gives plenty of examples and discusses common errors, and has made learning Python easy and fun. My background is NOT in computer science, but in mathematics. I have very little experience programming. I purchased this book because my 10 year old was interested in learning to program and I wanted to be able to help him get started. I'm not sure if he would have the patience to read the book on his own, but any adult or kid over the age of 13 should be good to go. The quality of construction of the book cover is "meh". It came undone after a few days of use, but the binding is good (nothing a little glue in the spine wont fix). The paper and printing are of good quality. I wouldn't let this minor issue deter me from recommending this book to others. The software for python doesn't need much to run. In fact, there are apps out there for running it on phones or tablets. You don't need a full fledged PC to use this software (and again it is free). Best of luck programming. It is fun!

I am 8 chapters in and so far all my expectations have been exceeded. The book is very well organized and assumes the reader is starting from virtually zero programming experience. If you've got an analytical mind and love solving problems, you'll be okay. I have a lot of experience in Excel where some of the longer formulas indeed feel like mini-programs, so certain things in coding like variables, Boolean expressions (True/False) were already familiar. I would strongly recommend trying to work through the exercises on your own before peeking at the solutions on the website. I know it's tempting, and it may take 30, 45 minutes or more to figure it out, but when you do it's a marvelous feeling! I've read comments that the book is poor quality and comes apart at the spine, but so far that has not been my experience. Possibly it happens down the road but right now, after 3+ days with it opened on my desk, it's holding up fine. Big recommend!! UPDATE: Unsurprisingly, given how many others had the same problem, the spine of my book came apart this morning. It's an easy fix w/ some glue, but it's disappointing that the physical quality is this poor. No Starch needs to do better.

Good for beginners

I purchased this book and quickly dived into it. I am on halfway into chapter 5 and am surprised at how fun it is to learn Python. The explanation to code and how it works is easy to understand. I like the mini Try It Yourself within the chapter or towards the end, where you get to try out what you learned. If you get stuck, a simple Google search will help you further expand your knowledge. I am enjoying learning Python at my own pace. I needed it this for work and it is helping tons! If you are looking for a new program to learn or just want to advance your knowledge, pick up this book. I am also teaching my 10-year old daughter how to program in Python. She understood the concepts and explanations well enough to do what the book says on her own. This book is not hard. Dedicate 1 hour a day and YouTube or Google some issues if you get stuck.

I decided to buy the second edition of this book cause my son suddenly wanted to learn Python. He asked me if I could recommend a book, so I suggested Python Crash Course. We are on chapter 2, and noticed that the section on Combining Strings has been omitted on his second edition. It is not a deal breaker, but I wonder what else has changed/omitted from his Second edition. Perhaps, he mentions it down the road.

Book's material is very easy to digest compared to other programming books. The way the author writes out the concepts are very relatable and the vocabulary used isn't trying to sound technical when not necessary. A+ in my book.

This book is perfect for beginners. Easy to understand text and examples. Great resource with great resources for the reader.

I've tried many different methods to learn Python, but nothing really stuck. I took a course in grad school specific to ArcGIS, but wanted to get a basic understanding before trying to apply to ArcPy once again. I think because the author is a high school teacher, he really breaks down why code is written in a certain way. I'm about 1/3 way through now and hope the projects section is just as good as the beginning of the book. I'll definitely look for the next Python book from this author.

I am just beginning the book. It does seem promising.

It will guide you well, and you will learn. I am almost done with the book, and it has exceeded my expectations. If you are a person who learns better with a physical object, I would recommend buying books for your learning process. I have been doing Codecademy pro, udemy, and many other online tools, but this one is it I can now write my own code without using the internet to figure it out. It isn't just a guide on how to build something (though it does have that) it teaches you the syntax and proper format. Make sure you do every programming example and read through each of them to better understand. Also, try all the project ideas they have inside. If this book doesn't work for you attend a community college course on intro to programming or something. But I am sure you will get it once you read this book!

Other reviews that suggest this book moves too slowly and is repetitive are essentially correct. But I am not saying that is a negative...this is a great book to cement the fundamentals. Calling this a crash course is a bit of a misnomer...you will not feel as if you are being thrown into the deep end. This takes a measured and gradual series of steps using reinforcement exercises along the way to get you comfortable with Python.

There are numerous positive reviews of this text as a excellent learning tool for Python. The code for the longer excercises can all be downloaded from the publisher's website. This is particularly wonderful for the long projects particularly the Space Alien Game. If you are interested in math and statistics you will need to supplement this text with other publications. Math Adventures with Python and Doing Math with Python from the same publisher were fun. However, the math is at pretty at high school level. The Math Adventures with Python uses Processing graphics software which several reviewers were not happy with. I hope to explore other publications and review them as I go. I would mention that I a am using Anaconda with Python 3.8 for the crash course. Matplotlib and several over libraries are easily called without any Path issues. Python Crash Course is a wonderful text and the author strongly deserves our thanks for the dedication and preparation involved.

For a start, the cover falls off. That seems to have happened to other readers. At least it makes it easier to keep the book open at the page you are reading while using your other two hands on the computer keyboard. The instructions on how to complete the installation of Python and Sublime Text so they would work together was not clear enough for me – I had to get help before I could make anything work. But then, progress through the chapters seems slow, especially if you are going to do all the exercises: The explanations are clear enough but I kept on wanting to look ahead to find out how to do something the book hadn't got to yet, and this is where I found the most frustrating inadequacy: the index is not helpful enough. If you want to find out how to copy a list to a file, for example, you won't find any reference to that in the index. Searching the internet is much more productive. Perhaps I was looking for a reference book rather than "crash course". I needed the book but it didn't work as a crash course for me. It might for somebody with more patience.

