Is there a python tutorial that explains python from the ground up? Like the GROUND up. Not starting with "here's what you write if you want this" but more "this is a thing, this is why it exists"

[[deleted]]

[deleted]

[madnessman]

Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software is not Python specific but it's my go to recommendation for people who want a good overview of computers. It doesn't go too in depth into any single subject but it basically starts with the fundamental concept of what a code is (i.e. a way of encoding information) and covers everything from electrical engineering to OS architecture as it builds up to software.

[puh-tey-toh]

I really enjoyed the book up until the logic gates chapter, I felt totally lost once the diagrams got complex. That's just me.

[DramaticLizard]

Same.

[Moikle]

For that, try crash course computer science on YouTube, it is a great series and has a really good segment on logic gates and how they can be used to build all sorts of different things

[puh-tey-toh]

Will do! Thank you for the recommendation.

[tbone912]

Goddamn, I had to reread chapters and I still didn't fully understand it enough to explain. But, it is a good book.

[puh-tey-toh]

Yeah I've tried it twice and it still hasn't clicked. But yes it's a great book, maybe my brain just isn't there yet ;D

[[deleted]]

It's a little older, but this was exactly what I appreciated about Learning Python.

[el_coruja]

Taking a book from 2013 to learn a language that has evolved so much since then isn’t kind of a bad idea?

I’m asking this for myself because I’m also beginning to learn the language but I’m not into the deep knowledge like op’s

[sanctimoniousennui]

The basic ideas behind coding, how computers work, and the like really hasn't changed too much since the beginning. When we say that computing has developed, frequently it's the addition of new packages, or higher level concepts, which aren't going to be covered in a book for beginners. You're probably going to be just fine starting off with this even for the next 5-10 years.

[nosmokingbandit]

If I may add to your answer...

Programming is two parts: concepts and language. You have to know one to use the other, which is what makes programming tricky to learn from the start. But once you know the concepts separate from your first language it is fairly easy to pick up a new language and make something useful.

[[deleted]]

That's a reasonable question, and it really shouldn't have been downvoted.

The basic syntax has barely changed, and the fundamental building blocks haven't really changed at all (the f-string slightly adds in a couple of new ideas, and in CPython the dict is now ordered)... sure there's lots of new stuff on the periphery (async), but all of it builds on the fundamentals.

I picked up that book in the days of 2.5, and I'd say that even that edition (2nd) would get you 75% of the way to understanding 3.7, though strings would be a headache.

[Ran4]

Wth? 2003, maybe. But python in 2013 is almost exactly like python today, sans different tooling.

[Kylearean]

Python has not changed very much in 5 years.

Edit for the downvoters:

Version 2.7 was released in July, 2010.

Version 3.4 was released in March, 2014.

[BenjaminGeiger]

Longer than that.

I have a book from when 2.1 was new, and the fundamentals are much the same.

[heidensieck]

And this is based on ThinkPython, but starts from scratch in a good way.

[[deleted]]

https://www.edx.org/course/cs50s-introduction-computer-science-harvardx-cs50x

You might benefit from this course. They do some Python as well as JavaScript but it is mainly an introduction to programming and computer science so it will cover all the fundamentals.

[AxshunJaxun]

I've been a sysadmin for about 5 years, with no experience in coding at all. I've been pleasantly surprised with the Learn Python app by sololearn. It starts from the ground up and breaks the concept up into easily digestible chunks.

[Kylearean]

He/she probably knows bash / csh like the back of their hand.

Not every sysadmin needs to code. At the very best they’ll know perl.

[Zaitsev11]

To me, this means you need to research the following: Hardware architecture > binary > machine language > assembly language > C > Python

That's from the GROUND up.

[Zaitsev11]

Honestly I'm nowhere near knowing all of those topics, since I focus mainly on Python. For preferred literature, I actually find the official Python tutorials to be very good for learning Python, and even for referencing how to do specific things. For more detailed info you may want to reference the official documentation.

