convore.json/groups/python/from-where-should-i-start-learning-python/messages.json

[{"user_id": 7944, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297622937.5536971, "message": "The official tutorial is also a nice place to start over http://docs.python.org/py3k/tutorial/index.html", "group_id": 292, "id": 92828}, {"user_id": 8411, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297623444.695451, "message": "@coderanger Something like CSS3 and HTML5, ay?", "group_id": 292, "id": 92857}, {"user_id": 8831, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297622729.7497931, "message": "i found this to be a good start http://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide/Programmers", "group_id": 292, "id": 92803}, {"user_id": 1736, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297623208.5720699, "message": "@pr4v33n Learning Py3 is still a questionable starting point IMO.", "group_id": 292, "id": 92848}, {"user_id": 8411, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297623353.8350699, "message": "@coderanger What's Py3?", "group_id": 292, "id": 92854}, {"user_id": 1736, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297623398.0275321, "message": "@M8t Python 3.x, the new, non-backwards-compatible version which is definitely the future but isn't in widespread use yet.", "group_id": 292, "id": 92855}, {"user_id": 8411, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297623662.8979399, "message": "@coderanger Ah, alright, thanks.", "group_id": 292, "id": 92870}, {"user_id": 8411, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297622628.8936329, "message": "A website? A book?", "group_id": 292, "id": 92786}, {"user_id": 7944, "stars": [{"date_created": 1297622971.520154, "user_id": 1376}, {"date_created": 1297626285.109036, "user_id": 2313}, {"date_created": 1297632854.1675351, "user_id": 7423}, {"date_created": 1297646513.6206889, "user_id": 4375}], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297622851.095922, "message": "http://learnpythonthehardway.org/", "group_id": 292, "id": 92819}, {"user_id": 1736, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297623610.713309, "message": "@M8t Not exactly, closer to Ruby 1.9 vs. 1.8. During 2.7->3.0 a lot of old cruft was removed that was no longer useful but had been kept for backwards-compat (a Python 1.5 script will run basically unmodified on 2.7). 3.x is on a very slow rollout plan as people port basic libraries to the new version, so it is mostly of interest to Python library writers for now.", "group_id": 292, "id": 92868}, {"user_id": 2458, "stars": [{"date_created": 1298192573.209018, "user_id": 5069}], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297624596.6477871, "message": "I highly recommend \"Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist\" - it focuses on good programming skills and habits while teaching you Python. Available as a free book in PDF/HTML formats or for purchase.", "group_id": 292, "id": 92895}, {"user_id": 5639, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297626576.443136, "message": "I dunno. I think over the coming year Python 3 will start to take off, and will be on a major upward trend by this time next year. So by the time you know the language well, you'll have no trouble finding places to make use of it (if nothing else, you can help get some slowpokes to port their modules from 2.x). Further, Python 2.x isn't going to look completely foreign to you if you know 3.x, so why learn the older one only to be forced to break all these brand new and (by py3k standards) bad habits? Also, a Python 1.5 script of any complexity is probably not going to run unmodified in Python 2.7, and the changes between 2.7->3 are a lot less drastic from, say, 2.3. In my experience, moving from 2.6->2.7 involves some minor tweaks, and moving from 2.7->3 involves some minor tweaks. You don't have to care about much of it if you just learn Python 3 now. A year ago I might've spoken differently, but in early 2011, I think starting out with Python 3 is just fine. There are several Python 3 books available on the shelves today, and plenty more coming. Dive Into Python 3 is the only one I can think of that's available free online. If you have a Safari account (recommended) you can access tons of good stuff on Python 3, and the online documentation for Python 3 is, of course, recommended as well.", "group_id": 292, "id": 92980}, {"user_id": 3025, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297626712.5838361, "message": "As a book author, I'd say start with http://diveintopython.org, and pick a more advanced book later if you need one.", "group_id": 292, "id": 92988}, {"user_id": 3025, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297626751.290854, "message": "@coderanger I think @pr4v33n  was referring to Learning Python, 3rd edition.", "group_id": 292, "id": 92990}, {"user_id": 8391, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297626853.5298369, "message": "learnpythonthehardway.com if you're a beginner", "group_id": 292, "id": 92994}, {"user_id": 1736, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297628710.17366, "message": "@davidascher He wasn't, that is the link to the Py3 tutorial ...", "group_id": 292, "id": 93135}, {"user_id": 8658, "stars": [{"date_created": 1297630508.4201839, "user_id": 8013}], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297629075.383467, "message": "What ever tutorial you choose, also get \"Python in a Nutshell\" (O'Reilly) by Alex Martelli. You _will_ want a hardcore reference. If you are already programming in another language, this may be all you need.", "group_id": 292, "id": 93171}, {"user_id": 6628, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297631271.942848, "message": "@potassiumchloride thanks.  