I am looking for a resource which teaches from a beginner perspective, solid programming principles and practice, good use of Python 3 syntax and constructs (idioms of Python), is well proofread, and has an appropriate learning curve.
I have been (re)learning some cursory Python from Sentdex’s Python 3 Basics Tutorial Series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVp1vrfL_w4&list=PLQVvvaa0QuDe8XSftW-RAxdo6OmaeL85M
To begin with, I was looking for something shallow, and that series seems to cover it ok. It definitely has it’s issues, but I haven’t found anything that better serves the purpose. Basically, it quickly covers some Python syntax and just touches on some programming concepts and Python constructs without much detail or depth. It might be described as a get going series that could be gone through over a few days time for the purpose of just getting aquainted with the language and doing basic things with it. The value in a series like this is that it gives an overview, providing a good glimpse at what is possible, without burying the learner in details from the getgo, where an indepth series might require spending days getting a good grasp on some programming principle and Python constructs for making use of it and where the depth and detail might obscure the big picture. I think that starting with a shallow resource such as this series has value in providing a bird’s eye view, but once the honeymoon is over it’s time to get to work with a more indepth beginner resource.
In looking for a good beginner resource on programming with Python it is much the same as finding resources on any other technical topic. It’s a jungle. People will recommend resources that they haven’t really used at all, or haven’t fully gone through. People pushing their own products will recommend their products without letting on who they are. Many books (and websites and videos) will fall apart after a few chapters in (very common with technical books!). Some books are very confused about who their target audience is. Some are confused about what type of book they are (tutorial, reference). The style of some books is just dead boring. And on and on. Finding solid resources for self-learning any topic can be really tough, often involving a number of false starts, which can easily turn into hopscotching to failure. What I find is that for most subjects, the subject at hand isn’t usually so difficult to learn as is finding solid resources produced by someone who knows the subject well AND can teach well. Finding both in the same resource seems to be a rarity, no matter the subject.
With the above in mind, can you recommend a solid resource (which you have used yourself!) for learning programming with Python from a beginner perspective? The format doesn’t matter (book, site, video series), but it should meet the requirements of the first sentence in this post: I am looking for a resource which teaches from a beginner perspective, solid programming principles and practice, good use of Python 3 syntax and constructs (idioms of Python), is well proofread, and has an appropriate learning curve.
Also, if you can recommend a solid resource, I would like to know something about why you recommend it and any problems you might have ran into when using it, so as to better evaluate the possibility of using it myself. What I mean to say is that some discussion would be good here, rather than merely dropping names or links to resources. Thanks.
And if you have other thoughts on this topic, I am all ears.