Mueller - Beginning Programming with Python For Dummies

Beginning Programming with Python For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2017964018

ISBN 978-1-119-45789-3; ISBN 978-1-119-45787-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-45790-9 (ebk)

1. Table of Contents

Python is an example of a language that does everything right within the domain of things that its designed to do. This isnt just me saying it, either: Programmers have voted by using Python enough that its now the fifth-ranked language in the world (see https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/ for details). The amazing thing about Python is that you really can write an application on one platform and use it on every other platform that you need to support. In contrast to other programming languages that promised to provide platform independence, Python really does make that independence possible. In this case, the promise is as good as the result you get.

Python emphasizes code readability and a concise syntax that lets you write applications using fewer lines of code than other programming languages require. You can also use a coding style that meets your needs, given that Python supports the functional, imperative, object-oriented, and procedural coding styles (see for details). In addition, because of the way Python works, you find it used in all sorts of fields that are filled with nonprogrammers. Beginning Programming with Python for Dummies, 2nd Edition is designed to help everyone, including nonprogrammers, get up and running with Python quickly.

Some people view Python as a scripted language, but it really is so much more. ( for details). Your examples end up looking like highly readable reports that almost anyone can understand with ease.

Beginning Programming with Python For Dummies, 2nd Edition is all about getting up and running with Python quickly. You want to learn the language fast so that you can become productive in using it to perform your real job, which could be anything. Unlike most books on the topic, this one starts you right at the beginning by showing you what makes Python different from other languages and how it can help you perform useful work in a job other than programming. As a result, you gain an understanding of what you need to do from the start, using hands-on examples and spending a good deal of time performing actually useful tasks. You even get help with installing Python on your particular system.

When you have a good installation on whatever platform youre using, you start with the basics and work your way up. By the time you finish working through the examples in this book, youll be writing simple programs and performing tasks such as sending an email using Python. No, you wont be an expert, but you will be able to use Python to meet specific needs in the job environment. To make absorbing the concepts even easier, this book uses the following conventions:

• Text that youre meant to type just as it appears in the book is bold. The exception is when youre working through a step list: Because each step is bold, the text to type is not bold.
• When you see words in italics as part of a typing sequence, you need to replace that value with something that works for you. For example, if you see Type Your Name and press Enter, you need to replace Your Name with your actual name.
• Web addresses and programming code appear in monofont . If youre reading a digital version of this book on a device connected to the Internet, note that you can click the web address to visit that website, like this: www.dummies.com .
• When you need to type command sequences, you see them separated by a special arrow, like this: FileNew File. In this case, you go to the File menu first and then select the New File entry on that menu. The result is that you see a new file created.