This textbook is aimed at readers who have little or no knowledge of computer programming but want to learn to program in Python. It starts from the very basics including how to install your Python environment, how to write a very simple program and run it, what a variable is, what an if statement is, how iteration works using for and while loops as well as important key concepts such as functions, classes and modules. Each subject area is prefaced with an introductory chapter, before continuing with how these ideas work in Python.

The second edition has been completely updated for the latest versions of Python including Python 3.11 and Python 3.12. New chapters have been added such as those that consider where and how Python is used, the use of Frozensets, how data can be sorted, enumerated types in Python, structural pattern matching and how (and why) Python Virtual Environments are configured. A new chapter ‘The Python Bites back’ is introduced to present the fourteen most common / biggest gotchas for someone new to Python. Other sections have been updated with new features such as Exception Groups, string operations and dictionary operations.

A Beginners Guide to Python 3 Programming second Edition provides all you need to know about Python, with numerous examples provided throughout including several larger worked case studies illustrating the ideas presented in the previous chapters.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction 

2 Where is Python Used 

3 Setting up the Python Environment 

4 A First Python Program 

5 Python Strings 

6 Numbers, Booleans and None 

7 Flow of Control Using if Statements 

8 Iteration/Looping 

9 Number Guessing Game 

10 Recursion 

11 Introduction to Structured Analysis 

12 Functions in Python 

13 Scope and Lifetime of Variables 

14 Implementing a Calculator Using Functions

15 Introduction to Functional Programming

16 Higher-Order Functions 

17 Curried Functions 

18 Introduction to Object Orientation 

19 Python Classes 

20 Class Side and Static Behaviour 

21 Class Inheritance 

22 Why Bother with Object Orientation? 

23 Operator Overloading 

24 Python Properties 

25 Abstract Base Classes 

26 Error and Exception Handling 

27 Python Modules and Packages 

28 Protocols, Polymorphism and Descriptors

29 Decorators 

30 lterables and Iterators 

31 Generators and Coroutines 

32 Collections, Tuples and Lists 

33 Sets 

34 Dictionaries 

35 Frozensets 

36 Collection Related Modules 

37 ADTs, Queues and Stacks 

38 Map, Filter and Reduce 

39 Sorting and Higher-Order Functions

40 Python Enumerated Values 

41 Structural Pattern Matching 

42 Python Virtual Environments 

43 Monkey Patching 

44 Attribute Lookup 

45 The Python Bites Back 

46 TicTacToe Game 

About the Author

John Hunt is a technology trainer, consultant, mentor and author who has 35 years experience within the computing industry. He has worked extensively in Object Oriented and Functional technologies using language from Java through C# to Scala and of course Python. John was first involved with Python while working with a FinTech company in 2010. Since then he has been involved in numerous Python projects and has worked with a number of companies helping to develop their Python skills.