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Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science 2nd Edition

4.5 out of 5 stars 148 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-1590282410
ISBN-10: 1590282418
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 432 pages
  • Publisher: Franklin, Beedle & Associates; 2nd edition (May 7, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1590282418
  • ISBN-13: 978-1590282410
  • Product Dimensions: 7 x 1.2 x 10 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (148 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I was new to Python and fairly new to programming when I read this book. This book is extremely clear and well-written. It introduces a novice to the foundational concepts of computer science. There are many great examples and activities that the reader can jump into almost immediately. I had already written my first Python program after 10 minutes of reading.

I highly recommend this book for beginners.
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Format: Paperback
I purchased this book a couple months ago and have been thoroughly impressed.

I have never learned a programming language before, but I am fairly knowledgeable about technology in general. I decided to take the plunge, and figured the best place to start would be learning the basics of computer science.

This book is fantastic for a number of reasons. The first reason is the choice of language. When I first developed an interest in programming, one of the things I struggled with was what language to learn. As someone who has a full time job and no easy access to developers, I wanted to make sure it was something that I could realistically learn on my own. Python is the perfect choice and I would recommend it to any beginner. The syntax is very simple, its high level and object oriented, and its very popular right now.

This book is also incredibly readable. Many other resources that I've looked at that are aimed at beginners overlook some basic concepts that need to be explained. The author's often have too much expertise, and something that seems obvious and self evident to them may not be as obvious to a complete beginner. This book doesn't make that mistake. Each concept is explained simply, but omitting no detail, and the syntax is explained thoroughly (which doesn't take much with Python).

After a few weeks of working with this book, I was writing simple programs to transform data arrays and produce CSV output files for my job. The fact that you can very quickly deploy what you've learned in a useful way really gets you excited and interested in learning more.

Anyone interested in learning Python, or programming in general, should start with this book. Its just excellent.
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Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I'm rather new to CS, am a major in it as well. I dabble in various languages, which range from: Python to PHP to MooTools. This book teaches you theoretical computer science concepts as well as the art of programming via Python 3. It doesn't have a ton of pages and it executes its goal very well, which is to introduce students to the field of computer science and to focus on problem solving instead of complicated syntax and compiler issues. The programs are very mathematically based and it's a bit tedious (I find most technical subjects are), but the examples are fascinating if you love the idea of what can be computed. You'll broaden your mind and be ready to dive into actual programming after doing the exercises in this book.

The key point I want to drive home, is that this book is designed to teach the theory and concepts of Computer Science as it relates to programming and computing. It's not a book that teaches you Python step by step, but you'll certainly be capable of programming in Python after a thorough reading. You really need to sit down and read over the book a couple of times. I do this for my math texts as well, understanding and reasoning the material is fundamental to obtaining the knowledge in it.

Because it's teaching broad theory that applies to all modern programming languages, I find it rich but it takes far more time to understand than say just a tutorial on language. However, this book is what should be your foundation for when you eventually will begin embarking on various programming languages and development tools.
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Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I'm really only a few chapters in so far, but I felt the need to express my unanswered frustrations and how this book answered them.

I've always wanted to learn computer programming since I was a kid, back in the days when computers were the scary things they had in school libraries that adults were scared of getting too close to. I even bought a book on C when I was young enough to only require one digit in my age, and I didn't even own a computer and probably had only used one a few dozen times. I have throughout my life bought, attempted to learn, and failed miserably at learning programming many times. Each time I get terribly stuck and confused. I curse the writers of these books who advertise "programming for the absolute beginner" who I seem so disconnected to. I figured it was me, that maybe I wasn't smart enough, or that for some reason I just could never learn how to do cool stuff with a computer. In my most recent spate I bought another book on computer programming - also on Python. While I did learn to do some stuff, there was still this weird disconnect.

But this book is different and now I finally realize what I had been struggling with: the author *actually explains* what each programming concept does. This sounds silly - of course all programming books do that! But you'd be wrong. Apparently understanding what something like "for i in range(10):" does and what each part is for and called is in the realm of 'computer science.' It sounds stupid, but it took me a while in my first couple of attempts at learning programming in the early days, to realize (because no one actually said it), that a computer program is executed from top to bottom, left to right. A program is more like a player piano.
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