I like how the first part of the books explains the fundamentals of programming in python and that you can apply these fundamentals in other languages. My issue with learning part 1 of the book is that I had to keep looking up other explanations on google for methods and some of the concepts. He did not really help the reader understand python syntax. So better explanation in part 1. I just started part 2, I’m making the alien invasion game and he is not explaining it very well. im having a hard time understanding some of pygames methods and function, the author is not explaining them very efficient . So I’m going to have to read the pygame documentation to get a better understanding! i feel like the author did put much effort into the last part of the book. so im going to move on to another book to practice python! Overall ig it’s pretty good he definitely needs some improvement. Part one is what I really like ! Idk about part 2 becuase he is not explaining the code very well.

Absolutely getting bang for your buck here great read with a bunch of information.

I like the way Eric laid out his material and examples in such a way that each one formed a chain of the whole. Moreover, he not gave great examples, he took the time to give more of the like along with a detailed explanation of that example. Again, each example flowed smoothly into the next as well as into the next subject and chapter. Honestly, have spent thousands of dollars in books and classes related to computer science, and this book and the Head First books are all money well spent! This course actually formed together many of the concepts which I spent years learning in classrooms with a far greater understanding. Also prayer helps as well. Although, I must say in my opinion the Head First guides are great but the authors of these Python books tend get to the point a bit faster and smoother than them.

Can’t recommend this book enough! In my opinion this is better then a college class, better then w3 schools, and better then codecademy! I feel like I’m learning and advancing so quickly with this book!

Its good to for what it says. When you are doing your own projects there are resources online and on youtube to help you solve troubleshooting problems when on your own.

Cover: I have this book now 2 weeks and today I discovered that the cover was detached. Probably a cheap clue was used. $40 for a book where the cover falls off, .. The Paper and the print is decent. The Index is a bit thin. Content: You can find the code explained in the book on git, for download. ../ehmatthes/pcc_2e/ One of the best readable books for Python I read so far. List of books I read at least the half of * The Quick Python book (Naomi Ceder)) * Automate the boring stuff with Python * Starting out with Python 2nd Ed_Gaddis *Think Python, Downey, O'Reilly Downer: Since Py3 there have been changes in the env var which majorleague suck. Homebrew recommends to delete some libraries from python2 but you need to be careful: keep python2 installed on your Mac or apps won't function and you have to reinstall the entire OS.

Excellent introduction to Python. Well organized and very well written. I didn't go through the latter part on a game example, but got what I needed from the main body of the book. Thorough description of lists and dictionaries and how to use them. I've been writing Fortran programs since 1976 and am fluent in C++ and VB.Net, and found this book an excellent resource for learning Python's specifics which are very different from what I'm used to.

I don't write a lot of five star reviews, but now that I'm half way though this book it's time to give this one a top rating. A developer by trade, I'm coming out of retirement and learning python. This book is like a good college text book. Written so that someone with little programming knowledge can learn the language and learn it well, it's also good for development veterans who want a solid foundation with python. If you approach this like a tutorial and you read through it and do the examples (and add in your own), you'll have a pretty good grasp on the language. Of course there's room for advanced topics when you are done. A five star review from me for this book.

I love this book. I am a beginner, and I have been trying to study and finding ways to keep all the info in my head, but I always get overwhelmed. In most of the videos and courses I have taken the people teaching it don't make it clear or not even their fault but they teach it in a way that only programmers will know not the complete beginner(even though most say its for beginners). Anyone out there looking to really learn and practice what they learned, this book is for you trust me. The author Eric Matthes explains it with good details and doesn't make you feel like you are just putting info in your head that you can't use, it's the total opposite. you keep what you learn and know exactly what everything is actually used for.

I tried the video tutorials, the Udemy courses, skillshare, youtube bingefest-- nothing stuck. Since I did not have a background in programming, I found myself asking questions like "okay why did you choose that name for a variable and not this? Why are you changing the variable name now? Is there a specific way for doing this and that? Why are we doing this? Can it be done another way?" and the lecturer went on without explaining themselves. With this book, the author did just that in a very detailed and concise manner. Everything is broken down like he anticipated the exact questions I had. He is good at teaching. I am glad I found this resource. He should write more books on Python.

What I liked the most is the author is using very simple language and examples to explain concepts. Thanks to this book I realized that programming isn't so difficult as it initialy seems. Many other tutors fail to do that, they are giving very superficial theory and very hard tasks out from nowhere without explanation but not in this book! I strongly recommend the book to everyone who want to learn programming.

I read this book after taking an introductory online course. The online course did a great job of helping me understand the core concepts of Python, but left out a lot of the conventions (such as formatting). This is where the book REALLY comes in handy. The author puts an emphasis on common formatting used within the industry. The examples and the exercises are extremely well thought out and really helped me understand the code. The examples are usually something you'd encounter in real-life and when the author expands the code for those examples its done so bit by bit so you get a full understanding of what is actually going on. First half of the book is all about learning python. The second half walks you through big projects, such as a video game, web page, or web application. I've done all the exercises and am currently working on the video game project. HIGHLY recommended for anyone trying to pick up Python.

