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9 Free Quality Resources to Learn and Expand Your Python Skills

Learn Python regardless of your technical background.

Photo by Lukas from Pexels
Photo by Lukas from Pexels

If you’re new to the tech field, and more precisely the programming world, then you must have gotten the advice that one of the best languages for you to start with is Python. However, even if you know a programming language, Python is widely used; you must’ve crossed paths with it or had to learn it for a project.

There are many reasons why Python is a prevalent programming language today; it’s easier to learn than other languages, it’s very versatile and can be used in many different applications, and it has a huge community to support newcomers or anyone looking to expand their current Python knowledge.

As a Python instructor, I always tell my students that, although Python is a relatively easy language to learn, it’s not as easy to master. So, writing clean, potent Python code requires a solid knowledge base and a lot of practice. Luckily, the internet is full of materials you can use if you’re serious about improving your Python skills or start building it if you’re new.

The amount of Python materials out there is mindblowing, with hundreds of books, websites, and blogs. Thousands of tutorials, developers, and YouYube videos. As much as I am grateful for this great effort, I know how difficult it is to navigate a large pool of materials if you’re new to the field or just looking for general information to improve yourself.

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In this article, I collected 9 free resources you can use to either learn, improve or expand your knowledge and skills. So, I will take about 3 resources for beginners to get into Python, 3 for people who already know some Python but want to expand their knowledge, and 3 to cover more advanced topics and applications of Python.

let’s get right into it…

Dip Your Toe (Beginners)

№1: 100 Page Python Intro By Sundeep Agarwal

Let’s kick things off with an excellent book for absolute programming beginners, the 100 Page Python Intro. One of my favorite things about this book is that it’s concise and to the point. So, it will provide you with the essential information to start using Python within 100 pages.

The book covers the basics from installing Python to the basic data types and control flow statements to functions, string manipulation, and dealing with files. After going through this book, you will have a solid foundation of programming and Python basics.

№2: A Byte of Python

Another fantastic book for beginners that covers all the basics of Python from the absolute start to an intermediate level is A Byte of Python. This free HTML book goes through data types, variables, control flow statements, functions, modulation, and more.

It also addresses the process of problem-solving in programming and Python, dealing with input and output operations and the basics of object-oriented programming.

№3: Introduction to Programming with Python

The third and last beginner resource on our list is the Introduction to programming with Python website. This website assumes you don’t have any programming knowledge and you are starting your journey with Python. What makes this resource different is, it approaches the basics of programming visually.

Or through using a graphics Python library Turtle. This website is excellent if you want to learn Python by drawing shapes or if you are teaching kids and young adults programming and want to keep things interesting.

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Get Compfortable (Intermediate)

№4: A Guide to Python’s Magic Methods

So, you learned the basics; the syntax makes sense to you now; you can do some simple programming and even address some midsize problems. What’s next? One of the intermediate, essential aspects of programming, in general, is object-oriented programming (OOP). In Python, in particular, magic methods in Python.

Magic functions are the core of OOP in Python, so I would recommend that after you learn the minimum basis of OOP in Python, like knowing the basic construction of classes, you need to dive deep into magic methods before going further OOP. This will make it better and easier to understand the more advanced OOP concepts.

№5: Beyond the Basic Stuff with Python By Al Sweigart

One of my favorite tech writers of all time is Al Sweigart. Automating the boring stuff with Python is one of my favorite Python books out there. Al Sweigart has a fantastic way of delivering and explaining concepts and topics in an easy-to-understand manner.

The Beyond the Basic Stuff with Python goes other essential knowledge like code styles, the most common source of bugs in Python, what’s functional programming, how to speed up your code, understanding computation complexity, and Big-O, and how to write efficient and informative docstrings and comments.

№6: Building Skills in Python By Steven F. Lott

The following resource is a free complete 500+ pages PDF book covering almost everything Python from absolute start to file handling and packaging. So if you’re looking for one resource to learn from A to Z Building Skills in Python by Steven F. Lott would be an excellent choice for you.

This book is probably one of the complete Python books out there, from what’s Python to how to package your code and maintain it after distributing it to the public.

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A Deeper Dive (Advanced)

№7: Clean Architectures in Python

Moving on to the experienced programmers who want to learn how to write better, readable code and build applications and frameworks using Python. My first resource for those people is Clean Architectures in Python. This book covers the topic of writing clean code and constructing solid architecture in Python.

This book covers the different layers of systems architecture and how to develop each layer efficiently. In addition, it discusses constructing and maintaining APIs, building web applications, error management, and docker imaging for applications.

№8: Architecture Patterns with Python By Harry Percival & Bob Gregory

After Learning the basics, it is an essential skill for every programming to know is how to write better, cleaner, and more structured code to read, understand and test. A great resource to learn the pattern of code architecture is my next HTML book, Architecture Patterns with Python.

In this book, you’ll learn the different patterns developers follow when they design and write their code. It also touches on the basics of testing, which is an essential step of the software development cycle.

№9: Full Stack Python

If you know some Programming, but necessarily Python, this following resource is perfect for you. The Full-Stack Python is a great resource to teach you the basics of Python and advanced knowledge about building applications with Python.

This website goes through the different development environments and how to choose the one that fits you best; it covers how to install each of them and how to use them. A critical aspect of programming is version control, and I believe that you should learn in parallel with learning how to code, which this website does perfectly.

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Takeaways

So you want to get into programming, or you already did but want to expand your knowledge or develop and hone your skills. So you headed to Google and tried to look for Python-related learning materials, click search, and millions of results appear. That’s great; the availability of information is one of the best aspects of Google and the internet.

But, with this availability of information, another challenge arose: instead of looking for information, you need to develop a skill to spot quality information. That skill requires a lot of time and effort. And if you need to learn something, especially now, where technology is improving at a crazy scale, you will want to learn this concept relatively quickly.

Getting quality information quickly is a challenging task in today’s world. Especially if the topic in question is a very popular one, like data science, programming, or Python. Because I completely understand the frustration of looking for hours for information, I always loved to help people reach the information they are looking for with minimal effort.

Because you should spend your energy learning and not looking for materials to learn from, in this article, I proposed various high-quality Python learning materials for all levels. So whether you are new to programming, have some experience, or just want to build some advanced topics, you will find material in this list that will surely benefit you.

Good Luck.


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