Learn to Code by Solving Problems: A Python Programming Primer

WOW! The exact extremely gentle introduction to algorithmic programming I'm looking for! It's like USACO for kids!! All the problems are DMOJ simple problems, which is very type of simple programming problems and judge I'm looking for and this book organizes them in a way that is friendly and fun for beginners! Such a unique book! It took me buying 10+ other Python books to find it!! Thanks for putting into the work to find and compile these problems and writing this book! (I first went through the basics of Python with the first half of Python Crash Course, another No Starch Press book.)

I have had a few false starts in my journey to learn to code, some due to personal circumstances and other due to the study materials.The concept of ‘Learn to code by solving problems’ is a great fit for me. Daniel Zingsro lays out a problem and them walks your through the Python concepts to solve it. That is great but then he give you more problems to solve that use the same concepts from online coding competition websites where you can upload you code and get an instant pass or fail grade.I am not too far into the book yet but so far, it’s really helpful

It is a very good book! It would strongly help to already be familiar with the concepts first and then dive into this book! I think the problem sets are amazing, challenging and chosen carefully. Only problem I have with the book is that there isn’t a way to get help or find the answers to the recommended problems at the end of each chapter. Otherwise great book! Will get his Algorithms book once I’m done with this one!

I just finished the NYU python 101 course. This book was very much like the course at college where we learned to code by solving problems. This book uses the exact same approach.According to my father, a professional software engineer, the approach of this book is how all the big tech firms interview their candidates: They present a problem and the candidate tool to solve the problem is code.I highly recommend it for any starting student. I believe this will also help in my future interviews.

Best resource I’ve encountered for learning to code. Most resources are either too passive, pricey, or vague. This book is all about mastering the fundamentals and building programs that comprehensively teach you to think like a programmer.Each chapter ends with multiple practice problems that vary in difficulty. Grinding through them are well worth it. By reading the chapter, and applying the concepts to solve the problems, you learn how to think, structure and write solid programs that transcend the quirky nature of the coding competition practice problems.I have been using this resource for a little over 5 months, am currently on chapter 8, and have started automating tons of manual processes at work based off the raw knowledge I have gained from this book.If you are serious about learning Python, there is absolutely no better resource to get started. One chapter, one practice problem at a time, you will be amazed with the progress you make if you stick with it.Also, Dan Zingaro is an amazing teacher, very eager to help out, and a dedicated academic focused on optimizing the way people learn computer science and programming.100000% recommend this to anybody looking to get started

This book relies on online references to code exercises (and subsequent q&a forums) which often have obscure or confusing instructions or objectives. Some exercises should be shared in later chapters; by jumping into some problems too soon, the reader may be dissuaded from how incredible and friendly Python is.

This book is excellent. I appreciate how each basic concept gets it's own chapter. This means that Zingario will go indepth on an aspect of programming that other book would just cram into one chapter called "Basics" and then move on. You feel like you have a good understanding not only of what each concept is, but also *why* we're using that concept to solve that specific problem.I found the judges really helpful too. The problem I found with exercises in a lot of other books is I'd never know if my code worked. With the judges I know if my code actually solved the problem. Would highly recommend if you're coding from zero This book should get you up to speed in no time.

The web sites listed for using while reading the book and creating Python scripts (2 of the 3) are not available any longer. Therefore, some of the content is not usable as the author intended. I can still write the scripts and run them, yet, as I said, not all of what was presented can be done as intended. Therefore 4 of 5 stars.