Our New "Python Basics" Book & Filling the Gaps in Your Learning Path

10/23/20 • 50 min

Do you have gaps in your Python learning path? If you’re like me, you may have followed a completely random route to learn Python. This week on the show, David Amos is here to talk about the release of the Real Python book, “Python Basics: A Practical Introduction to Python 3”. The book is designed not only to get beginners up to speed but also to help fill in the gaps many intermediate learners may still have.

David has been working on the book for the last two years, and we dive into all the resources that come with it. These include code challenges, quizzes, and multiple projects that are designed to help you cement your learning. We also discuss the people and processes involved in creating, reviewing, and updating the book.

Spotlight: Python Basics: A Practical Introduction to Python 3

Go from beginner to intermediate in Python with this complete curriculum, up-to-date for Python 3.9. Python Basics includes exercises, interactive quizzes, and sample projects, so you’ll always know what to focus on next in order to build a strong Python foundation.

Topics:

00:00:00 – Introduction
00:01:36 – Python Basics: A Practical Introduction to Python 3
00:02:39 – How has feedback helped the process?
00:04:17 – Who is the intended audience?
00:06:02 – Covering how to get Python installed on different platforms?
00:11:05 – What topics does the book cover?
00:14:12 – What can be previewed on Real Python?
00:15:03 – What format can you get the book in?
00:18:30 – Code challenges included!
00:21:33 – What other resources are provided to help with cementing your learning?
00:22:41 – What versions of Python are covered?
00:23:08 – How does the book fit into the Real Python learning eco-system?
00:29:35 – Spotlight: How to get a preview of the book!
00:30:38 – What has the writing process been like?
00:33:21 – What does didactic mean, in terms of reviewing materials?
00:39:23 – What were areas you were excited about updating?
00:41:29 – Were there important things you felt needed to be added?
00:45:55 – Who worked on the book?
00:47:13 – What are you excited about in the world of Python?
00:48:13 – What do you want to learn next?
00:49:40 – Thanks and goodbye

Show Links:

Level up your Python skills with our expert-led courses:

Support the podcast & join our community of Pythonistas

Spotlight: Python Basics: A Practical Introduction to Python 3

Topics:

00:00:00 – Introduction
00:01:36 – Python Basics: A Practical Introduction to Python 3
00:02:39 – How has feedback helped the process?
00:04:17 – Who is the intended audience?
00:06:02 – Covering how to get Python installed on different platforms?
00:11:05 – What topics does the book cover?
00:14:12 – What can be previewed on Real Python?
00:15:03 – What format can you get the book in?
00:18:30 – Code challenges included!
00:21:33 – What other resources are provided to help with cementing your learning?
00:22:41 – What versions of Python are covered?
00:23:08 – How does the book fit into the Real Python learning eco-system?
00:29:35 – Spotlight: How to get a preview of the book!
00:30:38 – What has the writing process been like?
00:33:21 – What does didactic mean, in terms of reviewing materials?
00:39:23 – What were areas you were excited about updating?
00:41:29 – Were there important things you felt needed to be added?
00:45:55 – Who worked on the book?
00:47:13 – What are you excited about in the world of Python?
00:48:13 – What do you want to learn next?
00:49:40 – Thanks and goodbye

Show Links:

Level up your Python skills with our expert-led courses:

Support the podcast & join our community of Pythonistas

Previous Episode

Python Return Statement Best Practices and Working With the map() Function

The Python return statement is such a fundamental part of writing functions. Is it possible you missed some best practices when writing your own return statements? This week on the show, David Amos returns with another batch of PyCoder’s Weekly articles and projects. We also talk functional programming again with an article on the Python map function and processing iterables without a loop.

We cover several other articles and projects from the Python community including, interactive data visualization with Pygal, everything you need to know about namedtuples, PEP 638 syntactic macros, python for kids, the new Nvidia Jetson board, and a reinforcement learning project named football.

