Think Python

Several years ago, when I was learning about Python for the first time, I read the online book: "How to think like a computer scientist". Today I just finished Think Python: How To Think Like a Computer Scientist by Allen B. Downey (free e-version) which is an evolved version of this book.

You should read this book if you want to learn programming or if you want to learn python. But if you already have advanced programming skills then I would suggest to just skim the free online version and spend your money on a more advanced python book.

Think Python starts with the most basic things like operators, variables and assignment then functions, conditionals, recursion and iteration are introduced, followed up with strings, lists , dictionaries and tuples. The next chapter is a practical chapter on files and the book ends with 4 chapters introducing object oriented programming. Between the different chapters there are 4 case studies where the learned concepts and techniques are applied.

What you won't learn in this book: 

• what the different standard libraries are
• web development in python
• popular (scientific) libraries like numpy
• writing (unit) tests for your programs
• Python 3, except some small remarks

What I particularly  liked:

• the information about debugging your programs at the end of every chapter and the appendix 
• the step by step introduction to object-oriented programming
• the case studies
• the exercises
• the glossary at the end of every chapter

As you might have inferred from the above, this book is not a reference book (we have the web for that) but a book that learns you to think like a programmer.

An alternative way to learn Python is Learn Python the Hard Way (html) (pdf + epub + video) by Zed Shaw.

Other books by Allen B. Downey:

• Think Complexity: Exploring Complexity Science with Python (free e-version) 
• Think Stats: Probability and Statistics for Programmers (free e-version) 
• Think Bayes (free e-version) 
• Think OS: A Brief Introduction to Operating Systems (free e-version)

If you want to improve your Python skills then take a look at this list of advanced books. I especially liked Expert Python Programming by Tarek Ziadé.