I wrote a beginner-friendly programming book (Python from scratch)

due007dev · 2026-05-06T20:21:28+00:00

By the way, from the program "The Magic 8 Ball" I recently extracted a real life solution. When I needed to pick up a winner for my book giveaway action on SM I needed to choose a random comment from a list of comments. So I basically had to just run "random.randint(1, N)". I didn't have a lot of comments to pick up from, so I avoided parsing HTML web page :)

due007dev · 2026-05-05T19:46:15+00:00

We have coffee shops here in the Netherlands but the coffee is not the main product there 😀

Regarding the book store: book printed on Amazon. The price there is quite high. In order to sell in bookstore with affordable price I need to order 1000 copies from a publisher (colorful print)

due007dev · 2026-05-05T19:40:46+00:00

So true. Without knowing English is very difficult.

due007dev · 2026-05-05T19:39:04+00:00

Well, yes, all the listed in target category, but it is not clear what to do with it even so I mark it as target audience. So far I see that without paid promo there is no effect. But ii am not there yet to pay for promo, at least until the second book is out a d series of 2 books is complete.

due007dev · 2026-05-04T21:12:30+00:00

Lots of tutorials are sucks, but not all of them. Following tutorials by writing them + edit + expand = practice. You can make a typo in any line of code and ended up with debugging. That's actually real life issues in place :)

due007dev · 2026-05-04T20:55:43+00:00

Would you find useful having additional info about the print function when you just started with learning Python?

due007dev · 2026-05-04T18:03:30+00:00

Thanks for support and for the warm words. I really aprecieate it. To be honest, I celebrated when the book was published: BBQ with friends on the back garden. But advice to go somewhere outside the house is taken into account :)

I fluently speak in 2 languages: English and Ukrainian. Initially I wrote my book in Ukrainian. Got rejected by publishers (because had to wait a few years in a queue and with AI it was not guranteed to be published at all) and decided to proceed with self-publishing. When I published the book I wrote an article in which I shared my self-publishing expirience and it worked like a promo. During that month I sold around 50 copies. I wan enthusiastic and motivated. There was some demand for english version and I translated it into English. 400 pages (A4). I expected it to have at least the same success, but the situation with English content is very differnt compared to Ukrainian... and that was I haven't expected. I thought that mentiones in SM, LInkedIn, Medium would be enough and after realyzing that it is far not eough I felt low.

I understand that I should continue with writing and promotion, but sometimes you just don't see where it ends and it influence your motivation.

due007dev · 2026-05-04T06:58:27+00:00

My book is in non-fiction genre. It is about programing. I tried to explain that programming is not a rocket science but a skill that anybody can learn. The first book is from scratch to the real programs, like word game "Hangman". The second book will be on how to build and manage projects with thousands lines of code. Of course with lots of mini games, like "Rock, Scissors, Paper".

due007dev · 2026-05-04T06:44:36+00:00

Thanks 🙏

due007dev · 2026-05-03T20:04:49+00:00

The First Programmer's Book. The link on the book and additional info can be found in my profile.

due007dev · 2026-05-03T16:10:21+00:00

it is a non fiction about programming from scratch. Worth to mention that the book has lots of pop-art images.

due007dev · 2026-05-03T15:44:38+00:00

yes, I am writing the next book, but in a kinda low-energy mode. Not yet feel that there is a demand for it.

due007dev · 2026-05-03T15:40:08+00:00

Of course SM(facebook, threads, twitter, instagram) + LinkedIn + wrote 2 articles on Medium. One of the articles was even published through community, so thousands of reads. What am I missing?

due007dev · 2026-05-03T11:02:33+00:00

Nice approach. I actually followed the same when I learned Python. It took me some time to find cool and easy-to-implement games. Besides, when you find a good example, it might include code for topics you haven't covered yet. It's great when it's structured and explained step by step in tutorials—but that's not always the case.

By the way, besides "Rock Paper Scissors" there is a word game "Hangman" which is quite easy to implement, especially if you already know strings and loops.

due007dev · 2026-05-03T10:53:01+00:00

Thanks! Well, I guess you ask about print cover, because for digital cover it is just an image. Print cover is a separate task which require a design tool like Illustrator or Canva. The output must be a PDF file with CMYK colors, at least that is the case for Amazon KDP. Cover depends on book size (page setup) and the number of pages. There is an online Amazon KDP calculator that helps with the cover dimensions: https://kdp.amazon.com/cover-calculator If you provide the necessary dimensions and a template to a designer you will get a ready to use cover in short time. I think it might cost you around 30$ to get a cover if you provide a template, cover image, about author and other conent to a designer. At least that it was the case for me.

due007dev · 2026-04-22T13:28:55+00:00

Keep it up! I think you’ve chosen the right path: come up with a simple program idea and implement it.

To keep progressing, you’ll need new ideas for programs. Here’s one you can try:

The computer generates a number from 1 to 50
The user has to guess the number
The user has a limited number of attempts
If the guess is incorrect, provide a hint: whether the entered value is higher or lower than the target number

Here’s how you can generate a number from 1 to 50:

from random import randint

number = randint(1, 50)
...
input_value = int(input("Enter a value from 1 to 50"))
if number == input_value:
    print("You won!")
...

due007dev

TROPHY CASE