The first 8 chapters are presented at a good pace with lots of exercises. (Work the exercises). Exercises are challenging the first time you see them. Ch 9 (Classes) didn't stick the first time through, but maybe it's the material ?? I expect to have to repeat it several times. There is a BIG step up into chapter 12 -- the first large project -- Alien Invasion. Found myself in a position of typing in the code, and understanding the code, but knowing I could not write the code. What makes it especially difficult was -- to save space -- the author plugged snippets of code into partial program listings while telling you in the text to delete sections of code. I would suggest that's a very poor way of changing the code as it's extremely easy for the user to mess up. I got frustrated to the point of just quitting several times working through this portion of the book. This cost it a star. Also, the code ran extremely slow -- taking half an hour to load. Not sure what that's about. Looked online but couldn't find anybody with a similar problem. Like everybody else said -- the binding is awful -- but the content is really good. Especially true of the first 8 chapters. This would be a 4 star review were it not for the binding.

I am a total beginner to programming. In my quest to learn Python, I tried parts of some video courses, and even the Head First Python book. They were all good, HFP being the best of the group. But this book, in my opinion, is perfect. This is a lifelong programmer taking you through a perfectly logical learning course, laying a foundation from which to build upon. Just go through it slowly and methodically, type everything in the book along the way and ponder it, and I have no doubt you will learn this language and use it capably. The other thing I love is that he never goes more than a few pages without pausing for exercises, and the exercises are never too difficult. It's exactly what was just discussed, and the solutions are on his website if you need them (I rarely did bc of how well the material was presented). I emphatically recommend this. For me, it's the beginner's master text and I'm so glad I found this author.

First off, I want to enter a quote from page 173: "This brings you to an interesting point in your growth as a programmer. When you wrestle with questions like these, you're thinking at a higher logical level rather than a syntax-focused level. Your're thinking not about Python, but about how to represent the real world in code." This quote reminds me of another: "the best programming is done by programmers immersed in the environment they are writing for. I was lucky to be immersed and programming in a clinical environment. I've been out of that (programming) environment for about eight years and grabbed this book because I'd been missing this kind of thinking. Matthes is great at teaching syntax and great at getting you thinking about program modeling in the real world. Great book, but you might need a wee bit of glue to keep the cover on.

I enjoyed this book immensely as someone who has tried to get into python multiple times over the past few years and got bored halfway through. I actually found myself enjoying the content of this book so much that I would continually go back into it each day to learn more and practice. After 7+ years I may finally be able to learn Python in its entirety! The projects are also interesting to follow and help wrack your brain around the processes behind the code. The only complaint I have about this book is that the cover separated from the binding due to shoddy glue work. I treat my books with respect and it still somehow popped off. Not a huge deal as the front cover is connected with glue but definitely a bit disappointing. Hard recommend for beginners.

Over the past 3 years I have worked with one object oriented programming language, VBA. Basically, I've taught myself by watching countless video, visiting numerous websites, purchasing lessons and books and hours of trial in error. When I decided to take on Python, I wanted to approach it differently and get a good understanding, so I decided to purchase a highly rated beginner's book. Python Crash Course was recommended on a programming website. I decided to purchase it and give it a go. The author of Python Crash Course, Eric Matthes, does a phenomenal job explaining the language and providing simplified examples. What I have found most beneficial is the break down and explanation of each step he provides after almost every example. Giving you the "why's" behind the process. I highly recommend this publication to any beginner who wants solid understanding of Python.

Please learn me the tracking No.

I purchased this book for a college class. Since the class was delivered online, much of my learning was on my own. This book is an excellent step by step guide from start to finish with easy to comprehend text, as well as examples of code. It also has three projects to do, a video game (Alien Invasion), a data visualization project, and a web applications project. I have no coding/programming experience at all and at the end of 8 weeks, I created a pretty awesome video game! I plan on doing the data visualization project next! The text is very well written and has online supplements and resources in case you get stuck.

After finishing another beginner's book and feeling confused and lost, I am so glad I bought this book. And this is THE book!!! Very clearly organized and thoroughly explained. After introduction of each concept, the author always demonstrates how to apply it to in your coding, the thought process, and the purpose of each line of codes. For the practical project, the author shows how to start a project from scratch, and the step by step thinking, coding, refactoring, revising, so detailed that I feel like the author is right next to me guiding me through it. I dont know how anyone else could do a better job! So much better than the other book... I love it.

I am not brand new to programming entirely, but my experience with programming was in C++ over a decade ago. I have always had a desire to learn to program because why not learn to speak another language that is so useful. Well this book even though I have only had it for a few days now is amazing. I have tried learning with the immense amount of YouTube videos out there and have quickly been side tracked. I like this book because it provides structure to my learning. I am able to have a "lesson plan". I guess it is kind of old school of me to want a textbook to learn from, but what can I say if it works, it works. This book is well laid out and easy to understand. I like that it has been recently updated, which is helpful to be on the same update of python as the book. All together very pleased so far and will continue to use more books by this publisher.

Great book, taught me more than the college course I was taking.

Great quality book if you're brand new to programming concepts and languages in general. Having some basic previous programming experience and having read things like "Eloquent JavaScript", I found most of the examples to be way too basic. I still found the content the author included and his explanations to be worthwhile reading even for those that are past the very beginner stages of programming. Python is a must have skill in today's technical job market, it is an elegant and effective scripting language with a growing future. I definitely recommend this book as a quick primer or a way to brush up on syntax and learning "Pythonic" ways of crafting your code.

This book didn't feel like a crash course but didn't feel like a textbook either. The author briskly reviewed some key basic concepts and gave the odd pointer here or there, and the book promptly moved on to some real-world examples. The author also gives you an overview of what is out there in the Python ecosystem, which is helpful because there is a lot out there. It is not like Java where everything you need is in the API. If you're like me and you had a background in programming already, that's exactly what you were looking for. If you are completely new to programming and you've decided to learn in Python, this would still be a good book to buy but you may want to buy another book to complement it.

