Re: [Tutor] New to Python programing

2012-04-03 Thread Wayne Werner

On Mon, 2 Apr 2012, wesley chun wrote:


greetings walter, and welcome to the Python family!

snip

as far as books go, the best way to learn Python is by writing games.
this is an approach that works both with children as well as adults.
there are several excellent books that can help you with this regard:


There is another book that I didn't notice mentioned: Game Programming: The L 
line, the express
line to learning.

The book is unfortunately named because it makes no mention of Python, but it's
quite a good book for learning both programming and Python... and games!

Good luck and welcome to Python!
-Wayne Werner
___
Tutor maillist  -  Tutor@python.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor


[Tutor] New to Python programing

2012-04-03 Thread Cranky Frankie
Another resourse for learning to program is YouTube. They just had a
segment on 60 Minutes about a guy who does all kinds of well
regarded free courses on-line, unfortunately I can't remberber the
URL. I've viewed several Stanford University programming courses, and
there are many Python specific vidoes there as well. Just something
else to check out.

-- 
Frank L. Cranky Frankie Palmeri
Risible Riding Raconteur  Writer
“The problem with quotes on the Internet is that
it is often difficult to verify their authenticity.”
- Abraham Lincoln
___
Tutor maillist  -  Tutor@python.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor


Re: [Tutor] New to Python programing

2012-04-03 Thread Christian Witts

On 2012/04/03 03:50 PM, Cranky Frankie wrote:

Another resourse for learning to program is YouTube. They just had a
segment on 60 Minutes about a guy who does all kinds of well
regarded free courses on-line, unfortunately I can't remberber the
URL. I've viewed several Stanford University programming courses, and
there are many Python specific vidoes there as well. Just something
else to check out.


Are you possibly thinking of the Khan Academy [1] ?

[1] http://www.khanacademy.org/
--

Christian Witts
Python Developer
//
___
Tutor maillist  -  Tutor@python.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor


Re: [Tutor] New to Python programing

2012-04-03 Thread Cranky Frankie
On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 10:09 AM, Christian Witts cwi...@compuscan.co.za wrote:

 Are you possibly thinking of the Khan Academy [1] ?

 [1] http://www.khanacademy.org/

Yes, that was it, thanks.


-- 
Frank L. Cranky Frankie Palmeri
Risible Riding Raconteur  Writer
“The problem with quotes on the Internet is that
it is often difficult to verify their authenticity.”
- Abraham Lincoln
___
Tutor maillist  -  Tutor@python.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor


Re: [Tutor] New to Python programing

2012-04-03 Thread Brad Hudson
 Are you possibly thinking of the Khan Academy [1] ?

 [1] http://www.khanacademy.org/

If you're interested in free courses, MIT also has free programming
courses (done in Python) via their OpenCourseWare and will be
expanding this to MITx in the near future.

OpenCourseWare - Intro to Computer Science  Programming (Python
based) located here:
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-00sc-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-spring-2011/index.htm

Brad
___
Tutor maillist  -  Tutor@python.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor


Re: [Tutor] New to Python programing

2012-04-03 Thread wesley chun
a couple of other sources of video learning (DISCLAIMER: the 1st is
from my employer, and the 2nd is from me -- the intention is to
provide alternatives not shameless self-promotion so please don't take
it that way!):

1. Google offers an internal Python training class to its employees.
it's a 2-day course designed to teach existing programmers how to code
in Python, covering syntax, data structures, etc. (it's not deep and
thorough like the course i teach publicly but it may be just what you
need.)

i volunteer to deliver it a couple of times a year. anyway, you can
get all the course contents, exercises, and a lively delivery by my
colleague Nick Parlante (recorded a few years ago) across 7 videos
which span both days here:
http://code.google.com/edu/languages/google-python-class

2. a few years ago, i was asked to do a video version of my public
course blended with material from the Core Python Programming book.
the primary target audience includes existing programmers who need to
learn Python (2.x  3.x) quickly and comprehensively via video
lectures (as opposed to the show-me-do style of onscreen hacking --
which is *also* a viable way of learning but just not for everyone).

some people prefer the lecture-style, so if you do, then you may wish
to consider it. i made the mistake of not being more public about this
early on, hence some of the not-so-great Amazon reviews. :P anyway, if
you're interested, you can get a free video clip here:
http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=9780137143412. (the
editors left some of my bleeping bloopers in the DVD, so it may be
entertaining to you at my expense.) another free preview of my
teaching style (if you want to learn about Python Generators) can be
found at http://cyberwebconsulting.com

cheers,
-- wesley
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A computer never does what you want... only what you tell it.
    wesley chun : wescpy at gmail : @wescpy/+wescpy
    Python training  consulting : CyberwebConsulting.com
    Core Python books : CorePython.com
    Python blog: wescpy.blogspot.com
___
Tutor maillist  -  Tutor@python.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor


[Tutor] New to Python programing

2012-04-02 Thread Walter Luna
Hi everybody, my name is Walter I am a new beginner with no programing 
experience. I am using OSX Lion, and successfully installed Python version 3. I 
am looking for a programing guide for  beginners with no programing experience. 
Can you please suggest me a good one to use. Thank you.

