Learn Python the Hard Way, 5th Edition

You Will Learn Python!

Zed Shaw has created the world's most reliable system for learning Python. Follow it and you will succeed--just like the millions of beginners Zed has taught to date! You bring the discipline, persistence, and attention; the author supplies the masterful knowledge you need to succeed.

In Learn Python the Hard Way, Fifth Edition, you'll learn Python by working through 60 lovingly crafted exercises. Read them. Type in the code. Run it. Fix your mistakes. Repeat. As you do, you'll learn how a computer works, how to solve problems, and how to enjoy programming . . . even when it's driving you crazy.

Install a complete Python environment
Organize and write code
Fix and break code
Basic mathematics
Strings and text
Interact with users
Work with files
Looping and logic
Object-oriented programming
Data structures using lists and dictionaries
Modules, classes, and objects
Python packaging
Automated testing
Basic SQL for Data Science
Web scraping
Fixing bad data (munging)
The "Data" part of "Data Science"

It'll be frustrating at first. But if you keep trying, you'll get it--and it'll feel amazing! This course will reward you for every minute you put into it. Soon, you'll know one of the world's most powerful, popular programming languages. You'll be a Python programmer.

This Book Is Perfect For

Total beginners with zero programming experience
Junior developers who know one or two languages
Returning professionals who haven't written code in years
Aspiring Data Scientists or academics who need to learn to code
Seasoned professionals looking for a fast, simple crash course in Python for Data Science

Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.

Title: Learn Python the Hard Way, 5th Edition
Subtitle: A Deceptively Simple Introduction to the Terrifyingly Beautiful World of Computers and Data Science
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Author(s): Zed A. Shaw
Published: 2024-03-13
Edition: 5
Format: eBook (pdf, epub, mobi)
Pages: 352
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0138270570
ISBN-13: 9780138270575
License: Read online for free
Book Homepage: Free eBook, Errata, Code, Solutions, etc.

