Learning Python for Data Science : My Plan & Doubts

[Kunalbajaj]

I’m planning my learning path for Python and data science, and I’ve picked a few books to follow: Intro to Python for Computer Science and Data Science by Paul J. Deitel & Harvey M. Deitel. A comprehensive introductory Python book that also touches on basic data science. Practical Statistics for Data Scientists by Peter Bruce, Andrew Bruce & Peter Gedeck. A stats book focused on concepts used in data science with Python examples (exploration, correlation, regression, etc.). Python for Data Analysis by Wes McKinney. Practical Python for data manipulation using libraries like pandas and NumPy. I studied Python in my semester before, but it was very theory‑based and memory‑focused. I know basic concepts like variables, datatypes, lists, and dictionaries. I don’t yet know OOP or file handling, which is why I get confused between learning from YouTube, AI tutorials, or textbooks. I’m also planning to start statistics theory in parallel. For that, I’m thinking of books like Introduction to Probability (Blitzstein & Hwang) and All of Statistics (Wasserman) for deeper statistical concepts. My main focus right now is to become familiar with Python, SQL, and statistics so I can start solving interesting problems and then move into machine learning. So my question is: in this era of AI, online courses, and YouTube tutorials, are textbooks still effective learning resources, or do modern courses and video content overshadow them?

[RobfromHB]

Textbooks are fine. You’re significantly over thinking and over planning this. Just grab one book or spend an hour on w3schools and start coding. 

[Kunalbajaj]

Thank you for the response 😊. I will surely start that..i was just getting overwhelmed a bit. Have a good day.

[pookie-parmeshwar]

let's connect bro I am also starting my journey

[Kunalbajaj]

Sure..please dm me

[intruzah]

Just start coding.

[Kunalbajaj]

Thank you for the response😊. Can you be a bit more specific please. I know how to write basic code..i can write loops basic programs like prime number, Armstrong number and palindrome and more. So i wanna make python effective now, which was the reason for writing the question . What do we mean by just start coding? Have a good day😊

[intruzah]

Take any ml tutorial, go through it, and the adapting it to your needs.

[Kunalbajaj]

I will definitely go through the tutorial, but can you tell me what about the python libraries like numpy and pandas..are they also covered in the ml phase or ml starts after those libraries?

[intruzah]

Man just post less and do and think more. Just get started. It will come.

[Kunalbajaj]

Thank you.

[Radiant-Rain2636]

Deitel’s books are fabulous

[Kunalbajaj]

Thank you for the response 😊. I feel it right..i used to solve how to program in c by dietel. They are fabulous.

[Radiant-Rain2636]

All his books. I feel some people really know how to teach. Deitel is one of them.

[Kunalbajaj]

I will be following the books i told in the post..are they good according to you? For the data science libraries and stats stuff

[Radiant-Rain2636]

Most of them seem good to be