refs.mdwn

References and further reading on Python

Tutorials and introductions

• The Python tutorial The "official" tutorial for the Python 2.7 language. Originally from Guido van Rossum (Python's creator) and enhanced with contributions from several people in the Python community, it is written in a clear and terse style that makes it an excellent reading and introduction to Python.

  Covers syntax, built-in types and data structures, object-orientation in Python and introduces the basic functionality available in the Python standard library.

• Google's Python Class Introduction to Python by Google's engineer Nick Parlante. Includes written material and videos of the lectures.

• Python for Java Programmers A tutorial introduction to Python: assuming you already know Java, it presents the equivalent Python code for a number of examples and explains the differences.

• An introduction to the Zen of Python Slides by Doug Hellmann, illustrating Python by examples.

• Introduction to Python Part 2, Part 3 A set of slides covering the almost the same topics as these lectures, but with a slightly different angle and more attention to detail :-)

Further reading and advanced courses

• Idiomatic Python A presentation of Python programming idioms for writing better (simpler, cleaner and often faster) code, by David Goodger.

  Especially useful if you are already versed in programming with other languages, as Python has some distinctively unique features that can make a difference in the way you write code.

• The Zen of Python in 3 days Great set of slides from a 3-day course, covering topics from the very basics of Python programming to advanced real-world topics like SQL ORM usage and web programming.

• Python training for Java Programmers Slides by Guido van Rossum; also interesting content about program organisation and structure. (Maybe some details are outdated now.)

Python 2 vs. Python 3

• Differences between Python 2 and Python 3

• An IPython notebook showing the key differences between Python 2.7 and Python 3.x

Object-oriented Programming in Python

• OOP Concepts in Python 2.x A complete and detailed series of blog posts, introducing both Object-Oriented Programming and how it is done in Python 2.

Specific topics

• The Python 2.3 Method Resolution Order A detailed still very readable explanation of how Python searches for methods in multiple-inheritance hierarchies.

• An introductory guide to what magic methods are It still lacks some material on how to write magic methods, but it's definitely a good start and much better than what the stdlib documentation has.

• The Light and Dark Side of Python Name Binding A deep-dive into Python assignment and attribute lookup semantics, including advanced topics like the "descriptor protocol" for classes.

Learn by doing

• The Python challenge

  A puzzle game where you advance through levels by writing Python code.

• Python Koans

  Learn Python and TDD by writing automated tests for small Python code snippets.