Learning python

[robertray 41]

Hi,

Equix3n

Posted this link over at EH

Thought it might be useful here.

http://code.google.com/intl/ru/edu/languages/google-python-class/

[Constantino 0]

That seems fine. Here is another two:

Dive Into Python - free e-book for beginners

Python Documentation - python has a great documentation

[robertray 41]

Thanks for that. Still struggling at the moment with time but will come back to these. Good share :-)

[robertray 41]

Any other non programmers I think will find this useful:

[robertray 41]

Full course: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-00-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-fall-2008/

[Bluntlee 1]

very nice find

[Armando 156]

That video made me think a lot.

The computer engineering classes that I took all begun with saying "You idiots don't know how to code and produce poor code. Your exam is gonna be a nightmare". Different ways to make students "comfortable".

[robertray 41]

I enjoyed this video lesson quite a bit. I plan to watch the rest, I watched the first two and will come back to these. I have also downloaded and printed this off.

http://learnpythonthehardway.org/index

[ficti0n 2]

Hey Rob, if you are trying to get better at python always remember a few key factors, most important being:

"1 hour of study for every 2 hours of practice"

This is a rule that i sometimes forget when learning new topics, in the case of python the way I got past my stumbling blocks was to think of something on a penetration test that is always kicking my butt and then build a extensive tool to solve the problem. And build it in a way that you can keep extending functionality. The tool may take you a full week of 8 hour days to complete but through that process you will get much better... For me I built a SQL injection tool which forced me to learn about web programming and regexes. Then I built a tool that communicated with VOIP servers and made calls and brute-forced cellphone passwords, then I created tools with Scapy to learn more about packet manipulation.. and finally I programmed my database pillaging tool... THen i have a whole bunch of small stuff I made for singular tasks under 100 lines of code that were neat and solved a problem, but I think the bigger the project the more you learn becuase you have to manage multiple files and handle all kinds of issues

My point being that you should pick a project that will be relatively large in size and then pursue it until its finished with only reading and learning new python topics not more then half the time you spend coding :)

Just some friendly advice from my own experiences... as far as resources go, I read a bit of the new "Head first python" book which I thought was very well done, especially for that series of books which tends to be on and off as far as quality.

Edited April 14, 2011 by ficti0n

[robertray 41]

Thanks.

[ficti0n 2]

Thanks.

Yep hope that was helpful...

[illumina 1]

Yep hope that was helpful...

Head first programming + Head First Python were the two books I purchased to learn python with (coming from a non-programming background). Started it, and got a little way into it (also enjoyed the style - very easy going), but I got distracted with ELS and getting through this first

[robertray 41]

Not surprised about the distraction. Your head could spin right off with the amount of information you could be trying to digest from the content. Often sending you on a mission of discovery, then what do you know a week has passed in the blink of an eye.

[robertray 41]

http://code.google.com/p/pycit/

[garduino 2]

Sorry being late here, but a good Python course I found is on the free magazine FullCircle, http://fullcirclemagazine.org/downloads/ The Python course started in number 23.

Cheers.

[illumina 1]

Not surprised about the distraction. Your head could spin right off with the amount of information you could be trying to digest from the content. Often sending you on a mission of discovery, then what do you know a week has passed in the blink of an eye.

Having said that, I've now started going dedicated through the "Head First Programming With Python" book, and it's great Learning heaps, and it's really easy to understand!