16 search results for "python"

Cracking Codes with Python: An Introduction to Building and Breaking Ciphers has two goals. The book aims to teach the novice how to program in Python while also providing a good foundation in ciphers, encryption, and cryptography. There is nothing in the book that will help the reader replace the excellent open source implementations currently available. That is not the goal. Rather, the reader has a chance to learn the foundations underlying classic and modern attempts to secure communication between parties. The classics are all here, from simple reverse cipher and transposition all the way through to one-time pad ciphers and…

I like Python. I like its internal consistency. I like its design that all but ensures there is one right way to write almost anything and that any good Python programmer can figure that way out and use it. I have reviewed several Python-focused books and expect to do so in the future. So, this review will not be about the language itself, but about how well each of the two books included cover the language and provide interesting use cases. There are two books in this review: Learn to Program with Minecraft: Transform Your World with the Power of…

I previously reviewed a book intended to teach programming to kids, Super Scratch Programming Adventure. That book used a self-contained editor and language that was easy to understand, easy to use, but confined its usefulness to a very limited set of roles. This is because of how Scratch is run and written. It is no secret that I like Python. Even though I really don’t write code anymore, at least not very often, for most purposes I am still a big fan of Python over any other programming language I have learned. I’ve reviewed two Python books in the past,…

Years ago I purchased a copy of the very first edition of Learning Python.It was a small book, about 350 pages, but in 1999 when it came out, it was one of the best introductions to the language that existed. I hadn’t picked up my copy for some time, but I remember well how useful it was when I first bought it. When O’Reilly offered me a free review copy of Learning Python, fourth edition, I figured the differences between the two editions would primarily consist of updates to the content based on the differences in Python release versions, and…

I have four Python books on my shelf. I like the language, at least in theory. It is easy to read, clear, and powerful. In practice, I really don’t program much. I was hoping that this book might push me over the edge from writing shell and PHP scripts for my simple needs into Python land. So many of my friends love the language. I read the book this week. There are a lot of great ideas in there that would be useful for a sysadmin. The examples chosen are generally practical and useful. I was a bit disappointed by…

This is an enjoyable introduction to programming in Java by an author I have enjoyed in the past. Learn Java the Easy Way: A Hands-On Introduction to Programming was written by Dr. Bryson Payne. I previously reviewed his book Teach Your Kids to Code, which is Python-based. Learn Java the Easy Way covers all the topics one would expect, from development IDEs (it focuses heavily on Eclipse and Android Studio, which are both reasonable, solid choices) to debugging. In between, the reader receives clear explanations of how to perform calculations, manipulate text strings, use conditions and loops, create functions, along with…

Teach Your Kids to Code: A Parent-Friendly Guide to Python Programming is a unique and welcome addition to the recent trend of programming books with a focus on teaching children. Unlike books that are designed for self-study, Teach Your Kids to Code is intended to be used in a collaboration between an adult and a child. This could be a parent working with a daughter or son or a teacher working with one or more students. It certainly could be used for self-study, but I like how the intent and focus is to provide something to do together. The book covers…

My parents bought my first computer for me in 1981. I was 11. When my TRS-80 Color Computer was turned on, it booted up into a BASIC editor. What it did afterward was up to me. That computer came with a whopping 4K (not a typo, K) of RAM and no storage. We bought a cable to connect the computer to a cassette tape deck so that I could store programs on cassettes. It took several minutes to load an entire program into memory. I’m feeling nostalgic, but this article is not about that computer. It is about learning to…

I started using Nginx as my primary web server a little over 18 months ago. At the time, I was using an underpowered server with low memory, and I wanted to replace Apache with something lighter. Even though I still love Apache for its power, configurability, and contributions to the open source world, there are times when other options are called for. Nginx is an http server written in Russia intended for high traffic websites with a mind toward network scalability. It also works great as a lightweight replacement for Apache on my little server with 256MB RAM and one…

I have a copy of Mastering Regular Expressions by Jeffrey E. F. Friedl on my bookshelf. I bought it a long time ago to try to improve my skills at using regular expressions to search text and check input against desired norms. While that book is clear and well written, I am sometimes a bit impatient and it was taking too long for me to figure out how to do the things I wanted to do and I got distracted or busy before I read enough to complete the task (I ended up using Google and finding what I needed…