I bought this book because I wanted to help out with a project that involved Python -- I didn't even understand what was required of me. I'm about halfway through, and am already feeling a lot more comfortable about the project. The book lays things out in a very systematic way, with exercise that help you figure out exactly what's going on (and makes lots of mistakes along the way, which is always valuable though annoying at the time) . . .

I am an IT student with no prior knowledge of coding and just finished my first class. It was a struggle and I decided to spend the summer getting better before the next coding course start in the fall. The book covers a great deal but if you are a beginner the author does a great job of not just teaching how to code but also explains what is going on behind the scenes. The first half of the book covers basic topics and the second half consists of three projects that delve deeper into the world of python. I burned through this book in less than a week and plan on checking out as much as I can (Automate the boring stuff is next on my list) by this author over the summer.

I bought this book after struggling on Codecademy. It's very well written and easy to understand. The way Eric has written this book is exactly how I take notes. It just clicks! Even the harder concepts just need some time and rereading but I was able to follow along with every single exercise. I 100% recommend it for someone who has never coded a single line of Python in their lives. (Btw I recommend Visual Studio Code for your text editor instead of Sublime like the book suggests).

First things first, I'm completely new to programming. I have a fair understanding of propositional logic, and that's it. Con: One gripe I have is that the binding immediately came out after using it for 2 weeks. It's pretty unfortunate, but I won't hesitate to rate this book for 5 stars on the content alone. If ever a third edition is made, I strongly recommend have better bindings to the publisher. Pros: With that out of the way, I love this book. It has a thorough "read-example-here" approach and then relevant exercises you should do afterward. This is a great book to start learning Python as long as you're motivated to read! Don't sleep on this book if you ever ideated wanting to learn how to program.

I’ve tried a lot of the free tutorials online: classes, pdf, etc. and nothing compares to this physical book. It starts off like most tutorials with the user creating the “hello world” program, but then uses each chapter to introduce a new topic while still using the topics previously learned. If I forget something I can easily flip back and refresh my memory. The chapters are short and concise, the appendices are helpful, and the book is easy to follow. I’ve given up many times when trying to use online guides and tutorials, but I find myself wanting to spend my free time working through this book and thoroughly enjoy it.

3 years ago I read this book without knowing much about programming at all. I am now very familiar with python and this book is the reason why. It kept me motivated and not discouraged. Other books for beginners I read just killed the fun, but this book statys easy to read, simple to follow and does not have a bunch computer science jumble that makes it hard to learn new things. In my experience if you want to learn a language you need to dive in. This book dives in with small, simpme chunks that you can see output right away. The code is simple to read and doesn't complicate things with to many methods and calls. You will need to know some basic computer skills like installing a editor, and how to use a keyboard, but other than that it's a amazing beginner book!

Overall good information, however I found less helpfull than looking up in Google.

Seriously, buy this book. My programming experience prior was limited to a single semester class where all I learned was basic concepts without any actual language skills, and that was over a decade ago. Less than halfway through this excellent text, and I was already starting the command line game project I had in mind. Honestly, I was skeptical before and probably wouldn't have bought the book if it had not been discounted, but having seen how quickly I was grasping the concepts, I can wholeheartedly recommend this book at any price point. There is a reason so many sources suggest this as a wonderful entry point to Python. tl:dr - Want to learn Python, Buy this book.

Good book to start off with learning Python. The book really walks you through how to make the commands work with examples and straight to the point explanations. Highly recommend as it as an easy to digest book and includes cool projects to apply the commands that you learn.

I bought this for class and it’s pretty dang useful. It’s 99% non-political and just coding, but there’s definitely a push for making coding political in this book and his website. I just want to learn a new job

This review was written by my Son Joshua J. Thomas, who I purchased the book for. He's currently a student studying Cyber Security. I'm super excited to have a book on python finally. I've heard the hype for this language throughout the web and educational circle for a while now, and now I finally learn it myself. When I got the book, I thought it would be a flimsy 200 or so page read. Not this. Boasting 507 pages, I know when I'm done, I'll have something to show for. Since this is a project-based book, I'll have a body of work to use as a testament to my new found skills. I'm ready to work."

I liked the clear explanations of each topic. The author explains what each line of code does which helps readers gain an understanding of Python easier. The assignments further reinforced what was taught.

Very good python book !!!! Best python book. Each step is very clear!!!

I love this book! I am learning so much! The chapters aren't too long. The hands-on exercises are excellent. The book wanted its readers to install Sublime Text for Python; however, I couldn't program Sublime Text to work. No worries! I used Visual Studio Code to execute Python commands and it worked just fine! All the material in this book is well-written and easy to understand. I am really getting this and it feels great to master yet another programming language. This is by far the best programming book that I have ever read and purchased. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn Python. It is no wonder why this book is rated number one! Great buy!

I was trying to come up with pandemic activities and started coding python with my 12 year old son and some of his friends. After a couple weeks I turned to this book and it worked out really great. The examples were thorough and well explained. While they lost interest after some of the games I kept going and must say the contents really give a good introduction to python and some important development concepts

my only complaint is, since this is an introductory book, it should give resources or cover common install issues such as placing things in the path. this is needed at the beginning of the book, and without prior programming/systems experience, this could be a huge complication. being in path may or may not be the default, depending on your system and download specifications. however this book still deserves a five star rating because it is very straight forward, building skills and competency from the ground up. i also really liked that there was a git and github section included because version control platforms can be confusing at first, but with a straight forward explanation, not hard to get used to.