Topics:

00:00:00 – Introduction
00:01:33 – Interactive Data Visualization in Python With Pygal
00:06:40 – Python’s map(): Processing Iterables Without a Loop
00:12:51 – Everything You Need to Know About Python’s NamedTuples
00:19:46 – PEP 638: Syntactic Macros
00:26:43 – Video Course Spotlight
00:27:57 – The Python return Statement: Usage and Best Practices
00:34:42 – Python for Kids
00:38:03 – Build a Face Recognition System With the Nvidia Jetson Nano
00:42:32 – football: Reinforcement Learning Environment
00:45:51 – Thanks and goodbye

Show Links:

Interactive Data Visualization in Python With Pygal – Pygal is an overlooked library for creating interactive plots that can be turned into SVGs with an optimal resolution for printing or displaying on webpages. Learn how it works in this introductory tutorial.

Python’s map(): Processing Iterables Without a Loop – In this step-by-step tutorial, you’ll learn how Python’s map() works and how to use it effectively in your programs. You’ll also learn how to use list comprehension and generator expressions to replace map() in a Pythonic and efficient way.

Everything You Need to Know About Python’s NamedTuples – Are you using NamedTuple in your code? If you aren’t, learn what they are and why you should consider using them in this comprehensive tutorial.

PEP 638: Syntactic Macros – This brand new PEP, which is still in draft mode, proposes adding support for syntactic macros to Python. Syntactic macros are compile-time functions that extend the language’s syntax without adding any new complexity to the language as a whole.

The Python return Statement: Usage and Best Practices – In this step-by-step tutorial, you’ll learn how to use the Python return statement when writing functions. Additionally, you’ll cover some good programming practices related to the use of return. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to write readable, robust, and maintainable functions in Python.

Python for Kids – In this ten part series, senior software engineer Kevin Thomas presents a kid-friendly comprehensive Python development tutorial utilizing a micro:bit development board. The GitHub repo contains all of the sample code as well as links to each tutorial in the series on LinkedIn. The first seven parts are published and the last three are coming soon!

Projects:

Build a Face Recognition System With the Nvidia Jetson Nano 2GB and Python – The Nvidia Jetson Nano is a single board computer similar to a Raspberry Pi. The Jetson Nano really packs a punch, however, thanks to its onboard Nvidia Maxwell GPU.

football: Reinforcement Learning Environment Where Agents Learn to Play Football

Additional Links:

Next Episode

Going Beyond the Basic Stuff With Python and Al Sweigart

You probably have heard of the bestselling Python book, “Automate the Boring Stuff with Python.” What are the next steps after starting to dabble in the Python basics? Maybe you’ve completed some tutorials, created a few scripts, and automated repetitive tasks in your life. This week on the show, we have author Al Sweigart to talk about his new book, “Beyond the Basic Stuff with Python: Best Practices for Writing Clean Code.”

We discuss several topics covered in his new book, including using the command line, setting environment variables, formatting code, naming, and starting with version control. We talk about learning Python by creating games and highlight a couple of Python myths. I also ask Al about his earlier books, and about his idea of creating a curriculum around conference talks.

Course Spotlight: Unicode in Python: Working With Character Encodings

In this course, you’ll get a Python-centric introduction to character encodings and Unicode. Handling character encodings and numbering systems can at times seem painful and complicated, but this guide is here to help with easy-to-follow Python examples.

Topics:

00:00:00 – Introduction
00:01:35 – Early access release of the new book
00:03:20 – Other books Al has written
00:09:54 – Automate the Boring Stuff as an advice book
00:15:29 – Books about writing Python with games
00:17:36 – Making a book less intimidating
00:19:10 – Helping readers through random things a programmer needs to learn
00:23:09 – Environment variables and the command line
00:28:05 – Naming
00:34:59 – Code formatting
00:36:45 – Why do you enjoy teaching Python concepts with games?
00:42:54 – Video Course Spotlight
00:44:15 – Minimal amount you should know about Git
00:47:08 – Jargon and being clear about terminology
00:50:13 – Al’s first book diving into Object-Oriented Programming
00:59:57 – Python myths covered in the book
01:09:08 – What is something you thought you knew about Python, but were wrong about it?
01:13:12 – What is something you are excited about in the world of Python?
01:18:55 – What do you want to learn next?
01:22:08 – Creating an curriculum from conference talks
01:26:42 – Thanks and goodbye