Learn Python the Hard Way
by Zed Shaw · first published 2011
62% recommend29% neutral9% critical
Why HN recommends it
Hands-on beginner course with you writing code from the first exercise. It makes programming click for newcomers and pairs well with Learning Python, or later with Django tutorials.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
xx, 297 pages : 24 cm
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What Hacker News says
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…and whatever you learned from this resource will need to be re-learned for Python 3 pretty damn quick. Recommendation to those learning Python: avoid this Google resource and instead use Zed Shaw's "Learn Python 3 The Hard Way" https://learnpythonthehardway.org/python3/ Or you could do things Google's way and then follow up with learning how to use DOS http://people.uncw.edu/pattersone/121/labs/L1_MSDOS_Primer.p... because…
on “Google's Python Class” ↗Short path: - "Learn Python the Hard Way" by Zed Shaw. 52 exercises to teach you just enough Python to be able to continue. - Next, an excellent course by Reddit's co-founder, Steve Huffman, CS253. It was discontinued from Udacity, but is available…
on “Ask HN: Starting a career as a programmer in my mid-40s” ↗I have recently learned Python using the book Learn Python The Hard Way, by Zed Shaw. I found the book to be very enjoyable, as well as informative. I would love to have a book similar to Learn Python The Hard Way, but for C. If you know of any, please let me know.
on “Ask HN: Best beginner book for C programming?” ↗…depending on how much you've been drinking. [2] Then you'll wake up the next morning and go back to work, just like we all do. Anyway, programming. Throw SICP away and try something like Zed Shaw's Learn Python the Hard Way, something with a lot of exercises. Do all the exercises. Then do some of those programming-contest-type problems. Do little problems, ten-minute problems, thirty-minute problems. Practice the art of…
on “Ask HN: How to overcome strong feelings of worthlesness and inadequacy” ↗…Google? To anyone out there alone in the woods, trying to learn this on their own, I definitely recommend buying Lutz's Learning Python and read what of it you need to while working through Zed Shaw's Learn Python the Hard Way. And have questions ready in case you ever find yourself sitting next to a professional programmer on a bus in Okinawa.
on “The wrong question: “I want to learn to code, what should I do?”” ↗One of the reasons I recommend Zed Shaw's "Learn Python The Hard Way" to people that want to learn is that it tells you to type out the code in the exercises. It's not quite the same as stumbling into it with the lure of having a game to play, but I think it probably has…
on “The Minecraft Creator Markus Persson Faces Life After Fame” ↗I'm trying to learn python and I picked learn python the hard way by Zed Shaw, I don't have a programming background I'm more like a sys-admin combined with a degree in Electrical - Electronic Engineer and the book is really good. I was able to follow the book very…
on “Offer HN: I'll help you learn Python” ↗Two outstanding books that will help anyone get started regardless of whether they have any coding background are Learn Python the Hard Way by Zed Shaw, and Land of Lisp by Conrad Barski.
on “It's not too late to learn how to code” ↗…primarily used by professional programs. Scipy et all, etc. The "mouthfeel" of the communities is considerably newbie friendlier on the python side in my opinion. tutor@python.org is great Zed Shaw's Learn python the Hard way is good Alan Gauld's Learn to program site is great I find Why's guide both outdated and discursive to a harmful degree.
on “Ask HN: Does Ruby offer better support for learning than Python?” ↗It might help to have a bit more background on your nephew and his interests. If he's generally geeky, then Learn Python the Hard Way is excellent - but you need to already be very motivated to sit down and work through the exercises. Similarly, Hello World! is a good book for the complete beginner, but a 17 year old might find it…
on “Ask HN: Best Intro Programming Book?” ↗…projects that did things similar to things I wanted to do. There's lots of ways to learn development like that today, online, including great open source books like Dive Into Python and Think Python and Learn Python the Hard Way. There isn't so much of that for design. Not online, anyway. I don't write about "how to design" because, like programming, it's something you have to learn by doing. There's no Learn UX the Hard…
on “Ask HN: What do you wish you knew about UI/UX design?” ↗…and http://ycombinator.com/ideas.html 5) Read other people's code. I'm by no means an experience programmer, but this is perhaps the single most important thing that I learned from Zed Shaw's excellent Learn Python the Hard Way. You'll be amazed at how much other people's project can inspire you. 7) Most of all, don't ever obsess about finding an idea. Recognize that ideas are important but the way you execute them are much…
on “Ask HN: Where do you get ideas to build side-projects?” ↗…point, your accomplishment is not finishing Codecademy's very very introductory course on Python but taking the first step in the path in learning programming. I suggest that you take a look at Zed Shaw's Learn Python The Hard Way. The beginning may look a bit too easy, after all Codecademy does teach you stuff. But midway through you will probably see that Learn Python The Hard Way introduces beginner stuff that hasn't been covered…
on “Ask HN: Intermediate Python learning resources?” ↗Always happy to see another Zed Shaw book, especially after seeing how nice and helpful he is to others on HN. If this is anything like Learn Python the Hard Way then you should definitely check it out if you are trying to learn C.
on “Learn C the Hard Way: A Clear and Direct Intro To Modern C Programming” ↗>> Why the recommendation for Learn Python 3 The Hard Way? Specifically because even Zed Shaw - probably the most vocal and longest time objector to Python3 has moved on from recommending against Python 3. Thus now that he supports Python 3 then I think he…