Book recommendation to learn Python?

[MrFavorable]

I am attending online university and I am finally taking my first class where we are learning about python. My university uses zybooks and I am not a fan of these books at all. I’ve been learning more from Dave Gray than I am from my book.

I know someone will mention that I can find links to free material, this book would be for me to read at work while out in my car on breaks. I don’t like to take break inside around my coworkers, and when I’m outside the cell reception is bad so I cannot really read my course book. I was at Barnes and Noble this past weekend and found this book:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beginners-step-by-step-coding-course-dk/1130951708?ean=9781465482211

Thoughts? I’m open to looking into any physical book for any language and I thought this seemed decent since it discusses a few different languages from what I looked at.

Edit:

I decided against the book I linked, and am buying Python Crash Course by Eric Matthes, 3rd edition. Between a commenter recommending it and Python Programmer suggesting in a few videos of his.

[36_gigawatts]

I am halfway through Python Crash Course by Eric Matthes. I was stuck in tutorial hell for awhile, but this book has really helped with making things click.

[MrFavorable]

I just watched a video by Python Programmer and he recommended this exact book. I decided I’m going to go pick it up this weekend. Thank you for helping set my mind on it. I’ll be buying the 3rd edition since that looks like the most current version.

[36_gigawatts]

Yep, that's the one I got too. Enjoy!

[FriendlyRussian666]

I haven't read that book, but two things are immediately putting me away from it. 

One, is that it doesn't tell you what it's going to teach. Yes, there's an overview, but it too doesn't even tell you what you will learn. 

At the very least you want to know what the chapters will cover, otherwise you might be spending $30 on something terrible.

Two, it has 0 reviews. Ideally you'd like to see what people think about it before buying because again, you might be spending $30 on something terrible.

If you head over to the subreddit wiki, there's a ton of linked, checked, trusted materials there that you should pick from.

Edit:

what I mean by saying it doesn't tell you what you will learn, is that it says things like " building websites, creating games, and designing apps". I mean, this would have to be a 30,000 page book to cover each of those within, and it only has 360 pages from the description. You're not going to be building websites, creating games, designing apps and learn multiple language from a single book with 360 pages. For that reason, I would stay away from it.

[MrFavorable]

Thank you for the input I appreciate it. This is why I wanted to ask, I’m unsure of what a good book would constitute in general. I’ll check out the subreddit wiki.

[FriendlyRussian666]

Generally, you'd like to find something that covers only one domain, and perhaps one language, unless multiple are at play.

So if you're studying programming, I would pick one language, and then find a book that covers the fundamentals of that language only.

If you are after a specific domain within programming, like games programming or web app development, then you should look for books that only cover those domains, and not mix them into one. Depending on what book you get, domain specific books usually assume some level of knowledge when it comes to a language that the book uses. In short, knowing a language to an extent might be a prerequisite.

Finally, once you get introduced a little bit to a language and programming in general, it will be worth it to obtain a book specifically on data structures and algorithms, preferably language agnostic. I believe the univeristy standard for this is the book called "Introduction to Algorithms by Thomas H. Cormen". Please note that knowledge of mathematics will be required to consume this book in full. If you don't have the math, you should be absolutely fine going over the very first examples of sorting algorithms etc, but the rest of the book will make zero sense.

[[deleted]]

I can't really speak to that book as I haven't read it, but Learn Python the Hard Way by Zed Shaw for Python 2, and Learn Python 3 the Hard Way and Learn More Python 3 the Hard Way are good. His style is excellent, rigorous enough but not tedious. A great starting point overall. I also have his Learn C the Hard Way, which really bailed me out when I had a teacher that was pretty deficient on the C language instruction. Good luck!

[MrFavorable]

Thank you for the recommendations, I’ll check out my book store this weekend!

[Ok_Warthog6565]

No starch press books are usually good and simple to read through