My first ebook, “Practice Makes Python” — containing 50 exercises that will help to sharpen your Python skills — is now available for early-bird purchase!
The book is already about 130 pages (and 26,000 words) long, containing about 40 exercises on such subjects as basic data structures, working with files, functional programming, and object-oriented development. But it’s not quite done, and thus I’m calling this an “early-bird” purchase of the book: Not all of the exercises are ready, the formatting isn’t quite there yet, and PDF is the only format available for now. That said, even in this draft version, there is more than enough here to help many Python developers to gain fluency and improve their skills with the language.
Anyone who purchases the book now can use the coupon code EARLY to get a 10% discount. Perhaps it goes without saying, but anyone buying the book now will also get all updates and improvements, free of charge, as they occur over the coming weeks. And anyone who finds that they didn’t get value from the book is welcome to e-mail me and say so — and I’ll refund 100 percent of your purchase price.
The basic idea behind “Practice Makes Python” is that learning Python — or any language — is a long, slow process. Even the best courses cannot possibly give you enough practice with the language for it to feel natural. That only comes with practice. Most people end up practicing, as it were, on projects at work. My goal with this book is to give people who have taken Python courses a chance to become more familiar with the language.
My PhD studies in Learning Sciences taught me a great deal about how people learn, and one of the most important lessons was that of “constructionism” — that one of the best ways to learn is through the creation of things that are important to the individual. I have tried to make the exercises in “Practice Makes Python” interesting and fun, as well as relevant to what people do with Python on a day-to-day basis. Perhaps you won’t be creating Pig Latin translation programs in your day job, but the techniques that you learn from writing such programs in the book will undoubtedly help you out. Certainly, by working through the exercises — not by reading the answers and discussions! — you will learn a great deal about Python programming.
If you recently took a course in Python, or even if you have been working with it for up to a year, I believe that “Practice Makes Python” will give you the knowledge and confidence you need to master this fun and interesting language. These exercises are based on the many Python courses I have taught in the United States, Europe, Israel, and China over the years, and have proven themselves to help programmers start to really “get” Python.
I’d be delighted to hear what you think about “Practice Makes Python,” and how it can help to improve people’s Python programming skills even more. Contact me at reuven@lerner.co.il if you have thoughts or ideas.