This book is great for people who just learned Python or learned Python in recent years. Easy to follow and many projects to enjoy over the course of the read. The index is great for people who wants to jump around. I will recommend this book to others. Note: This book is not for kids.

Very basic contents. Great for beginners.

I needed to learn basic Python for a specific project I had in mind. My previous "code" experience includes HTML/CSS and enough Javascript to dress up websites and make basic widgets to use at work. My hope with this book was to learn enough to get a barebones version of the project running then hand it off to a real programmer. I finished the first half of the book, which is the basics, and decided to try out a couple ideas before moving on to the "example projects" part of the book. The examples are great but some were honestly overkill for what I needed. To my surprise I had a working program in a few days. I recommend this book for anyone starting out with Python.

good

I don't normally do reviews but I felt this book warrants one. Just like anything you buy from anywhere this book might not be for everyone. Kindly research it before you buy it but I loved it! It helped me grasps the concept of python programming. It really helped me walk through the problems and learn the solutions. The book doesn't feel cheaply made. The paper isn't that bad quality flimsy super thin paper that some books have. I recommend this book to those who want to learn python.

I’m only about 60 pages in but this book has taught me more in those 60 pages than I learned as a freshman in college. It does a great job explaining how things work. My only complaint is the quality of the book itself is very poor. The paper separated from the spine almost instantly. I’m sure you could superglue it or something, it’s just annoying. I gave it 5 stars solely for the quality of material inside the book.

Easy to understand. Not bloated. This book will teach you Python programming. Its the best python beginner course that I have found.

I already knew quite a bit of Python and Flask, but never quite made the jump to Django. It's such a useful framework, especially the Database setup and Admin console are such a huge advantage over Flask. I haven't dug much into the other sections, but this section was worth the price alone.

The labeling is clean and organized, and it explains code in a very descriptive way, it's very a well-thought-out process, and it makes coding very self-explanatory overall I recommend this book.

Admittedly I have a little bit of a computer science background, but programming has always been a challenge for me. I got this book after reading the positive reviews, hoping it would make my path to learning Python easier than my path to learning Java was (a nightmare). The concepts laid out in this book are logical and easy to follow. The explanations of code examples are clear. The exercises are useful and relevant. I've been working in this book for over a year and it was absolutely a great purchase.

I bought this book for the second half that has the projects. The first section was annoying because it was missing Pygame code that allows you to close the game window. Luckily I knew some Pygame and could fix it myself. I was going to give this book low marks for such a glaring oversight. However the second section with APIs was top notch. The last section attempted to cover way too much - Django, Bootstrap, Git, Heroku. Those topics could have easily filled a book on their own.

I've tried several courses before, but this book is the one that has, imho, the best explanations, the best presentation order of information, and the most useful concept order, too. I highly recomment this one - I'm only 7 chapters in, but this experience will finally get me over the hump of all the other false starts I've had with Python prior to this. Worth more than the $17, just go for it! Oh, and I think that I could recommend this book to ages 15+, if there are any interested parties in that age group out there considering this one...

A wonderful book! I am learning a lot.

I am taking an online college course for intro to scripting in Python, and there is no book with the course, just an online tutorial that you use. The online "book" is streamlined and wasn't cutting it for me. The Crash Course book is so much better and it fills in a lot of gaps. My only complaint is the book should have been spiral bound. The binding isn't great for a book this size and you need the spiral option to have the book stay open while you type in the exercises, which are great. Highly recommend the book for true beginners. Probably too basic for anyone else, but it is at the level i needed.

Let me preface this review by saying that I have zero programming experience. I'm only four chapters into the book and I gotta say - Python is finally making sense to me! I've tried reading "Automate the Boring Stuff with Python" and I have no doubt that it's a good book. However, for me, it was not a good starting point and I found myself lost trying to read through the first few chapters - maybe I'll re-read "Automate the Boring Stuff with Python" afterwards after I finish "Python Crash Course". I'll do a follow-up review of this book when I'm done, but that won't be for a while; I'm going at my own pace and ensuring that I understand each topic and lesson. This book is worth the money if you want to learn Python!

This book is awesome. The author does a great job explaining new concepts and showing examples that make it easy to understand. As the material gets harder, the author does an excellent job at reintroducing concepts learned in previous chapters to help you write better code. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone wanting to get familiar with Python.

The well written open-ended exercises make pivoting into and nurturing a new career pathway a joy.

I write firmware/software professionally in C/C++/C#. Recently I started learning Python and BASH. Got this book to learn Python, the book was a bit long winded. If I was a newbie I'd want it to be wordy. If you're a pro trying to pick up Python as new language in your arsenal, you'll have to read through a lot of fluff that you'd learn in your intro the programming classes in college. The information isn't wrong, and the examples work, but....man...it's a long read. I believe the book could probably be cut in half if the author removed the fluff. Why the 3 stars? Most books about learning have all the basics listed in a single chapter, so people with experience can just read it real quick and move on to the more complex ideas. This book interweaves the basics through out the entire book, which for me was a mind boring read (IMHO).

The item was received in a timely manner and was as it was described. I have no major complaints at this time. Son purchased to enhance his career.

The contents of the book are better than its manufactured quality. Sadly, less than a week after receiving it, the cover came free of the rest of the book. It was apparently only held on by two narrow strips of glue on the first and last pages, and no glue holding it to the actual spine! The book contents itself are pretty good, but it does stay fairly simple. I bought the book because of the format of the examples, with code, point by point descriptions of the code elements, and then the output. Some of the examples don't go very deep. I was looking at loop iterations, and the book really only covered using them with a print statement, though I was hoping for how to set variables and perform calculations according to current list value.

