Python Crash Course, 2nd Edition:
A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming
by Eric Matthes

This is the second edition of Python Crash Course, 2nd Edition: A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming" the best-selling Python book that has over 500,000 copies in print.

Edition 2 is cleaned up and better organized and the second edition focuses on Python 3 only (no reason to learn Python 2) anymore.) While it uses Python to teach you to code it also teaches clean programming skills that apply to most other languages.

The author, Eric Matthes, is a high school math and science teacher living in Alaska who teaches an Introduction to Programming class in Python.

The book is neatly broken down into two parts. The first half focuses on installing and using the Python language. It teaches using data, whiles, ifs, loops, accepting user input for interactivity - all the basic programming stuff.

The second part features three projects: a video game (like Space Invaders), data visualization techniques to make graphs and charts, and an interactive web application.

The book lists other online resources and has a well thought out Table of Contents and Index. Appendix A covers installation issues and troubleshooting on various platforms. Appendix B covers Text Editors including more on the recommended Sublime Text editor and Integrated Development Environments (IDE). Appendix C gives resources and ideas to take your coding beyond the book. The final Appendix shows how to use Git for version control in your programming.

It's a great resource and not a surprise that so many copies have sold. Recommended.

What are you reading?  Let us know at dan@greatlakesgeek.com