Walter 
___
Tutor maillist  -  Tutor@python.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor


Re: [Tutor] New to Python programing

2012-04-02 Thread Shane Keene
I don't currently use Python 3 and don't recommend that you use it to
learn with, mostly because the bulk of the docs and learning resources
are Python 2.x focused and the two are not compatible. That said, here
are some resources that you may find useful (particularly if you choose
to learn using 2.x):

Learn Python the Hard Way: http://learnpythonthehardway.org/

How to Think Like a Computer Scientist:
http://openbookproject.net/thinkcs/python/english2e/

and http://python.org/doc has a wealth of info as does
http://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide/NonProgrammers

hope that's helpful.

On Mon, 2012-04-02 at 17:03 -0700, Walter Luna wrote:
 Hi everybody, my name is Walter I am a new beginner with no programing 
 experience. I am using OSX Lion, and successfully installed Python version 3. 
 I am looking for a programing guide for  beginners with no programing 
 experience. Can you please suggest me a good one to use. Thank you.
 
 Walter 
 ___
 Tutor maillist  -  Tutor@python.org
 To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
 http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor


___
Tutor maillist  -  Tutor@python.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor


Re: [Tutor] New to Python programing

2012-04-02 Thread wesley chun
greetings walter, and welcome to the Python family!

it looks like you've got your machine all set up. hopefully installing
Python 3 wasn't too difficult -- users constantly have issues with
their own installs clash with the Python that's pre-installed by
Apple.

as far as learning Python for beginners goes, you have to decide what
version to learn -- since you have both Python 2  3 on your system,
you have a choice. if you have existing code that's written in Python
2.x, you should learn that first. if you have no baggage, then
Python 3.x is the way to go as it is the future.

regardless of which you pick, you should realize: 1) once you learn
one, you will learn the other as there are only seemingly minor (but
backwards-incompatible differences), 2) most books and online
materials are still in Python 2 although more and more Python 3
materials are becoming available.

as far as books go, the best way to learn Python is by writing games.
this is an approach that works both with children as well as adults.
there are several excellent books that can help you with this regard:

- Hello World! Computer Programming for Kids and Other Beginners by
Warren Sande and Carter Sande, Manning,
- Invent your Own Computer Games with Python second edition by Al Sweigart
- How to Think Like a Computer Scientist by Allen B. Downey, Jeff
Elkner and Chris Meyers, Green Tea Press
- Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner by Michael Dawson,
Course Technology

i go into a bit more detail on these as well as the books shane
recommends in my Python Reading List article (which actually
describes 3 separate reading lists):
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1849069

as far as online resources go, try these:

- How to Think Like a Computer Scientist (Downey, Elkner, Meyers)
http://www.openbookproject.net/thinkcs/
- Learning to Program (Gauld)
http://www.alan-g.me.uk/l2p
- LiveWires Python
http://www.livewires.org.uk/python/home
http://pythongames.weebly.com/livewires.html
- Snake Wrangling for Kids (Briggs)
http://www.briggs.net.nz/snake-wrangling-for-kids.html
http://code.google.com/p/swfk/
- Computer Programming is Fun! (Handy)
http://www.handysoftware.com/cpif/
- Karel the Robot clone: Guido van Robot
http://gvr.sf.net
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_van_Robot
- Karel the Robot clones: RUR-PLE
http://rur-ple.sf.net
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RUR-PLE
- A Byte of Python (Swaroop)
http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Python
- Instant Hacking: Learning to Program with Python (Hetland)
http://hetland.org/writing/instant-hacking.html

hope this all helps, and again, welcome to Python!!
--wesley


On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 5:03 PM, Walter Luna wlun...@gmail.com wrote:
 Hi everybody, my name is Walter I am a new beginner with no programing 
 experience. I am using OSX Lion, and successfully installed Python version 3. 
 I am looking for a programing guide for  beginners with no programing 
 experience. Can you please suggest me a good one to use. Thank you.

 Walter


-- 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A computer never does what you want... only what you tell it.
    wesley chun : wescpy at gmail : @wescpy/+wescpy
    Python training  consulting : CyberwebConsulting.com
    Core Python books : CorePython.com
    Python blog: wescpy.blogspot.com
___
Tutor maillist  -  Tutor@python.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor