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Go to the Python website. Click around and explore. You can't not find some starting point unless you neither spend a bit of time nor do any reading on the website.
First go to Python Website and download the right version of python according to your OS from here. This page contains a number of documents which will help you to get started with python.
If you ask me for a good one, then i will recommend you A Byte of Python, which you can download in PDF version. Best luck...
This post has been edited by shadhin: 20 Sep, 2009 - 05:10 AM
A thing to note about tutorials and books on Python: Most of them are still dealing with Python 2.x. There are some changes in Python 3.x, that are not backwards compatible. So if you are learning with one of those books or pdf, you want to use Python 2.6. While the changes in syntax are not that big, for a Python beginner in it can be quite frustrating if the code examples dont work. An example:
CODE
#the floowing statement prints "Hello World" in Python 2.x print "Hello, World"
#but in Python 3.x print is a function, not a keyword, #the Python 2.x code wont work. In Py 3.x it is: print ("Hello, World")
This post has been edited by Nallo: 20 Sep, 2009 - 03:41 PM
I disagree... unless you want to work on existing projects. Obviously Python 3 is the better langange, just there is a smaller library, but it's expansive enough for any beginning programmer. (and if you learn Python 3 first you'll understand the syntaxal differences faster)
I disagree... unless you want to work on existing projects.
Here's the thing. Most people who use Python want to take advantage of the vast number of third party libraries available in a Python API. With that, the majority are 2.6 only. You do acknowledge the smaller library pool, but that's not a small thing!
And while Python 3 does improve on Python 2.x, the language isn't that significantly different. Furthermore, many improvements in 3.x have been backported to 2.6.x series. Beginners need stability and access to the widest set of learning resources possible, with minimal potentials for pitfalls. Currently, and for a long while, this will be the 2.x series.
I presume this is why the Python website itself recommends 2.6.x as a default.
Chances are that any tutorials that the OP reads will be for Python 2.x anyway. And for third-party libraries, it is best to use 2.6. BTW, the entire purpose of 2.6 was to backport features from 3.
This post has been edited by programble: 17 Oct, 2009 - 04:22 PM
This is a GREAT book, especially if you're coming of C or one of its derivatives. It compares a lot of how Python works with C-style coding, and helped me speed along through, without having to relearn concepts.
And as concerns from people above, yes, it is for Python 2.5, but it really makes an effort to point out upcoming changes for Python 3 that were being talked about when it was published, such as mentioning things that might change, be added, or be removed, so it's not like you'll be stuck in a 2.x mindset after going through it. Besides, once you're finished with it (and possible the second in the "series", Programming Python), you can just look at the official changes to catch yourself up, like everyone else who learned Python 2.x. Just download the still-available Python 2.6 and everything will still work perfectly fine.
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