I think I recently had a chance to review many Python books and this one has by far the most efficient organization that teaches you the basics of coding with solid examples. The second part of the book consists of useful projects in which you literally use any single knowledge you gain in the first part.

I started to develop some projects in Python, following some internet web pages, everybody suggested this book for a beginner to intermediate Python student. The book provides tons of examples, the codes used in the book are in github as well if you got stuck in some examples, so is great to start thinking as a python developer. At the end of the book, there are 3 hands-on projects, a game to develop, a data visualization project and a web app using Django. I started with Django, I connected with my AWS account to use the web app in a cloud environment, so it gave me a lot of ideas to develop by myself using the book.

Great read DIDNT take long

If you like to understand what each command does in Python then this book is for you. A Python class can teach you how to write a project and as the project gets completed you get familiar with the different commands. I prefer learning a programming language by learning the language commands first and then putting them together to write an innovative program. If you like that too then this book is for you.

I should start this review with the qualifier that I am extremely tech challenged. I've wanted to learn Python for a long time to help me with my work, but every book or course I had looked at previously was too quick, too advanced, and assumed you knew too much about programming and computers. This book literally starts with downloading Python correctly onto your computer - something I've had difficulty in the past with other programs! This book is perfect if you need a slow-and-steady introduction to Python with a lot of hand-holding and workable examples.

Aprende con ejemplos prácticos y sencillos !!

I have taken Learn Python the Hard Way online as well as codecademy. They both had its good and not so good, and I wanted to try this book. It was very complementary. The projects are great, easy to understand with detailed explanation. I took a start down, because of poor binding. They sent me a replacement with a different printing, but it was the same thing. Kindle version could be better.

As a beginner programmer having very little knowledge, this book has done more for me in two weeks than any of the "bootcamps" or anything available online. The book goes in depth and gives you a good foundation in programming....Helps you to understand the underlying concepts and not just memorize code. Found this in numerous locations for free online but decide to purchase out of appreciation for what this has done for my development as a programmer. Highly recommend!

Skill enhancement

They say don't judge a book by it's cover - and that's why I'm still giving it 4 stars. The actual content of the book is wonderfully written and explained. I really like that the author takes you through writing full game (like Space Invaders) using everything you have learned. I highly recommend it. However the book binding has started falling apart after less than a month. I plan on re-gluing the binding to make it a bit more sturdy.

What is good about it? It teaches you the basics of Python But it does not have any advanced materials inside. Evey little example is well explained. It has a lot of examples are presented. It also asked readers to do exercises after concept. However, I wish it comes with an answer for those after chapter exercises. Otherwise, it becomes meaningless because you won't know if you got it or not. Overall, well explained but somewhat too much explanation. Thus, this might be good for people who do not have any programming skill. Also, words are simple and straightforward. Update: Thanks to the author reply, there are solutions online. But I still think it explained things too much. Thus, costed too much reading for a simple concept.

This book was amazing. Very easy to follow and understand. I think what I appreciate the most about it was the exercises that were frequently presented throughout the book. This gives you an opportunity to immediately practice the skills while they are fresh in your mind. The only way to really remember python syntax in my opinion is practice, so why not get started as soon as you learn it?

Just finished the book and followed the code all way, even did some of the "Try this yourself" exercises. Very well organized. 6 stars on that. Code in the book was accurate and worked as expected. I didn't just try the code from the resource web site. I actually typed in every line from the book and made it all the way to deployment. (Quite an accomplishment, I say. :-)). Only one gripe - see pictures attached. After 3 weeks of ownership, the book lost its clothing. :-( I wonder if Mr Matthes will send me an autographed copy to replace my sad, broken, copy? :-)

The author described the complicated things as easy to read. I read it every night and get a lot from it! Recommed!

I’m just getting into this book and am really enjoying it. The author provides easy to read / follow concepts and instructions. The book cover though? It broke before I made it to the Introduction of the book - literally 5 minutes of holding the book. I imagined using this book to take notes in and as a go-to resource, but my fear is it physically won’t hold up as I keep turning pages.

A good book

This book will take you from zero to hero (well on the path to hero) in Python! It covers how to get started with the downloading process all the way to pushing your very own web application online! I can't recommend this book, or any of the other Matthes books, more!

Book is great! I am a happy camper.

This book is truly awesome. It teaches basic Python programming from the ground up. There's just the right amount of detail. I quickly became proficient at writing for loops, while loops, if-elif-else statements, and functions. The book is prefaced with nice explanations of the differences between lists, dictionaries, etc. I mostly loved the breakdowns of each example. The author gives a step-by-step explanation for each. This is clearer and more accessible than any other book I've seen. My only request, Mr. Matthes, is that you write the same book but for R. I've waded through a handful of R books to find the info you've so succinctly made available in Python Crash Course.

This was my first book not only on Python but programming in general.... I have to say this is very easy for a beginner to start out with and actually learn from.... Read through it first, then go back through it and actually do the code and ex....

Appears to be a good read. Delivered in a good condition

I plain and simply love this book. I own both digital copies of the first and second edition. As an educator in technology this is on my recommended reading list for students wanting to learn Python. I work in the Net DevOps space and the material here can be translated to infrastructure monitoring. GREAT READ!!!

