Best Python Books

by Bradley Nice, Content Manager at ClickHelp.com — software documentation tool

Let’s ask Wikipedia what kind of language Python is.

Python is a widely used high-level programming language for general-purpose programming […]. An interpreted language, Python has a design philosophy which emphasizes code readability […] and a syntax which allows programmers to express concepts in fewer lines of code than might be used in languages such as C++ or Java.

So what are the top Python books?

Python Crash Course: A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming (eBook — $20.36, paperback — $24.17)

Python Crash Course is a fast-paced, thorough introduction to programming with Python that will have you writing programs, solving problems, and making things that work in no time.

In the first half of the book, you’ll learn about basic programming concepts, such as lists, dictionaries, classes, and loops, and practice writing clean and readable code with exercises for each topic. You’ll also learn how to make your programs interactive and how to test your code safely before adding it to a project. In the second half of the book, you’ll put your new knowledge into practice with three substantial projects: a Space Invaders-inspired arcade game, data visualizations with Python’s super-handy libraries, and a simple web app you can deploy online.

As you work through Python Crash Course, you’ll learn how to:

• Use powerful Python libraries and tools, including matplotlib, NumPy, and Pygal;
• Make 2D games that respond to keypresses and mouse clicks, and that grow more difficult as the game progresses;
• Work with data to generate interactive visualizations;
• Create and customize simple web apps and deploy them safely online;
• Deal with mistakes and errors so you can solve your own programming problems.

Learning Python (eBook — $33.03, paperback — $42.44)

Get a comprehensive, in-depth introduction to the core Python language with this hands-on book. Based on author Mark Lutz’s popular training course, this updated fifth edition will help you quickly write efficient, high-quality code with Python. It’s an ideal way to begin, whether you’re new to programming or a professional developer versed in other languages.

Complete with quizzes, exercises, and helpful illustrations, this easy-to-follow, self-paced tutorial gets you started with both Python 2.7 and 3.3 — the latest releases in the 3.X and 2.X lines — plus all other releases in common use today. You’ll also learn some advanced language features that recently have become more common in Python code.

• Explore Python’s major built-in object types such as numbers, lists, and dictionaries;
• Create and process objects with Python statements, and learn Python’s general syntax model;
• Use functions to avoid code redundancy and package code for reuse;
• Organize statements, functions, and other tools into larger components with modules;
• Dive into classes: Python’s object-oriented programming tool for structuring code;
• Write large programs with Python’s exception-handling model and development tools;
• Learn advanced Python tools, including decorators, descriptors, metaclasses, and Unicode processing.

Fluent Python: Clear, Concise, and Effective Programming (eBook — $29.49, paperback — $39.90)

Python’s simplicity lets you become productive quickly, but this often means you aren’t using everything it has to offer. With this hands-on guide, you’ll learn how to write effective, idiomatic Python code by leveraging its best — and possibly most neglected — features. Author Luciano Ramalho takes you through Python’s core language features and libraries, and shows you how to make your code shorter, faster, and more readable at the same time.

Many experienced programmers try to bend Python to fit patterns they learned from other languages, and never discover Python features outside of their experience. With this book, those Python programmers will thoroughly learn how to become proficient in Python 3.

This book covers:

• Python data model: understand how special methods are the key to the consistent behavior of objects;
• Data structures: take full advantage of built-in types, and understand the text vs bytes duality in the Unicode age;
• Functions as objects: view Python functions as first-class objects, and understand how this affects popular design patterns;
• Object-oriented idioms: build classes by learning about references, mutability, interfaces, operator overloading, and multiple inheritance;
• Control flow: leverage context managers, generators, coroutines, and concurrency with the concurrent.futures and asyncio packages;
• Metaprogramming: understand how properties, attribute descriptors, class decorators, and metaclasses work.

Effective Python: 59 Specific Ways to Write Better Python (eBook — $20.38, paperback — $23.78)

It’s easy to start writing code with Python: that’s why the language is so immensely popular. However, Python has unique strengths, charms, and expressivity that can be hard to grasp at first — as well as hidden pitfalls that can easily trip you up if you aren’t aware of them. Effective Python will help you harness the full power of Python to write exceptionally robust, efficient, maintainable, and well-performing code. Utilizing the concise, scenario-driven style pioneered in Scott Meyers’s best-selling Effective C++, Brett Slatkin brings together 59 Python best practices, tips, shortcuts, and realistic code examples from expert programmers.

Drawing on his deep understanding of Python’s capabilities, Slatkin offers practical advice for each major area of development with both Python 3.x and Python 2.x. Coverage includes:

• Algorithms
• Objects
• Concurrency
• Collaboration
• Built-in modules
• Production techniques
• And more

Each section contains specific, actionable guidelines organized into items, each with carefully worded advice supported by detailed technical arguments and illuminating examples. Using Effective Python, you can systematically improve all the Python code you write: not by blindly following rules or mimicking incomprehensible idioms, but by gaining a deep understanding of the technical reasons why they make sense.

Python Cookbook (eBook — $27.72, paperback — $30.45)

If you need help writing programs in Python 3, or want to update older Python 2 code, this book is just the ticket. Packed with practical recipes written and tested with Python 3.3, this unique cookbook is for experienced Python programmers who want to focus on modern tools and idioms.

Inside, you’ll find complete recipes for more than a dozen topics, covering the core Python language as well as tasks common to a wide variety of application domains. Each recipe contains code samples you can use in your projects right away, along with a discussion about how and why the solution works.

Topics include:

• Data Structures and Algorithms
• Strings and Text
• Numbers, Dates, and Times
• Iterators and Generators
• Files and I/O
• Data Encoding and Processing
• Functions
• Classes and Objects
• Metaprogramming
• Modules and Packages
• Network and Web Programming
• Concurrency
• Utility Scripting and System Administration
• Testing, Debugging, and Exceptions
• C Extensions

More Python ebooks are available here for free.

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Have a nice day!

Bradley Nice,
Content Manager at ClickHelp.com — best online documentation tool for SaaS vendors