You Will Learn Python 3!

Zed Shaw has perfected the world’s best system for learning Python 3. Follow it and you will succeed—just like the millions of beginners Zed has taught to date! You bring the discipline, commitment, and persistence; the author supplies everything else.

In Learn Python 3 the Hard Way, you’ll learn Python by working through 52 brilliantly crafted exercises. Read them. Type their code precisely. (No copying and pasting!) Fix your mistakes. Watch the programs run. As you do, you’ll learn how a computer works; what good programs look like; and how to read, write, and think about code. Zed then teaches you even more in 5+ hours of video where he shows you how to break, fix, and debug your code—live, as he’s doing the exercises.

• Install a complete Python environment
• Organize and write code
• Fix and break code
• Basic mathematics
• Variables
• Strings and text
• Interact with users
• Work with files
• Looping and logic
• Data structures using lists and dictionaries
• Program design
• Object-oriented programming
• Inheritance and composition
• Modules, classes, and objects
• Python packaging
• Automated testing
• Basic game development
• Basic web development

It’ll be hard at first. But soon, you’ll just get it—and that will feel great! This course will reward you for every minute you put into it. Soon, you’ll know one of the world’s most powerful, popular programming languages. You’ll be a Python programmer.

This Book Is Perfect For

• Total beginners with zero programming experience
• Junior developers who know one or two languages
• Returning professionals who haven’t written code in years
• Seasoned professionals looking for a fast, simple, crash course in Python 3

Exercise 0: The Setup
Exercise 1: A Good First Program
Exercise 2: Comments and Pound Characters
Exercise 3: Numbers and Math
Exercise 4: Variables and Names
Exercise 5: More Variables and Printing
Exercise 6: Strings and Text
Exercise 7: More Printing
Exercise 8: Printing, Printing

Exercise 9: Printing, Printing, Printing
Exercise 10: What Was That?

Exercise 11: Asking Questions

Exercise 12: Prompting People

Exercise 13: Parameters, Unpacking, Variables

Exercise 14: Prompting and Passing

Exercise 15: Reading Files

Exercise 16: Reading and Writing Files

Exercise 17: More Files

Exercise 18: Names, Variables, Code, Functions

Exercise 19: Functions and Variables

Exercise 20: Functions and Files

Exercise 21: Functions Can Return Something

Exercise 22: What Do You Know So Far?

Exercise 23: Read Some Code

Exercise 24: More Practice 

Exercise 25: Even More Practice 

Exercise 26: Congratulations, Take a Test! 

Exercise 27: Memorizing Logic 

Exercise 28: Boolean Practice 

Exercise 29: What If 

Exercise 30: Else and If 

Exercise 31: Making Decisions

Exercise 32: Loops and Lists 

Exercise 33: While-Loops 

Exercise 34: Accessing Elements of Lists 

Exercise 35: Branches and Functions 

Exercise 36: Designing and Debugging 

Exercise 37: Symbol Review 

Exercise 38: Doing Things to Lists 

Exercise 39: Dictionaries, Oh Lovely Dictionaries 

Exercise 40: Modules, Classes, and Objects 

Exercise 41: Learning to Speak Object Oriented 

Exercise 42: Is-A, Has-A, Objects, and Classes 

Exercise 43: Basic Object-Oriented Analysis and Design 

Exercise 44: Inheritance vs. Composition 

Exercise 45: You Make a Game 

Exercise 46: A Project Skeleton 

Exercise 47: Automated Testing 

Exercise 48: Advanced User Input 

Exercise 49: Making Sentences 

Exercise 50: Your First Website 

Exercise 51: Getting Input from a Browser 

Exercise 52: The Start of Your Web Game 

Exercise 1: The Setup 245
Exercise 2: Paths, Folders, Directories (pwd) 248
Exercise 3: If You Get Lost 250
Exercise 4: Make a Directory (mkdir) 250
Exercise 5: Change Directory (cd) 252
Exercise 6: List Directory (ls) 256
Exercise 7: Remove Directory (rmdir) 260
Exercise 8: Move Around (pushd, popd) 262
Exercise 9: Make Empty Files (Touch, New-Item) 265
Exercise 10: Copy a File (cp) 266
Exercise 11: Move a File (mv) 269
Exercise 12: View a File (less, MORE) 271
Exercise 13: Stream a File (cat) 272
Exercise 14: Remove a File (rm) 273
Exercise 15: Exit Your Terminal (exit) 275
Command Line Next Steps 276