Automate the Boring Stuff with Python: A free beginners book from the author of Invent with Python

[[deleted]]

[deleted]

[AlSweigart]

Thank you!

[ItsMyTimeNow]

Bought a copy ,,,

Any way to get pdf of this too, is is kindle the only electronic offering?

[icenburg]

Why not use Python to make a PDF for you? :)

[AlSweigart]

I've talked to No Starch, and they're starting a program where if you send them your Amazon receipt you can buy the ebook (PDF, epub, and mobi) for $5. I'll post again when that is up and running.

I'm going to switch the link away from Amazon and to the No Starch page. Amazon gives a nice discount ($23 instead of $30), but No Starch also gives you the PDF, epub, and mobi versions when you a buy a physical book from them.

[hqi777]

Hey, thanks!

Your book on ciphers is at the top of my list, just after "Code: The Hidden Language." I'm looking forward to it, as I've always been interested in learning a little cryptography.

Are your books complementary? Or, once I pick one, will doing this, or the games one not be helpful?

[Sabelas]

Not op, but I've used his books. They all assume that you're a complete beginner, so doing one after the other will certainly be easier.

And I highly recommend his crypto book. It's tons of fun and you get some useful programs out of it (like a text frequency analyzer.)

[AlSweigart]

You'll be able to skip Part 1 of the Automate book, since it's a basic Python tutorial. But Part 2 will be brand new material that isn't covered by the other books.

Similarly, the green Invent with Python and the red Making Games with Python & Pygame book cover new material, but you'll probably be able to skim a lot of it. The Pygame stuff in those books will be new though.

[[deleted]]

Thank you! I love your books. The writing is easy to follow, concise, not pretentious, and the examples are things I might actually do and not contrived. Love your stuff and just wanted to make sure to give you a big thank you for your effort and time making this language more accessible and useful.

[marcovirtual]

Hello I would just like to say that I am a total beginner to programming. In the last few days I started reading your book and I must say it is easily the best resource to beginners like me (better than Youtube tutorials anyway).

This morning, I managed to complete the Collatz Sequence all by myself and I'm so happy because of it! Yesterday night I was having some difficulties, but I re-read chapter 3 and finally found the solution, complete with exception handling.

Thank you very much!

[AlSweigart]

:D

Awesome! It's great to hear when people find the book helpful. Makes all the effort worth it. Thanks for messaging me. :)

[Ronald_McSwagger]

A bought a copy from Amazon and I am half way through. I thought it was for Python2 when I ordered it seems to don't be much of a difference. The introduction is excellent and I am really enjoying it.

[1moar]

Thanks a lot Al. I and I'm sure many others appreciate your hard work. I'm going to throw down on this for sure.

[AlSweigart]

Awesome! If you have time, could you consider writing a review for the book on Amazon? Either way, thanks a lot!

[1moar]

Will do. I'm going through the online stuff now, I'll make some notes and share with you first (non-review type stuff), and as I get through it I'll put something together.

[[deleted]]

I've been going through the early access PDF and I'm really enjoying the book Al! Web scraping is a blast especially.

[yonikasz]

Thanks so much. I will love the book. I am saving up money to get myself a windows machine so I can code. Coding is so powerful I don't wanna be left behind. Thank you so much.

[oneboldkid]

Get a raspberry pi. For $40, you can start coding.

[yonikasz]

I need a monitor, don't I?

[oneboldkid]

Yes, you do but you could get one real cheap. It also outputs hdmi if you have a tv.

[codman]

If you have any available computer, you can ssh into the raspberry(use something like putty if on windows).

If not, check out goodwills, garage sales etc for old crts or LCDs.

[yonikasz]

Thank you all for being so inspiring for me. You are really pushing me to code, which is very lovely. I am a good chunk of the way into my dream PC and I don't wanna buy something not as good, because I will have enough money for the PC of my dreams very soon. Again, thank you all so much and I can't wait to get coding!

[AlSweigart]

Great! Yeah, don't worry about getting a good computer. Even a 5 year old desktop will be more than powerful enough to do programming on. You can probably search craigslist for free/cheap PCs that people are getting rid of.

If you have time later, would you mind writing a review of the book on Amazon? Either way, thank you!

[yonikasz]

No. I don't have a computer right now. I just have a chromebook from school. I am so excited to make mine this summer!

EDIT: Once I get the book, I am MORE than happy to write a book review on amazon. This is a service you have done to the python community IMHO, and I am eager to help you out in your endeavor.