I was excited to receive this book and begin reading the text. In the first chapter they provide two links to navigate to for additional information. The link directs you to reading how the US is racist. The website goes on to provide BLM support and information. This was very disappointing. I don't like to have politics shoved down my throat. I'll be returning this item and will look for another company to do my business with. - "It is abundantly clear in the US, and in many places around the world, that those who have power are desperate to hold on to that power, and are willing to use force - "any means necessary" is an all too common phrase - to hold on to that power. And that force is disproportionally, to a mind-boggling degree, used against Black people, Indigenous people, and anyone who can be classified as a minority."

Easy to follow w/good explanation

I bought this for a friend as a gift, knowing the cover would fall off. It did. It doesn't invalidate the book however. My friend has learned quite a lot and enjoyed the book. I bought this because it seemed like the best book on teaching python.

this book is amazing it is done in an excellent style, and you get knowledge step by step. There are so many exciting exercises that will give you self-confidence when you will find a way to solve it. Projects at the end of the book are really nice introductions to start a more complicated coding.

Have spent a couple of weeks plowing through this. It is extremely well written, I've had no issue understanding any examples or instructions. Has taught me so much so far. Highly recommend for any one who doesn't know where to start.

1st off is IMHO the book is outstanding and allot of time and thought went into it. I look forward more books by Eric. 2nd I had a problem with the binding coming off of the book and contacted No Starch Press. There definitely an outstanding company to work with and took care of the problem. I'm very very happy with the author and publisher..............

I am in the process of using this book and I loved it. This is one of the few books I can actually read and understand everything that is happening. The few problems I did have, I looked up and the online forums had answers to all my questions. 5/5 programming book

I’m transitioning into a new role at work, and python is a requirement. I wasted many hours on 2 udemy courses and a different python book. Completely useless for a newbie to programming. And then I found this book! Lifesaver. It literally walks thru everything step by step and is in a language that Makes sense and doesn’t have that techie over the head jargon. I would recommend this book to ANYONE wanting to learn Python. I will definitely be looking for other books by this author. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Didn't understand anything, but very interesting book

Book just arrived so I cannot comment on its content. Just wanted to confirm what others have said about the binding. You can already see the space between the cover and spine of the book. Maybe “no starch press” should change their name to “no glue press.”

So far so good. A friend told me these books were out out by guys folks. Upon writing this review I am on chapter four and find it easy to follow.

The book started off pretty easy and the author is true to his word about helping the student with questions as long as it is about something from his book. I will say I found out though even though he book is meant for beginners and I am just a noob, I had some issues with sublime and found that using Anaconda much easier.

This book starts you from the basics from installing python to writing your first program. i am a good couple chapters in and i love how it’s written. everything is clearly explained with diagrams to help you troubleshoot your programs. it also has included projects that teach you while you make something. the book encourages you to experiment with what it’s teaching you to learn. it really is a great book to help learn python and i highly recommend it.

Fantastic book, especially for beginners. Actually the best book ever to learn Python. Clear and easy to understand. Everything is explained very well. Just to let you know I have read at least 50 other Python beginners books, and this is the champion. The problem is that 99% of the beginners books are written by experienced programmers who are unfortunately horrible teachers. This book is the exception and gives you more confidence that you can actually learn Python.

Python was a new language for me. I had programed primarily in C and then c#. Love python and this book is an excellent introduction to python. Every line of code for the projects is in the book and explained line by line. I recommend it even if you have no programing experience.

I bought this book to teach myself python after learning C++ and its very understandable and easy to read. Everything it teaches is clear and precise so if you are learning for school or self teaching I recommend this book! Its so good I logged onto my account a 3AM in the morning to write a review! FR though this is a good book you won't regret it.

Worth while purchase, very detailed explanation of basics that you can easily build upon and very easy to understand. Go through what this books offer and if that's what you're looking for then you'll not regret this purchase.

Taken back from the price to value ratio with this book, a few hundred pages and great starter and novice explanations and elaborations. Even has you follow along with practices from within the book. I’m talking my first year of SD classes and this book is helping a lot with the python side of it.

I have been trying to learn a python for five years using video courses. I decided to switch things up and try learning from a book. This is the book to get. I'm finally understanding concepts I have spent years trying to internalize.

This book is amazing and in a ouple hours I've been able to learn functions,variables,values and strings. Also with the basic knowledge that I learned so far with the book I was able to create a simple program that says and greets my friend's name in order.

The content of the book is great though I wish the font size was larger. The pacing of the course is perfect for me. No complaints regarding the content. The lessons are in nice, bite sized chunks and work perfectly for me since I cannot sit down for long stretches but have to squeeze in some lessons and readings periodically over the course of the day.

Just as I expected, learning programing is not a simple subject, yet author does a great work.

Great book. It can be used for anyone with beginning knowledge. A must have book. Videos do not cover the pieces that the author covers here. I wish I had read this book a few years ago. Great job Eric!

Very informative, well organized, easy to understand. practical examples and projects. Love it!

I recommend this Book. It is excellent to starting learning Python. Really was much better that I ever waited. Just I suggest to add exercises more complex that need to be resolved with matters included in before chapters. Thank so much to the author, Eric Matthes. You should be very proud, cause really You did a very good job.

Save your money! Another terrible book that wastes good paper using 450 pages of the 500 pages to show reader how to build some stupid program to demonstrate usage. I don't need to know how to code a list of cars, weather, scores, etc. The important thing is 'how to code a list' not, the all details that go into the list Perhaps even worse is most everything Amazon delivers STINKS from Perfume/Cologne that rubs onto my hands. I put this book into the Trash so quickly I almost tripped going out the door so fast to toss it... It's no wonder Amazon no longer reveals internal pages in the Quick-Look!

