Python Crash Course, 3rd Edition: A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming

Why it's worth it

Eric Matthes teaches Python from absolute zero, then spends the back half of the book building three real projects: an arcade game, a set of data visualizations, and a small web app. It's the gentlest on-ramp here, and it doesn't strand you at the end.

Most beginner programming books fail in the same place. They explain syntax for two hundred pages and never show you what any of it is for. This one splits cleanly in half. The first part covers variables, loops, functions and classes at a brisk but patient pace. The second part puts all of it to work on projects big enough to feel like something.

The tone is the reason it works. Matthes writes like someone sitting beside you who has seen every mistake before. He anticipates the confusion, names it, and moves on without making you feel slow. Readers who'd bounced off coding several times before say this is the one that finally stuck — an odd thing to say about a technical book, and it comes up again and again.

From our review of 8 books for learning python and machine learning, by David Sinclair, Managing Editor

What we like

• +Most beginner programming books fail in the same place
• +The tone is the reason it works
• +The exercises matter more than the prose does
• +It's also a decent second book

What to know

• –If you already program in another language, the first half will crawl
• –Readers regularly get stuck in the later project chapters, where files start moving between folders and the book doesn't always…