Python for Everybody: Exploring Data in Python 3

by Charles Severance, Aimee Andrion (Illustrator), Elliott Hauser (Editor)

Python for Everybody is designed to introduce students to programming and software development through the lens of exploring data. You can think of the Python programming language as your tool to solve data problems that are beyond the capability of a spreadsheet.Python is an easy to use and easy to learn programming language that is freely available on Macintosh, Windows, or Linux computers. So once you learn Python you can use it for the rest of your career without needing to purchase any software.This book uses the Python 3 language. The earlier Python 2 version of this book is titled "Python for Exploring Information".

Genres: Programming, Nonfiction, Computer Science, Coding, Technology, Reference, Science

387 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 10, 2016

About the author

Charles is a Clinical Associate Professor and teaches in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. He also works with the IMS Global Learning Consortium promoting and developing standards for teaching and learning technology. He also works for Longsight as Sakai Chief Strategist. Previously he was the Executive Director of the Sakai Foundation and the Chief Architect of the Sakai Project.

Charles teaches two popular MOOCs to students worldwide on the Coursera platform: Internet History, Technology, and Security and Programming for Everybody and is a long-time advocate of open educational resources to empower teachers.

Charles is the editor of the Computing Conversations column in IEEE Computer magazine that features a monthly article and video interview of a computing pioneer. Charles is the author of the book, "Sakai: Building an Open Source Community" that describes the early days of the open source Sakai project. Charles is also the author of the book, "Using Google App Engine" from O'Reilly and Associates and the book "Python for Informatics: Exploring Information". He also wrote the O'Reilly book titled, "High Performance Computing". Charles has a background in standards including serving as the vice-chair for the IEEE Posix P1003 standards effort and edited the Standards Column in IEEE Computer Magazine from 1995-1999.

Charles is active in media as a hobby, he has co-hosted several television shows including "Nothin but Net" produced by MediaOne and a nationally televised program about the Internet called "Internet:TCI". Charles appeared for over 10 years as an expert on Internet and Technology as a co-host of a live call-in radio program on the local Public Radio affiliate (www.wkar.org).

Chuck's hobbies include off-road motorcycle riding, karaoke and playing hockey.

Charles has a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Michigan State University.

Reviews

[Chadi Raheb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Charles Severance's MOOC on Coursera more than the book. He's a fantastic cool prof who makes you learn stuff while having a lot of fun! I'm more of a hands-on-project person & that's why I can't give more than 3 stars to the book. But I'd give him & his course 100/100 stars! :)

[Eszter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book for the principles in Python programming. One of the best books I ever read for acquiring a new programming language.

[Steven Dyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good intro to Python. Best with the related Coursera classes

Good intro to Python. Great companion and resource for the Coursera Python courses. The author and instructor is a master, making it easy to learn basic programming principles and Python.

[Ali Mousavi · Rating 3 out of 5]

کتاب اطلاعات مفید خوبی برای شروع داره. خیلی از مفاهیم ابتدایی پایتون رو کوتاه توضیح داده و مثال زده. من به عنوان مرور، کنار دوره ای که می دیدم از این کتاب استفاده میکردم که خب بد نبود. تهش هم یه سری زده به جاده خاکی و اومده پروژه هایی که شاید تو حوزه وب کاربرد داشته باشن رو توضیح داده که کاربردی واسه من نداشت اما شاید در آینده بهش برگردم.

[Johan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to find out if programming (in python) is something for you, than this book is it. You can download the book and sample code for free from https://www.py4e.com and there you will also find the videos for this course, for free. If you don’t want to do it on your own, you can follow this course on Coursera. It took me 2 months to finish this book, but that is because I started a couple of python projects of my own (downloading cryptocurrencies data and my data from Duolingo). The duration of the course on Course is 8 months.

The book (& course) is exceptionally good: well explained, good examples, stuff that you can start using in your own projects, ... Except for the final chapter on data visualisation. Everything went well until I reached chapter 16 and I felt totally unprepared for it. But it is more of a demonstration of what you can do with python and data visualisation than actually teaching you how to do it like in all the other chapters.

[Shivam Gangwani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for fundamentals. Shaky as soon as it dives into networks, regular expressions, databases and OOP.

--

Edit in 2021: Re-read it 3 years later as a part of OSSU + leading a Python study group. I would strongly recommend reading "Introduction to Networking" by the same author while covering the chapter on networks and web services, and to use regexone.com while covering the chapter on regular expressions.