I’m really impressed with this book. It breaks down the fundamentals into easily digestible and implementable pieces. The language is concise and the examples are easy to customize into something more meaningful to what I am trying to do. I’ve owned 3 other books on Python and took an undergrad course in it but this is by far the best resource I’ve used.

I got this book for some added material in one of my programming courses and it’s helped a ton! It’s a really good step by step guide and has you try a lot of the code on your own so you can see how it all works out

3rd day and the cover is already coming unglued. Hoping the content holds up. Odd that the publisher is called No Starch Press....maybe they need to use starch to glue their book together.

If your dedicated to learning Python this book will help you on your way…

I highly recommend this book for those who want to learn the basics Python. It goes through great details and explains things very clearly with examples of what to do and what to avoid doing.

Great book. I’m on chapter 7 now and I am really happy with how the content is laid out in plain English and goes through each line of code step-by-step.

Well worth the 20. Not sure if I'll stick with python though.. I've worked with Java before and I sucked. I'm giving python a try though. Liking things so far. I am looking forward to any python books the author has to offer in the future. Thanks.

I have several "no starch press " books and have used them all for reference purposes. Python Crash course has covered many topics very well. I'm very pleased with it.

The only thing I have noticed so far is that the index pages in the back skip a few things. I believe a page was left out, I tried to look up integers and numbers, there is no M, N, and O in the index section. Very detailed on everything I have looked up so far and I am very happy with the book.

This book has taught me again that not everything that is popular is necessarly good or even moderately good. The pace is incredibly slow, like it was written for little children. The exercises are a joke - they don't make you *think*, they are very simplistic. The thing that is most annoying is that every chapter he writes something like "You will use lists when you, for example, want to write a game where you shoot aliens and want to remove aliens that were shot down" when it is clear that you won't get anywhere near that level of programming ability by reading this useless book. If you want a good book, don't go by what I say but go to the official python site at python.org and buy one of the books that they recommend for beginners. I bought the first book on the list and although the exercises are much harder it is by far a better book.

The book is well structured with useful examples to follow. The focus is on best practices. The exercises are semi-cumulative and galvanize the reader to think of the different ways a task can be accomplished. If you put in a small amount of effort, this book will give you much in return.

The information and examples inside the book are excellent and I'm learning very much. It's well written and everything is explained thoroughly for a real beginner like myself. I didn't give it five stars because the binding of the book broke after a few weeks of normal use. The book looks like its near new condition, but the binding is broken. Kind of a pain to have to fix it after a short period of time.

Tried taking online courses to learn python and hated that structure. This book is well written and easy to understand. Only had it for a week and can't put it down. Makes learning Python fun!

Content is really good. But as seen in other reviews, the glue holding the cover gives out and the cover falls off.

Dijo que están muy bien estructurados los temas y que aprendió mucho

Unfortunately I have to agree the glue at the base of the book, is not adhering to the pages. Other wise great information, in a manageable, section read. That wants you to do the actual work. An not just read it.

So far so good. On the 5th chapter currently; the book is pretty straight forward and walks you through step by step. Would recommend for beginners with no previous coding experience.

Don't waste your time watching videos, stick with this book if you need to write a code. I wrote some code :) Thanks. Eric Matthes!

As a developer in other languages, this book was a little too beginner for me, it spends chapters going over basic data types, arrays (lists), things that anyone would already know if they've wrote code in other languages. I don't mean to imply the book is bad, I imagine if I had no experience this is a great way to get into it, but I was disappointed when I read the introduction and it mentioned the target audience was a widespread target of people with no coding experience to college course students; reading that I knew and confirmed after some reading that it was going to have some painfully basic parts.

Loved this book. Nicely explains basic concepts along with code. Each code line is explained properly. Lots of code lines to explain. Three projects at the end are really great way to enforce language and also to introduce different Python modules. I found them really helpful.

I agree with other commentors. Book binding is meh, but the content is great for a beginner. The book clearly walks through examples and exercises. Additional, the book teaches good coding practices!

I read the review before being this book and to be honest I was torn, however this book is 10/10 for me. Give it a try. It breaks down "complex" problems into direct and clear solutions. You don't have to go back and forth trying to catch up with his flow. I'm not even half way and I can super vouch for this book.

Great book but it was too large for my use so I got the PDF. Doesn't take away from the content or anything!

Excellent book, clearly written, and with several interesting and challenging exercises to improve your Python skills. Totally recommended!

Super helpful and effective format &tips!

Have programmed in other languages. This book enabled a quick jump start understanding some python syntax. Good first book.

Using this book along side my course work has helped immensely! The examples in this book are very helpful by providing real world application.

I have been trying to pick up (again) my coding skills and this book has been the best one so far. There are a few errors or less than clear instructions, but overall I have been very happy. The online support materials are great as well.

Great beginner book,easy to understand, lots of examples, fun projects. Great for kids, those real life applications is very inspiring.

Has been a vital go-to of my learning and understanding of Python. Could not recommend this book more.

I would strongly recommend this for beginners!

This book finally helped me learned python after feel stuck and confused for months. It breaks it down and explains it beautifully. If you’re struggling with python on completely new to this then this is the go to book.

Exctoed about the books content which I know will prob be great. But not hyped about the fact I can see the other side through the binding. Very annoying that I have to proactively buy book glue for a week or month from now when the cover comes off. To get the Real cost of book you have to add $7-$11 for book glue. Bought this thinking they fixed the binding with all the complaints 6/29/20

My wife’s is a teacher but new to programming and has been trying to learn using a variety of methods, but had been struggling. This is the first book that has really clicked. Both the text and exercises are excellent.