Python Resources

I'm sometimes asked for my recommended reading/watching or what my favorite PyCon talks are or what resources I'd recommend for learning [Python topic X]. I've made this list of resources to help answer these questions.

If you have a question that isn't answered by this resource list, feel free to send it my way. I may not have recommendations, but I might know someone else who does.

Articles & Talks

Language Fundamentals

Keyword (Named) Arguments in Python: How to Use Them by Trey Hunner: a discussion of the ways keyword arguments are used in Python
Multiple assignment and tuple unpacking improve Python code readability by Trey Hunner: an explanation of the many ways to use multiple unpacking in Python
Asterisks in Python: what they are and how to use them by Trey Hunner: an explanation of the many ways to use the * and ** operators

Pythonic Code

Readability Counts by Trey Hunner: a handful of tips for writing more readable code
Craft Your Python Like Poetry by Trey Hunner: a portion of my Readability Counts talk expanded
Transforming Code into Beautiful, Idiomatic Python by Raymond Hettinger: a walk through many of Python's more important idioms
Elegant Solutions For Everyday Python Problems by Nina Zakharenko: a whirlwind tour of a lot of advanced Python language features
Writing Beatiful Code by Anand Chitipothu: a related discussion on code readability
Beyond PEP 8 by Raymond Hettinger: surface level code style isn't everything

Looping

How to loop with indexes in Python by Trey Hunner: range, enumerate, zip, and when to use them
The Iterator Protocol: How “For Loops” Work in Python by Trey Hunner: a look at the iterator protocol that powers Python's for loops
Loop like a native by Ned Batchelder: a dive into the many ways of looping in Python
Comprehensible Comprehensions by Trey Hunner: all about list comprehensions and why and how to use them
Python List Comprehensions: Explained Visually by Trey Hunner: a portion of the Comprehensible Comprehensions talk in article form
Loop Better: a deeper look at iteration in Python by Trey Hunner: a dive into Python's iterator protocol
How to make an iterator in Python by Trey Hunner: generator functions, generator expressions, and iterators

Variables, values, and scope

Facts and Myths about Python names and values by Ned Batchelder: false assumptions programmers make about variables in Python
Names Objects and Plummeting From The Cliff by Brandon Rhodes: a visual demonstration of Python's variable handling and garbage collection
Is Python call-by-value or call-by-reference? Neither. by Jeff Knupp: this will make more sense after watching the talks above

Functions and algorithms

Recursion for Beginners: A Beginner's Guide to Recursion by Al Sweigart: on how recursion works and why it doesn't come up often
Big-O: How Code Slows as Data Grows by Ned Batchelder: on thinking about computational complexity in Python

Classes and objects in Python

Python's Class Development Toolkit by Raymond Hettinger
Easier Classes: Python Classes Without All The Cruft by Trey Hunner
Stop Writing Classes by Jack Diedrich

Miscellaneous overlooked facts and features

Python Oddities Explained by Trey Hunner: a walk through a number of different Python gotchas
Check Whether All Items Match a Condition in Python by Trey Hunner: a discussion of the any and all built-in functions
The Idiomatic Way to Merge Dictionaries in Python by Trey Hunner: a Python 3 feature that's often overlooked
Counting Things in Python: A History by Trey Hunner: a number of different approaches to a problem, from a historical perspective
Unique sentinel values, identity checks, and when to use object() instead of None by Trey Hunner: an explanation of the mysterious object()
Why you should be using pathlib by Trey Hunner: my reasons for why I love Python's pathlib module
Default Parameter Values in Python by Fredrik Lundh: an explanation of why mutable default arguments can be a problem
Python's strftime directives by Will McCutchen

Python Podcasts

Python Exercises

If you're looking for more learning, you might want to checkout some of my Python articles, Python talks, or recordings of my many live Python Chat events (they're basically webinars but fun).