[Santiago · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book for absolute beginners in programming. Concepts are explained in very easy terms, and there are some simple exercises that can be done for comprehension. I used this book as a companion for the 'Python for Everybody' specialization in Coursera. Do note, however, that the book is extremely light on Computer Science and many times touches things with quite a bit of superficiality. Anybody who's programmed a bit will find this well structured by lacking depth.

[Helen Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! I wish I read this 4 years ago and saved myself some lessons learned the hard way. Brilliantly written and beginner friendly without sacrificing depth and quality. Anyone who wants to learn Python beyond being a script kiddie can benefit from this resource.

[Md. Jamal Uddin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well planned python programming book for beginners to be a fluent python programmer.
Thanks, Dr. Chuck for lots of free materials and awesome content.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best intro/intermediate books on python and programming I've read. This book does it all. I also took the companion series of courses through Coursera that covers the chapters section by section. Between the book and the course, it really speaks plainly to you about programming and solving particular problems.

[Tim Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book. I read the book while taking the related online classes. The book provide a good review of the basics. I was a little disappointed in the level of detail that JSON and SQLite was covered but it was sufficient to get me started.

[Arul Kumaravel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good introductory book

This is a good first book for someone learning to do programming. It teaches Python step by step by using simple examples.

[geoffrey jenkins]

I consider myself a self taught computer and information geek,I built my first computer from parts ordered through Newegg and Parts geek,
this book on Python programming is awesome,

[Fawaz Abdul rahman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good one for total beginners in programming, focuses mainly on data exploring.
each chapter is somewhat short and contains no advanced vocabulary, totally making it suitable for all readers.
with examples and excersizes, a perfect book to enter the world of python if you have no knowledge of programming before.
and the book explains each termenology if it is not so common.
last few chapters also good entry to web and network, and for sure all topics discussed in this book required from your side much more ferther reading.

[Akif Güçyener · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never would've thought that teaching programming could be made this easy. Mr. Severance explains every concept like it is nothing. The book does not have a scary language and it is able to teach the concepts even if you are a complete beginner like me.

[Mustafa Maher Tawfik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Organized and Simple, yet insightful

[Jaime Olmos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Severance (aka dr chuck) has made a tremendous contribution to the software engineering (geek:>)) community!
The quality of his material (book and lectures) is outstanding: stimulating, didactical, entertaining and relevant.
His book and classes are available free!
It does not get any better than that!

[John Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introduction to Python

This book covers the basics well and then it goes on to explore real world use cases. It lives up to it's title and intended purpose. I will be reading something more indepth next but I just might read this one a second time.

[Bálint · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wanted to do too much. It is a good overview for people who know a few things about programming (but too long for that), other than that, it's just too scattered.

[Letitzia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good for non programmers and programmers alike.

[Jonathan Brewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just what it says on the tin

This book is a textbook case (hah!) of truth in advertising. It’s directed at people who are interested in using Python as a tool primarily for data analysis, rather than people who are interested in learning Python for more general programming purposes. Is it effective? Yes and no. The early parts of the book are quite instructive, covering the basics of Python’s built-in types and syntax, and building to greater complexity. At some point, though, the bottom suddenly falls out. The difficulty ramps up tremendously, and the book largely devolves into massive code dumps, or links to massive code dumps, with most of the discussion focused on how to make use of the programs rather than how to develop similar programs for your own purposes. I have a feeling that in a classroom setting, with supplemental materials and a good teacher, this is likely less of an issue.

All in all, it’s a fine book, and well-targeted. I really appreciated the section on regular expressions, which is a topic most introductory programming texts don’t even mention, and the database interactions are another oft-neglected area that had some good, basic information. I think it would benefit from a bit more dissection of the later programs, but for the price I can’t really complain. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

[David Fulmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to use to learn to program in the Python programming language. It is geared towards people with no programming experience, but it is also very good for programmers coming from other languages. The book covers all the basics like variables, data types, control structures, and regular expression and it broaches some more complex topics like object oriented programming and data visualizations. There are also great exercises and demos with the exception of a few more complex projects near the end that involve Twitter. The exercises are closely focused on what you are learning and are not too hard or impossible for a beginner. While it doesn’t include an answer key there are some ad hoc answer keys that readers have posted online. This book has a huge audience so there are lots of discussion board posts online about the different topics it covers, which is another benefit to this popular book. Overall I would strongly recommend this to everyone from a novice who wants to understand the basics of programming to experts who are unfamiliar with Python and looking for a great place to start. This book, which is available for free online in a variety of formats, is an excellent resource.

