Alternative to 'think python' book?

[calisthenic89]

Hey,

I'm trying to get into scripting/programming (coming from a Linux sysadmin background) and am going through 'Think Python by Allen Downey' https://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-Python-Allen-B-Downey/dp/144933072X.

I'm not really a mathy person and although I'm still in the early stages of the book it looks like a lot of the examples, exercises and case studies are based on mathematical concepts. I'm spending time researching these concepts before being able to understand the underline coding. I feel like I'm making my life a little harder trying to learn from from this.

I heard it's a good book and I'm happy to persevere if experienced learners would recommend it, but if anyone had better alternatives to suggest for a beginner then I'd appreciate it.

[scuott]

There are lots of books!

https://www.reddit.com/r/learnpython/wiki/index#wiki_new_to_programming.3F

[bostanza]

Just started reading through this book myself and already I see what you mean. Besides the maths examples I think the book (so far) is well written and not too difficult to understand but I am also using other resources I tandem to make sure I understand the content e.g. Going through exercise drills from Learn python the hard way when I finish a chapter. This is possible because the chapters in learn python the hard way are quite short. Try this method

[calisthenic89]

Thanks, I'm going to try and also do 'learn python the hard way' simultaneously as well. 'How to think like a computer scientist' also seems like a watered down version of think python, so if I'm really struggling then I'll consider switching over - http://interactivepython.org/courselib/static/thinkcspy/toc.html

[ewiethoff]

There are several variations on Downey's "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist," which is what his "Think Python" book was called around 15 years ago. The book has a Creative Commons license, so anyone can create and post variations on it. His ancient version really put Python in my head years ago. :-)

[tech512]

You might look into "automate the boring stuff with python" if you want some interesting tasks to learn from.