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<h1>Best Python Resources</h1>

<p>The Python community is amazing at sharing detailed resources and helping

beginners learn to program with the language. There are so many resources

out there though that it can be difficult to know how to find them. </p>

<p>This page aggregates the best Python resources with a brief description of

how it fits one's learning purpose. </p>

<p>Looking for information on Python development environments? There's a

<a href="/development-environments.html">whole other page for editors and IDEs</a>.</p>

<h2>New to programming</h2>

<p>If you're learning your first programming language these books were written

with you in mind. Developers learning Python as a second or later language

should skip down to the next section for "experienced developers".</p>

<p>If you've never programmed before check out the

<a href="http://learntocodewith.me/getting-started/">Getting Started</a> page on

<a href="http://learntocodewith.me/">Learn To Code with Me</a>

by <a href="https://twitter.com/lebdev">Laurence Bradford</a>. She's done an

incredible job of breaking down the steps beginners should take when

they're uncertain about where to begin.</p>

<p>To get an introduction to both Python and Django at the same time, purchase

<a href="http://www.realpython.com/">Real Python</a> by Fletcher, Michael, and Jeremy.</p>

<p><a href="http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/">Learn Python the Hard Way</a> is a

free book by Zed Shaw.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.diveinto.org/python3/">Dive into Python 3</a> is an open source

book provided under the Creative Commons license and available in HTML or

PDF form.</p>

<p><a href="http://pymbook.readthedocs.org/en/latest/">Python for You and Me</a> (pym) is

an online book for people completely unfamiliar with the Python programming

language.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/python/">A Byte of Python</a> is a beginner's

tutorial for the Python language. </p>

<p>Code Academy has a <a href="http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/python">Python track</a>

for people completely new to programming.</p>

<p><a href="http://opentechschool.github.io/python-beginners/en/index.html">Introduction to Programming with Python</a>

goes over the basic syntax and control structures in Python. The free book

has numerous code examples to go along with each topic.</p>

<p>The O'Reilly book

<a href="http://greenteapress.com/thinkpython/html/index.html">Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist</a>

is available in HTML form for free on the web.</p>

<p><a href="http://anandology.com/python-practice-book/index.html">Python Practice Book</a>

is a book of Python exercises to help you learn the basic language syntax.</p>

<p>Looking for ideas about what projects to use to learn to code? Check out

<a href="https://medium.com/learning-journalism-tech/five-mini-programming-projects-for-the-python-beginner-21492f6ce0f3">this list of 5 programming project for Python beginners</a>.</p>

<p>I wrote a quick blog post on

<a href="http://www.mattmakai.com/learning-python-for-non-developers.html">learning Python</a>

that non-technical folks trying to learn to program may find useful.</p>

<h2>Experienced developers new to Python</h2>

<p><a href="http://learnxinyminutes.com/docs/python/">Learn Python in y minutes</a>

provides a whirlwind tour of the Python language. The guide is especially

useful if you're coming in with previous software development experience

and want to quickly grasp how the language is structured.</p>

<p><a href="http://pymbook.readthedocs.org/en/latest/">Python for you and me</a> is an

approachable book with sections for Python syntax and the major language

constructs. The book also contains a short guide at the end to get

programmers to write their first Flask web application.</p>

<p>Kenneth Reitz's

<a href="http://docs.python-guide.org/en/latest/">The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Python</a>

contains a wealth of information both on the Python programming language and the community.</p>

<p><a href="https://districtdatalabs.silvrback.com/how-to-develop-quality-python-code">How to Develop Quality Python Code</a>

is a good read to begin learning about development environments,

application dependencies and project structure.</p>

<p><a href="https://developers.google.com/edu/python/">Google's Python Class</a> contains

lecture videos and exercises for learning Python.</p>

<p>Check out the <a href="http://www.realpython.com/blog/">Real Python! Blog</a> for a great

set of relevant posts about Python web development topics.</p>

<h2>Beyond the basics</h2>

<p><a href="http://mirnazim.org/writings/python-ecosystem-introduction/">The Python Ecosystem: An Introduction</a>

provides context for virtual machines, Python packaging, pip, virutalenv

and many other topics after learning the basic Python syntax. </p>

<p>The <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/python">Python Subreddit</a> rolls up great

