I love developing software. Â I also love helping people to learn how to develop better. That’s why I have been teaching programming classes for more than a decade, and why I write about programming. There is so much to learn; it’s a rare day on which I don’t learn something new, and it’s a rare week in which I don’t apply some new understanding to a problem that I’m solving for a client.
Now that I have finished my PhD, I have some more time to focus on creating products that I believe will help people to program better. I’m pleased to announce three initial such products, all aimed at Python developers who want to improve their skills:
- A free Webinar (“How functional programming will make you a better Python programmer“), scheduled for Monday, September 15th, at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. The Webinar will consist of a 45-minute presentation, followed by a Q&A period. My goal is to describe functional programming, and then demonstrate some of the functional techniques that are available in Python. If you are a Python programmer who has heard about functional programming but doesn’t really know what it is, then I think you’ll get a lot out of this free seminar. Please register and attend! Even if you’re not interested in my other products, I’d love to see you at this Webinar — if only to learn what topics people do want to learn, and what I should address in future Webinars, books, and online classes.
- For those who want to dig deeper into functional programming in Python, I’ll be giving a full-day, live, online course on the subject. This course, which will include lectures, demos, and many exercises, begins with an introduction to functions in Python, then describes how to pass functions as parameters, list/set/dict comprehensions, customizing list.sort and sorted, lambda, map/filter/zip, reduce, and the “functools” module. This class, like all of my classes, will be intense and highly interactive — but will give you a new perspective on programming in general, and particularly in Python. You can register for this one-day course at EventBrite; it’ll be given on Sunday, September 21st and again on Tuesday, September 23rd.
- If you have taken a Python course, but feel that you need to practice Python more thoroughly before you feel like you’re truly fluent in the language, then you might be interested in my ebook, “Practice Makes Python.” The book will contain about 50 exercises in various aspects of Python, with the aim of helping you to learn through doing. I hope to release the ebook about a month from now, and am basing many of the exercises on my courses, as well as comments I’ve received from many of my students. If you’re interested in the book, you should sign up for the announcement list, where I’ll be providing sample content and behind-the-scenes information.
These products (well, the paid ones, anyway) come with a full, 100% money-back guarantee. And of course, if you have questions, you can always contact me via e-mail.