Cover Page
About This eBook
Halftitle Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Preface
    Improvements in the Fifth Edition
    Acknowledgments
Module 1: Getting Started in Python
    Exercise 0. Gearing Up
        General Instructions
        Minimalist Start
        Complete Instructions
        Testing Your Setup
        Learning the Command Line
        Next Steps
    Exercise 1. A Good First Program
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
        The Blue Plus
    Exercise 2. Comments and Pound Characters
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 3. Numbers and Math
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 4. Variables and Names
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 5. More Variables and Printing
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 6. Strings and Text
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Break It
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 7. Combining Strings
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Break It
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 8. Formatting Strings Manually
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 9. Multi-Line Strings
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 10. Escape Codes in Strings
        What You Should See
        Escape Sequences
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 11. Asking People Questions
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 12. An Easier Way to Prompt
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 13. Parameters, Unpacking, Variables
        Code Description
        Hold Up! Features Have Another Name
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 14. Prompting and Passing
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 15. Reading Files
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 16. Reading and Writing Files
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 17. More Files
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
Module 2: The Basics of Programming
    Exercise 18. Names, Variables, Code, Functions
        Exercise Code
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 19. Functions and Variables
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 20. Functions and Files
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 21. Functions Can Return Something
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 22. Strings, Bytes, and Character Encodings
        Initial Research
        Switches, Conventions, and Encodings
        Dissecting the Output
        Dissecting the Code
        Encodings Deep Dive
        Breaking It
    Exercise 23. Introductory Lists
        Accessing Elements of a List
        Practicing Lists
        The Code
        The Challenge
        Final Challenge
    Exercise 24. Introductory Dictionaries
        Key/Value Structures
        Combining Lists with Data Objects
        The Code
        What You Should See
        The Challenge
        Final Challenge
    Exercise 25. Dictionaries and Functions
        Step 1: Function Names Are Variables
        Step 2: Dictionaries with Variables
        Step 3: Dictionaries with Functions
        Step 4: Deciphering the Last Line
        Study Drill
    Exercise 26. Dictionaries and Modules
        Step 1: Review of import
        Step 2: Find the __dict__
        Step 3: Change the __dict__
        Study Drill: Find the “Dunders”
    Exercise 27. The Five Simple Rules to the Game of Code
        Rule 1: Everything Is a Sequence of Instructions
        Rule 2: Jumps Make the Sequence Non-Linear
        Rule 3: Tests Control Jumps
        Rule 4: Storage Controls Tests
        Rule 5: Input/Output Controls Storage
        Putting It All Together
    Exercise 28. Memorizing Logic
        The Truth Terms
        The Truth Tables
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 29. Boolean Practice
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 30. What If
        What You Should See
        dis() It
        Study Drill
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 31. Else and If
        What You Should See
        dis() It
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 32. Making Decisions
        What You Should See
        dis() It
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 33. Loops and Lists
        What You Should See
        dis() It
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 34. While Loops
        What You Should See
        dis() It
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 35. Branches and Functions
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 36. Designing and Debugging
        From Idea to Working Code
        Rules for If-Statements
        Rules for Loops
        Tips for Debugging
        Homework
    Exercise 37. Symbol Review
        Keywords
        Data Types
        String Escape Sequences
        Old-Style String Formats
        Operators
        Reading Code
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
Module 3: Applying What You Know
    Exercise 38. Beyond Jupyter for Windows
        Why Learn PowerShell?
        What Is PowerShell?
        Crash Landing
    Exercise 39. Beyond Jupyter for macOS/Linux
        macOS Troubles
        Why Learn Bash or ZSH?
        What Is Bash?
        Crash Landing
    Exercise 40. Advanced Developer Tools
        Managing conda Environments
        Adding conda-forge
        Using pip
        Using a .condarc
        General Editing Tips
        Going Further
    Exercise 41. A Project Skeleton
        Activate an Environment
        Just Use cookiecutter
        Building Your Project
        Installing Your Project
        Testing the Install
        Remove test-project
        Common Errors
        Study Drills
    Exercise 42. Doing Things to Lists
        What You Should See
        What Lists Can Do
        When to Use Lists
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 43. Doing Things to Dictionaries
        A Dictionary Example
        What You Should See
        What Dictionaries Can Do
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 44. From Dictionaries to Objects
        Step 1: Passing a Dict to a Function
        Step 2: talk inside the Dict
        Step 3: Closures
        Step 4: A Person Constructor
        Study Drills
    Exercise 45. Basic Object-Oriented Programming
        Python’s People
        Using dir() and __dict__
        About the Dot (.)
        Terminology
        A Word on self
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 46. Inheritance and Advanced OOP
        How This Looks in Code
        About class Name(object)
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 47. Basic Object-Oriented Analysis and Design
        The Analysis of a Simple Game Engine
        Top Down versus Bottom Up
        The Code for “Gothons from Planet Percal #25”
        What You Should See
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 48. Inheritance versus Composition
        What Is Inheritance?
        The Reason for super()
        Composition
        When to Use Inheritance or Composition
        Study Drill
        Common Student Questions
    Exercise 49. You Make a Game
        Evaluating Your Game
        Function Style
        Class Style
        Code Style
        Good Comments
        Evaluate Your Game
    Exercise 50. Automated Testing
        What Is the Purpose of Testing?
        How to Test Efficiently
        Install PyTest
        Simple PyTest Demo
        Running pytest
        Exceptions and try/except
        Getting Coverage Reports
        Study Drills
        Common Student Questions
Module 4: Python and Data Science
    Exercise 51. What Is Data Munging?
        Why Data Munging?
        The Problem
        The Setup
        How to Code
        Process Example
        Solution Strategies
        Awesome ETL Tools
        Study Drills
    Exercise 52. Scraping Data from the Web
        Introducing with
        The Problem
        The Setup
        The Clue
        Awesome Scraping Tools
        Study Drills
    Exercise 53. Getting Data from APIs
        Introducing JSON
        The Problem
        The Setup
        The Clue
        Awesome API Tools
        Study Drills
    Exercise 54. Data Conversion with pandas
        Introducing Pandoc
        The Problem
        The Setup
        The Clue
        Study Drills
    Exercise 55. How to Read Documentation (Featuring pandas)
        Why Programmer Documentation Sucks
        How to Actively Read Programmer Docs
        Step #1: Find the Docs
        Step #2: Determine Your Strategy
        Step #3: Code First, Docs Second
        Step #4: Break or Change the Code
        Step #5: Take Notes
        Step #6: Use It on Your Own
        Step #7: Write About What You Learned
        Step #8: What’s the Gestalt?
        Reading My pandas Curriculum
    Exercise 56. Using Only pandas
        Make a Project
        The Problem
        The Setup
        Study Drill
    Exercise 57. The SQL Crash Course
        What Is SQL?
        The Setup
        Fixing and Loading
        Create, Read, Update, Delete
        SELECT
        Date and Time
        INSERT
        UPDATE
        DELETE and Transactions
        Math, Aggregates, and GROUP BY
        Python Access
    Exercise 58. SQL Normalization
        What Is Normalization?
        First Normal Form
        Second Normal Form (2NF)
        Querying 2NF Data
        Querying with Joins
        Study Drills
    Exercise 59. SQL Relationships
        One-to-Many (1:M)
        Many-to-Many (M:M)
        One-to-One (1:1)
        Attributed Relations
        Querying M:M Tables
        Your Last Study Drill
    Exercise 60. Advice from an Even Older Programmer
Index
Code Snippets