Python links and has an active community ready to answer questions from

beginners and advanced Python developers alike.</p>

<p><a href="http://jessenoller.com/good-to-great-python-reads/">Good to Great Python Reads</a>

is a collection of intermediate and advanced Python articles around the web

focused on nuances and details of the Python language itself.</p>

<p>The blog <a href="http://freepythontips.wordpress.com/">Free Python Tips</a> provides

posts on Python topics as well as news for the Python ecosystem.</p>

<p><a href="http://pythonbooks.revolunet.com/">Python Books</a> is a collection of freely

available books on Python, Django, and data analysis.</p>

<h2>Videos, screencasts and presentations</h2>

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/heddle317">Kate Heddleston</a> gave a talk at PyCon 2014

called

"<a href="http://pyvideo.org/video/2591/so-you-want-to-be-a-full-stack-developer-how-to">Full-stack Python Web Applications</a>"

with clear visuals for how numerous layers of the Python web

stack fit together. There are also <a href="https://speakerdeck.com/pycon2014/so-you-want-to-be-a-full-stack-developer-how-to-build-a-full-stack-python-web-application-by-kate-heddleston">slides available from the talk</a>

with all the diagrams.</p>

<p>My <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6NaOKD40rY">EuroPython 2014 "Full Stack Python"</a>

talk goes over each topic from this guide and provides context for how the

pieces fit together.

The <a href="http://www.mattmakai.com/presentations/2014-full-stack-python-berlin.html">talk slides</a> are also available.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.neckbeardrepublic.com/">Neckbeard Republic</a> provides free

screencasts for learning intermediate topics. I typically prefer to learn

by reading. However, these videos are helpful in seeing the code on the

screen instead of just looking at static code snippets.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.pyvideo.org/">PyVideo</a> organizes and indexes thousands of Python

videos from both major conferences and meetups.</p>

<h2>Curated Python packages lists</h2>

<p><a href="https://github.com/vinta/awesome-python">awesome-python</a> is an incredible

list of Python frameworks, libraries and software. I wish I had this

page when I was just getting started. </p>

<p><a href="http://easy-python.readthedocs.org/en/latest/">easy-python</a> is like

awesome-python although instead of just a Git repository this site is

in the Read the Docs format.</p>

<h2>Newsletters</h2>

<p><a href="http://www.pythonweekly.com/">Python Weekly</a> is a free weekly roundup

of the latest Python articles, videos, projects, and upcoming events.</p>

<p><a href="http://pycoders.com/">PyCoder's Weekly</a> is another great free weekly

email newsletter similar to Python Weekly. The best resources are generally

covered in both newsletters but they often cover different articles

and projects from around the web.</p>

<p><a href="http://importpython.com/newsletter/">Import Python</a> is a newer newsletter

thank Python Weekly and PyCoder's Weekly. So far I've found this newsletter

covers different sources from other newsletters. It's well worth subscribing

to all three so you don't miss anything.</p>

<h3>Those resources should help get you started. What's next?</h3>

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<h3 class="panel-head"><a href="/table-of-contents.html" style="color: #fff;">Table of Contents</a></h3>

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<a href="/introduction.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Introduction</a>

<a href="/web-frameworks.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Web Frameworks</a>

<a href="/django.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Django</a>

<a href="/flask.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Flask</a>

<a href="/vim.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Vim</a>

<a href="/bottle.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Bottle</a>

<a href="/morepath.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Morepath</a>

<a href="/other-web-frameworks.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Other Web Frameworks</a>

<a href="/deployment.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Deployment</a>

<a href="/servers.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Servers</a>

<a href="/platform-as-a-service.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Platform-as-a-service</a>

<a href="/operating-systems.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Operating Systems</a>

<a href="/web-servers.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Web Servers</a>

<a href="/wsgi-servers.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">WSGI Servers</a>

<a href="/source-control.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Source Control</a>

<a href="/application-dependencies.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Application Dependencies</a>

<a href="/databases.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Databases</a>

<a href="/no-sql-datastore.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">NoSQL Data Stores</a>

<a href="/pyramid.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Pyramid</a>

<a href="/web-design.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Web Design</a>

<a href="/cascading-style-sheets.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Cascading Style Sheets</a>

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<a href="/continuous-integration.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Continuous Integration</a>

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<a href="/web-application-security.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Web Application Security</a>

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<a href="/development-environments.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Development Environments</a>

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<a href="/future-directions.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Future Directions</a>

<a href="/what-full-stack-means.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">What "Full Stack" Means</a>

<a href="/why-use-python.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Why Use Python?</a>

<a href="/websockets.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">WebSockets</a>

<a href="/docker.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item ">Docker</a>

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<div class="panel-heading"><h3 class="panel-head">Best Python Resources</h3></div>

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<a href="/">Full Stack Python</a> is an open book that explains

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<a href="http://twitter.com/mattmakai">Matt Makai</a> built

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