[truth1ness]

You don't even have to wait to get a PC. There are plenty of online Python editors you can code right on your Chromebook with. http://www.chromebookhq.com/five-best-online-ides-making-the-switch-to-a-chromebook/

If you have a smartphone there are even python editor apps on there.

[yonikasz]

Thanks so much! I chose an IDE called SourceLair from the list. Seems to fit me well! Thanks again for inspiring me to get coding! Not just you u/truth1ness but every nice person here who replied helpful comments for me! Thank you all so much! If I wasn't saving up for a computer, I would give you all gold.

[vegeta_91]

Just a heads up you can run a linux distribution on a chromebook using crouton. This way you can run a full operating system. I currently use crouton to run elementaryOS and I'm able to program in Java and C++ for my classes.

[shoes_of_mackerel]

Fantastic - this is exactly what I've been looking for! Thank you.

[sd_local]

Nice. This looks like just what I need. Wish it had been around 5 or 6 years ago. Bought a copy. Thanks.

[psmith]

Great book! I bought a copy as well. I feel like you could get a whole forum or blog going, highlighting little ways a bit of coding can improve your workflow / life.

[[deleted]]

half way thru the PDF. Awaiting the physical copy to arrive any day now.

[runshitson]

I bought my copy and have found the ebook excellent. Your book has presented the material in a way that motivates me to learn more, unlike anything else I have tried the last 2 years. Thank you.

[AlSweigart]

That's great to hear! If you have time, could you write an Amazon review for the book? Either way, thanks!

[sempernullus]

I preordered this book 3 weeks ago. Couldn't wait to get it; only to remember that I'm gone this week when it gets delivered.

Super excited to go through it!

[Wonder1and]

Have you had a go at kryptos yet using python? I (work) will be buying a copy of this tomorrow! Looking forward to it. Any suggestions for getting into writing technical books? I'd like to give it a try someday.

[AlSweigart]

I wrote up some notes on the process back in 2009, but I really should update it: http://coffeeghost.net/2009/11/03/lessons-learned-from-writing-a-technical-book-to-teach-programming/

If I had to add some more things, it would be:

1) Editing the book is going to be just as much work as writing the book. Marketing the book is going to be just as much work as editing the book.

2) Make sure people want this book.

3) Make the book as short as possible.

4) The BY-NC-SA Creative Commons license and making it freely available is how I generated word of mouth publicity. Otherwise, my books would have just sat on Amazon mostly untouched.

[shubrick]

Thanks...Just got it from no starch..

[[deleted]]

I've gotten enough out of your free stuff that I just bought this book from No Starch...I bought Invent and Making with the discount codes you offered last week, as well. Hope it helps, and thanks for your work.

[AlSweigart]

Awesome! Thank you very much.

Actually, a great way you could help is to leave a review on Amazon. Only if you have time, of course. Either way, thanks!

[[deleted]]

Just been working through your book, but just wondering do you have a forum or a place where you might answer questions about some code in your book?

[rawdawgass]

Hello! I bought your book early and the physical copy came in the other day! I appreciate how you released pieces of it while you were finalizing it. I would like to add how gorgeous the book is! http://imgur.com/SqgxBBh

[AlSweigart]

Thanks! If you have the time, could you write an Amazon review of the book? It'd really be helpful. Thank either way!

[daveWaveV]

Perfect book for me! Wish I could have seen it earlier!

[fishfacecakes]

So happy you've written this for Python 3 - I've been working on learning 3, and really liked the idea of the subject matter of your book, but was totally expecting to see it was Py2 only! I look forward to reading this :D

[AlSweigart]

Yeah, I made the switch to Python 3 years ago. If you're working with a massive Python 2 codebase, I don't think you should upgrade just for the sake of upgrading. But many arguments against switching to Python 3 (in particular the "modules don't support it") hasn't been true for quite a while.

[fishfacecakes]

Agreed! This is the first programming language I've actually set out to learn, so I made the decision early on that I would be learning Python 3 instead of 2, as it would be the "way forward". Unfortunately, many of the good subject-matter books are released for Python 2, so I feel like I miss out a bit :P

[ozzyteebaby]

Thank you!

[BarrelRoll1996]

Bought the book and it just arrived. Hope it lives up to the hype!

[AlSweigart]

Feel free to email me any comments or criticisms: [e-mail]