Python for Beginners

New to programming? Python is free, and easy to learn if you know where to start! Here are some places that can get you started quickly.

Downloads

Before you start, you need Python on your computer, and you'll probably need to download Python. You probably have a PC running Windows. Here's a page with the most stable Windows download: Python 2.2.2. If you are using a Mac, see the MacPython page. For other systems, see the general download page (but you'll want to download Python 2.2.2 if it's available for your system).

On-line Tutorials

• Instant Hacking
  Learn how to program with Python. By Magnus Lie Hetland.
• A Non-Programmer's Tutorial for Python
  By Josh Cogliati.
• One Day of IDLE Toying
  A very gentle introduction to IDLE, by Danny Yoo. Also translated into German and Portuguese.
• Two self-training courses from Dave Kuhlman, Python 101 - Beginning Python and Python 201 - (Slightly) Advanced Python.
• Learning to Program
  An introduction to programming for those who have never programmed before, by Alan Gauld. It introduces several programming languages but has a strong emphasis on Python.
• How to Think Like a Computer Scientist
  The Python version of Allen Downey's open source book, with Jeff Elkner. Hosted by the Open Book Project at Ibiblio - the public's library. Also available in book form, see "Books" below. (Also at Andamooka.)
• Learn to Program using Python
  A tutorial by Richard Baldwin.
• Handbook of the Physics Computing Course
  (Also in various forms at the author's Python in Education page), a preliminary course handbook for 1st-year university students with no computing experience. This course material is still preliminary and assumes some high school-level maths. It does not cover object-oriented programming or graphical applications.
• Two courses from the Pasteur Institute are aimed at biologists but are useful to anyone wanting to learn Python:
  • Introduction to Programming using Python is for people completely new to programming.
  • Bioinformatics course in Python focuses on preparing people with some programming background for using Biopython.
• Beginning Python for Bioinformatics
  By Patrick O'Brien. An article introducing Python as a useful and viable development language for the computer programming needs of the bioinformatics community.
• Useless Python
  A website run by Rob Andrews with an eclectic collection of code snippets, tutorials, and other stuff, started on the tutor-list (a useful resource in itself).
• For younger people:
  • LiveWires
    A set of Python lessons used during 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 children's summer camps in Britain by Richard Crook, Gareth McCaughan, Mark White, and Rhodri James. Aimed at children 12-15 year old.
  • pyKarel
    Port of the ancient (but still popular!) GUI system (Karel the Robot) for teaching programming. Field-tested at Yorktown High School.

Books

• Learn to Program using Python
  By Alan Gauld, author of one of the tutorials above.
• Core Python Programming
  By Wesley Chun. One reader wrote: "The author assumes little, but never talks down. He takes care to explain everything, especially background ideas and jargon. The book builds up very gently for the first half. Brief mini tutorials and/or exercise questions (with code answers) at the end of each chapter."
• How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python
  By Allen Downey, Jeffrey Elkner, Chris Meyers. The online book (see above) as a paperback.

For Teachers

We've collected the online tutorials on this page; for additional material specifically aimed at teachers, see the home page of the EDU-SIG.

Help!

If you experience problems using Python, and the on-line documentation doesn't help, here are a few suggestions on how to get help from real people:

• comp.lang.python
  The Python users newsgroup, renowned for its friendly and helpful atmosphere. Also accessible via email, as http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list. See here for more info.
• help@python.org
  The Python help desk. You can ask a group of knowledgeable volunteers questions about all your Python problems. See here for more info.
• tutor@python.org
  A low-volume mailing list for folks who want to ask questions regarding how to learn computer programming with the Python language. See here for more info.

Please don't write the webmaster! The webmaster should only be contacted if you have found a problem with the website, such as a broken link. If you think you've found a bug in Python, it's a good idea to check first with one of the lists above; a complex system like Python can sometimes appear to be broken when you're new at it.