More here on my delicious: http://www.delicious.com/ackdesha/python", "group_id": 292, "id": 93676}, {"user_id": 6628, "stars": [{"date_created": 1297632248.3788121, "user_id": 8728}, {"date_created": 1297632739.5202279, "user_id": 7423}, {"date_created": 1297631111.858784, "user_id": 8658}, {"date_created": 1297639066.213439, "user_id": 7780}, {"date_created": 1297644475.777427, "user_id": 2271}, {"date_created": 1297660811.5108731, "user_id": 7858}, {"date_created": 1297747014.79865, "user_id": 9434}, {"date_created": 1298192549.103796, "user_id": 5069}], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297631044.2069149, "message": "Some links I've gathered:\n\nGoogle did a class on Python: http://code.google.com/edu/courses.html\n\nA MIT class: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-189-a-gentle-introduction-to-programming-using-python-january-iap-2010/\n\nStyle guide: http://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/pyguide.html\n\nAnother Python class: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDgD9whDfEY\n\nVideo tutorials: http://showmedo.com/videotutorials/python\n\nPyCon presentations (there are some classes here, too): http://pycon.blip.tv/posts?view=archive&nsfw=dc\n\nSome best practices: http://www.fantascienza.net/leonardo/ar/python_best_practices.html\n\nUnderstanding reserved underscore stuff: http://www.siafoo.net/article/57\n\nThe \"with\" statement: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0343/\n\nTips and tricks: http://www.siafoo.net/article/52\n\nGotchas: http://www.ferg.org/projects/python_gotchas.html\n\nPitfalls: http://zephyrfalcon.org/labs/python_pitfalls.html\n\nArticle on decorators: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-cpdecor.html\n\nHow and and or work: http://diveintopython.org/power_of_introspection/and_or.html\n\nSorting things: http://wiki.python.org/moin/HowTo/Sorting", "group_id": 292, "id": 93621}, {"user_id": 8441, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297632554.603606, "message": "@benstroud +1 for Google Python class. This is a great place to start. It provides quick exercises to get you up and running in no time.", "group_id": 292, "id": 93865}, {"user_id": 8000, "stars": [{"date_created": 1297658053.1493399, "user_id": 1}], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297635905.8248489, "message": "Think Python! http://greenteapress.com/thinkpython/thinkpython.html  Great (free) online textbook.", "group_id": 292, "id": 94245}, {"user_id": 7650, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297641754.015481, "message": "Python quick ref is a good resource to bookmark, it is periodically updated. http://rgruet.free.fr/PQR24/PQR2.4.html", "group_id": 292, "id": 94744}, {"user_id": 7843, "stars": [{"date_created": 1297746988.285742, "user_id": 9434}], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297654202.4971161, "message": "Check this out: http://www.pythonchallenge.com/  :)", "group_id": 292, "id": 95940}, {"user_id": 7317, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297656868.1741281, "message": "Depends, if you already have some experience with any other language I think you should just open IDLE and start coding!", "group_id": 292, "id": 96121}, {"user_id": 7317, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297656883.627388, "message": "Python is just too easy :-)", "group_id": 292, "id": 96123}, {"user_id": 8411, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297666038.1014349, "message": "Thank you all so much!", "group_id": 292, "id": 96695}, {"user_id": 8411, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297666102.460619, "message": "And yeah, I have some experience with PHP", "group_id": 292, "id": 96696}, {"user_id": 2173, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297692659.575779, "message": "trypython.org It runs on Silverlight though so if you have Linux you will need to install moonlight.", "group_id": 292, "id": 99731}, {"user_id": 1, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297723207.517453, "message": "@andres hello", "group_id": 292, "id": 106937}, {"user_id": 11034, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297723099.1214581, "message": "hello", "group_id": 292, "id": 106901}, {"user_id": 719, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297723315.7232871, "message": "@andres Hiya", "group_id": 292, "id": 106970}, {"user_id": 8658, "stars": [], "topic_id": 4966, "date_created": 1297631192.013937, "message": "@benstroud, nice list...", "group_id": 292, "id": 93662}]