[Robin Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book because it was far cheaper than any alternative. I learned a lot, though I stopped half-way through because the focus, data mining, was not my interest. For the early chapters, and ideas, this was fine. "Dr. Chuck" as he calls himself presented the information well and enjoyably. There were homework problems too, and programs at an appropriate level with enough frustration but not too much, so I did the problems (this is important, otherwise you don't learn the subject). It helped a lot that I read it along with the video-course presentation in Coursera (also low-cost).

The problem, for me was the focus on data mining and analysis. I want to use Python for science and engineering, and there was little or nothing here to help. I could figure out some basics, but knew that I will likely want to use one of the packages, numpy, or something like it, and there was nowhere near enough in that direction, even as an appendix or side-bar.

[Polygenics · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this to see if it was worth recommending to anyone looking to start their Python programming off. To be honest, I would not recommend this over "Learn Python3 The Hard Way" by Zed Shaw.

Firstly as a programming introduction book it is basically fine, there are sections that are actually really good (the intro to OOP is very good), however its a total missell to suggest that this is book that focuses on exploring data. Whilst there are some toy "real world" examples of more complex applications that cover some common use cases, this is not going to tell you how to import, work with, or analyse scientific data.

This is a spring board to more complex books. It is fine if you are a newbie coder looking to use Python (but look at Zed Shaw's book instead). It is not going to be useful to an aspiring data scientist.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first 12 chapters of the book were really good. Then it went waayyyyyy over my head. It was like, Chapter 1: Hammers. Chapter 2: Nails, Chapter 3: hammering a nail, Chapter 4: Detailed instructions on building a skyscraper using lots of jargon.

For that reason, it is a little demoralizing. One of those books where you wonder if you're too dumb or if he just did a bad job. I'm inclined to think he had a lot of material he wanted to cover so he crammed it into 4 unrealistically complicated chapters. Now I'm going to read Automate the Boring Stuff, and if I walk away from that feeling overwhelmed then I'll probably return to ignoring technology and hope all the people telling me I need to learn to code or perish are wrong.

[Marshall · Rating 2 out of 5]

First part of the book is a good and short introduction to basics of Python. It can be used as a good refresher course for those who knew Python in the past and need to dust off their already existant knowledge. The second part of the book introduces some basic applications of Python mainly in web and network contexts. I personally found the applications interesting but some might find it irrelevant and confusing for someone who is new to programming. I believe there are better resources on the web that can help new-learners to learn about what they can do with their basic Python knowledge and how they can hone their skills and learn a bit more advanced Python through doing some "intermediate" projects.

[James McGhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book and set of videos either through Coursera or the author’s own site at py4e.com, where you can do the exercises without paying Coursera. Explains the basics and concepts well, but falls short in prompting with good practice projects, which you can often solve by modifying the code discussed in the chapter rather than having to apply it in a novel way, which I think would help more with learning.

That said, I used this with another source that was more “sink or swim,” and the grasp of the fundamentals I got from Dr. Chuck in this book and course was essential for actually using programming to solve other problems.

[Urmomtish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is a decent book for those who are new to programming and want to learn Python. The first 10 or so chapters of the book is great. Those chapters focus on understanding the fundamentals (e.g. conditionals, iterations, strings, etc.) and provides practice exercises to test how well you understand the concepts. From chapter 11, however, the level of difficulty jumps quite a bit as it goes into networks, APIs, databases, etc. with not that much detail, which makes it hard to grasp the concepts.
So overall I’d says it’s a good book but expect to use a decent amount of additional resources to understand the material covered in this book.

[Gaudencio Guedes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book if you´re giving your first steps in Python (there's also plenty of more advanced material in the book). The book is easy to follow, with hundreds of coding to read and it really takes you by the hand to become a beginner-intermediate user of Python. A special word of appreciation to Charles for making this book completely free of charges (very rare thing to happen in these days of savage capitalism). I highly recommend this book as well the 13h video available on Youtube (again, free of adverts!!)

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the text used in the Python course I took in library school. You can download a free copy and access supporting materials (including Dr. Chuck's lectures) at https://www.py4e.com/

I purchased a physical copy of the book because complex things stick better in my brain when I read them in ink on paper rather than on a screen. Python was really hard for me in the beginning but as my professor assured us, things did start to click around week 7 or 8. At that point, I found it helpful to go back and review earlier weeks which then made much more sense.