Learn Python Programming: An in-depth introduction to the fundamentals of Python, 3rd Edition Paperback – 29 Oct. 2021

Liked the book. Great effort by the writers. Introduces concepts in a light-weight fashion without either the high-handedness or the dumbing-down seen in some other books. I liked their decorators example. Obviously have a lot left to read and practice.

Phew, python is hard going!

This is an excellent book for those looking to grasp the fundamentals of Python Programming. The book starts from the foundations and assumes only basic prior programming experience. There is plenty for more advanced pythonistas to get their hands on too.The book is organised into 15 logical chapters, starting with the more fundamental features of python and progressing to more advanced and higher level topics. I found the writing to be clear and easy to follow. The book is right up to date, making use of Python 3.9 and covers some of the latest things in Python like the Walrus operator and the FastAPI framework.As a mid-level developer I particularly enjoyed Chapters 9, 14 and 15. Chapter 9 covers Cryptography and Tokens and enhanced my understanding of JWT and authentication. Chapter 14 covers API development in the context of FastAPI and served as an excellent introduction to the FastAPI framework. Chapter 15 covers Packaging. Packaging in Python is a bit of a nightmare and the chapter goes into detail about the building, packaging and publishing process from start to finish.Overall, there is plenty to keep Python developers of all levels busy here. Beginners will derive a lot of value from reading through all the chapters, and those with more experience will most likely be interested in specific chapters and will find the book highly useful as a reference. Highly recommended.

The book ought to explain concepts eg that a virtual environment has the python installation. As it’s base. Diagrams would help. As a software engineer I understand the benefit of using meaningful names; why, in chapter 1, when creating a virtual environment have the authors chosen to name it lpp3ed? If there is a good reason for this name why is there is no explanation?

This book, as the authors state, is aimed at those who already have some programming experience. As such, some basic knowledge of programming is good to have, although not mandatory. I would also suggest that this book is also perfectly suitable for beginners looking to start out in Python.Across 15 chapters, the authors cover the usual topics one would expect in such a book (e.g. data types, conditionals, iterations, OOP, files etc), but also gently introduces core concepts (e.g. mutable vs immutable). The writing is clear and concise, and there is a useful short summary at the end of each chapter, and practical examples that help to reinforce the concepts covered in the chapter, but no “test your knowledge” questions. However, where this book really excels, is in the "bonus" chapters on testing, debugging and packaging. Software development isn't just about writing a program, and these chapters will be priceless in the development of a fully-rounded programmer.The authors use the latest (as of writing) version of Python (3.9), which is definitely a-good-thing. The majority of this book is beginner level, but there is enough in there to allow even mid-level Python programmers to learn something new.Highly recommended for beginners.

I've docked a star from this rating because this book is not ideal for busy people who want to quickly learn the language so they can get on with their own projects. To get the best out of this book one would have to download the chapter examples, work through their code, which is much more than is presented in the text, and follow up all the links and references to documentation and dependencies which cover the entirety of the immense Python ecosystem. If I did have the time to follow up on every reference I would probably give the book five stars.The earlier part of the book deals very well with the core language. People like myself coming to Python from earlier generation languages such as C++, Java, Tcl, etc. can quickly start messing about and muddling along according to familiar paradigms. But the real power of Python only becomes apparent when one understands the advanced data types and language constructs that make Python a genuinely next generation language. The language style that arises from a full understanding of these features is called Pythonic, and to write as such, to write Pythonically. All this makes for compact and highly readable code, of which I thoroughly approve.As the book progresses however the explanation of the core language becomes increasingly intermixed with aspects of the broader Python ecosystem which are necessarily brief in their treatment and often too brief for the text alone to stand on its own without getting ever more involved in the example code and following up on references to a large array of third party tools and their documentation. The authors seem keen to use the opportunity to cover a career's worth of general observations and best practice heuristics on the whole field of programming more generally. All good stuff, especially for beginners, but off the point for someone wanting to master the language and get on with their own projects. I would estimate that it could take a good few months for the diligent reader to really work through the material not just of the text, but the accompanying sample programs and the documentary references as well.There's no doubt that a beginner or a computer science student would find this a really solid underpinning to a career both in writing Python and programming more generally. If, like me, you're in a bit of a hurry to get on and apply Python to your own purposes then much of the latter half of the book could feel like a distraction. Perhaps further down the line the areas covered there will tun out to be of relevant interest. How good a reference the book will then make is hard to say. As observed, on many topics the text alone is just too brief to give a confident grounding in the material covered.

Easy to follow, comprehensive text book, however I suspect that any one who is new to coding would find it hard going

See the summing up above. Long winded introduction but then rushes ahead and baffles you with fashionable techno buzz words. Not into clear step by step explanations. Possibly English as a second language doesn’t help. If you're of well above average intelligence you may be able to cope, but it's rather beyond me. (based on 1st 60 pages prior to losing the will to live)