And I have little to no programming experience. Where do I start?
I plan on learning the language too. Learning Python seems to be a good book for starters.
Well, the best way to learn in any scripting language is to do some good ol’ google searching. Try searching something along the lines of:
“Python script” tutorial beginner
There’s several good links which I used to learn python (almost all BGE) if you click on the “resources” link in my sig.
DO NOT LEARN PYTHON BY GOOGLE SEARCHING!!
It’s best to not learn a language by flipping through random search results, it’s a waste of time and it doesn’t teach you everything. It might enable you to write simple programs but it will be hard by then to figure out which areas you don’t know. Best thing is buy a professional book after you read reviews for some of them. Then you’ll be sure you learn everything and not just random bits of information here and there.
There might be perfect guide or manual online, sorry, i don’t know of one but i just wanted to warn you… so take the time to look for a good resource BEFORE you decide to go with it
I know about the Python tutorial and all. But that isn’t written for people without programming experience.
And, I don’t want to buy a book. I want to be able to read the content on the computer.
http://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide/NonProgrammers
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Non-Programmer’s_Tutorial_for_Python/Contents
http://www.diveintopython.org/
You’re right. ts not written for non-programmers nor programmers…it’s written for people who want to learn python. That tutorial walks you thru step by step the different things you may encounter when working with python…just like a tutorial labelled “beginners start here” would. You will find no better source of information on python than python.org’s very own tutorial. If you feel that it is not a beginners tutorial…you’re in for a rocky start with learning python as every tutuorial labelled “beginner’s tutorial” was copied/pasted from this very same tutorial (there is no magical different way to explain a string/list/variable). It seems what you actually want (even if you don’t know it yet) is something that has python spelled out letter by letter. The only way to get the info you MAY need, in the way you MAY need it, would be in an environment where you can actively stop the discussion to ask a question. You’re not going to get that from any book. If you can’t get into a class environment I would heavily suggest looking into one of the many different newsgroups devoted to python. it’s as close to a class environment as you will ever get for free.
I would also not recommend any book that you would have to have the physical copy of (eg not online) as most include coding errors due to typos and other such mistakes in their examples. You as a beginner wouldn’t be able to see these issues and would become very confused as to why your code wont work. Just for example the book (and the online version) dive into python, linked to above, is plagued with typos that make half thier example code unusable…but that was of course on my last reading of it…quite some time ago. Also, minor changes in the language itself, will cause some of the example codes to not function any longer due to missing libraries/whatever. So make sure your source of info is not only up to date, but actively revised…don’t start learning python with a 5 year old book…you may end up giving yourself a headache for no good reason.
Just to put it out there, I’ve been looking at http://www.aleax.it/Python/accu03_Python_Intro_alex.pdf
Seems to be pretty decent of you’re familiar with a language like C++ (which I suppose you aren’t, but still someone might find it useful)
theLichKing: Check slide #7 (6 if you go by the bottom of the slide) 
On a side note I’d like to see more books like Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby
I admit I often was somewhat annoyed by the book but it was a lot more fun to read than a book like “Absolute C++” or some MSDN article that includes helpful statements like “Direct lighting reaches the surface directly from the light.”
I also learned a lot about Ruby in the process.
Learning Python by Mark Lutz is a great resource, and one of the best introductory programming books ever written. It provides a great basis for learning other languages as well. I am currently programming a 2d game, as well as learning some C++, and I stand by this book as a great teacher. Whatever you do, do not try to learn it online, you will become frustrated and eventually fail.
The money spent on this book is well worth it. Just check the reviews on Amazon if you do not believe me.
Although I don’t know Python, I have learned more than a few other programming languages. Learning Python seemed appealing to me after looking over a few other texts including the one written by the BDFL. Anyway, the point that I’d like to make now is that unless you have two screens, you might want a hard copy of whatever you’re studying. It’s bad enough trying to sort out what’s in an IDE from an output window without adding a teaching tool into the mix. At least, print out something from the screen.
I highly recommend A Byte of Python. This book assumes no programming knowledge at all from the reader (and it’s what I used to learn Python).
A Byte of Python seems to be pretty good. I’m almost done reading it. Thanks!
Oh! for gods sake! Nooooooooo!!! 
Learn C++ then come back and any language will be child’s play. Wors mistake I ever made was learning BASIC and PASCAL, now learning C++ is a bloody nightmare… I keep on thinking in PASCAL and BASIC. I feel violated and ruined 
How about assembly?
Heh, anyway, I think that going from Python to languages like C (and it’s various derivatives), is considerably less frustrating/difficult then just starting out with C/++, and then somehow (maybe by magic) becoming “master of all languages”.
How about assembly?
Been there and done that too. Almost as exciting as watching old people have sex.
You get things done at a bloody snails pace. Even the simple “Hello world” took me all afternoon thanks to my wonderful typing skills.
You would be good at C Social, you really should give it a go. Python people in my class seem to pick C++ up pretty fast. We have a couple of “Programming Virgins” and they are going along at about my speed.
As far as masters go, you either got it or you don’t. Just like about anything else in life.It takes work and the want to do it.
God! what I would not give to be 16 again, and have all summer to lean to program. Things came to me much easier when I was young.
I would suggest not to try Blender Python. It is a secure source of frustration. Instead learn use the modern tools, e g Glade for graphical user interface building, and try to find an intuitive editor environment, for wich i have no suggest.
Thanks for the PDF! I didn’t start the thread, but after looking over it I find it’s just what I needed.
I’ll agree with you. Learning Basic first is a mistake… the syntax is different, but what’s even worse is that Basic forces you to think in classic functions, when you should be thinking in objects. I only recently understood how objects really work, and I put the blame squarely at the foot of Qbasic.