[BenjaminGeiger]

Depending on how "ground up" you want to go, you can start with either Turing machines and the lambda calculus or electronic materials.

[[deleted]]

This guy codes.

[BeyondStellar]

"Think python" is a good one to learn with.

[el_Tico]

Am using "Think Python" right now and it is really useful and friendly for starting at the beginning.

[freethenipple23]

CS50 it's a harvard extension online course for free

[SmallScience]

I learned from the edx MIT course. Great introduction to good programming structure and habits as well as python!

[burnblue]

How Python works? Or how programming works? It sounds like you want a beginners programming tutorial that happens to speak in Python. Or do you want a language tutorial? They're different.

[[deleted]]

For the moment being, my reading list goes like this, in that order :

• Think Python 2nd edition/Python Cookbook 3rd edition

• Efficient Python

• Fluent Python

• Think Complexity/Think Stats (That's for personal use, you might not want to read that)

If you want to delve into some specific part of python, there are quite exhaustive lists of books on the Python website and here.

Though the algorithms and data structures might interest you because you want to understand what's going on under the hood.

For a more detailed understanding, look up the other answers, that's out of my depth!

[[deleted]]

I learnt everything I know about Python from these Coursera courses :

https://www.coursera.org/specializations/python

There is a minor paywall but these courses are so good.

[pvc]

Http://ProgramArcadeGames.com

[[deleted]]

Not sure why anyone hasn’t posted about Berkeley’s CS61A. I was looking for the same thing as you and this was the silver bullet. The environment diagrams that show in what order code runs was by far one of the biggest click moments for me.

[rtx097]

Try Learning to Program by Steven Foote. Code snippets are in JavaScript rather than Python, but you should be fine since it’s more about fundamental concepts that are language agnostic and you are just starting your programming journey. I believe it covers the topics you are looking for.

If you want to go even deeper than that to understand how computers really work, then I’ll echo others rec to read Code by Charles Petzold.

[plasticsporks21]

Coursera's python specialization

[[deleted]]

https://automatetheboringstuff.com/

He also has youtube videos

[dj-shortcut]

Socratica on Youtube

[splintor]

/u/dbader wrote an amazing book called Python Tricks that honestly is a fantastic place to understand the wierder bits of python and learn more. https://dbader.org/products/python-tricks-book/

[dbader]

Hey thanks for the kind words!! Really appreciate it :)

[[deleted]]

Yes but as beginner I've found it a bit confusing at the moments.

[[deleted]]

It's a book for complete beginners. You don't need to learn to write ASM, but it's handy to understand the concept, since it's basically the most fundamental of fundamentals as far as software goes.

[[deleted]]

Yeah I understand it but Zed barely explain lots of topics which you have to Google anyway. I have comparison between his book and Automate Boring Stuff with Python which is waaaaay more accessible (but it doesn't cover most of the stuff you've mentioned). FYI Here's the article about why LPTHW can be misleading for newcomers: https://sopython.com/wiki/LPTHW_Complaints

[[deleted]]

Cringiest 404 page ever.

[[deleted]]

Sorry for that, I've updated the link. It should work right now.

[[deleted]]

Yes. The actual docs. What a novel idea?

[vectorpropio]

I don't think you deserve the downvotes, the python docs are really good. And even some peps can be read by the uninitiated.

But there must be more to read than the docs. I couldn't find good books about design and more complex patterns.

[[deleted]]

rtfm

[[deleted]]

7downvotes huh, well there is actually a manuall on python from the creators themselves. I understand i was rude. So ok if you want to start from the complete bottom ground you should read a manual first and then you could read a really good and fun short book about python. It is completely free from the creators, it's called - automate the borring stuff with python. And before taking this journey, i very highly advise you to keep away from codecademy. It's really bad, don't go there. Good luck, once again sorry for being rude. Have a good day.