Book For Beginner

[lovedonator]

Hi guys,I'm in class 12th and I've been a reader of digit for 3 years.I've done case modding & other hardware related stuff,compiled android roms but I have zero programming knowledge as of now.I've decided to start from Python.Is this a right choice?If yes then please recommend a suitable book keeping in mind that I have zero programming knowledge.
I've seen this book,is it good?
Flipkart.com: Learning Python 8184048262: Book: Mark Lutz (9788184048261)

[ritvij]

visit udacity.com and take their cs101 lesson.. its the best you can get and is way better than any ruddy book!

[Sujeet]

^^Books arent ruddy.!Until and Unless a person judges so ....


@OP I would recommend to begin your journey in Programming with C,C++.
It would help you to strengthen your Object Oriented Programming Concepts which is a must have skill for programmer.
If you are concerned with Creating Programs for Windows LATER Then too I would recommned to Start with C++ which would allow you to catch up with VC++.
Ivor Horton's Beginning Visual C++ 2010
One Book To Rule both C++ And VC++.

[sarthak]

Better start with C or C++.

[nims11]

its better to learn python as your first language.

[Sujeet]

Python Syntax is easier to catch but For Complex Programs it may prove less efficient in comparison OOP like C++/Java.

@OP
Your Choice.Just Make Sure that you keep you basics and fundamentals clear!
The concepts are same in every programming language under the Sun.

[Liverpool_fan]

Python Syntax is easier to catch but For Complex Programs it may prove less efficient in comparison OOP like C++/Java.

A beginner programmer will not give two hoots about "less efficiency". And most programs would barely benefit from that "performance". A misguided programmer would be more likely to write an inefficient program in C++ than Python anyway.
If fact it's a lot better to be platfrom neutral as a beginner programmer than a pseudo-performance junkie. (yes that means no Visual C++ or any C#.NET and any such platform restricted technology)

@OP: Download "A Byte of Python" (for Python2) and follow Udacity CS-101 classes You'll be good.

[pranav0091]

@OP: Download "A Byte of Python" (for Python2) and follow Udacity CS-101 classes You'll be good.

Agree.

Better start with python I guess. Its much simpler than C, C++.
Will help you understand certain concepts like lists, dictionary etc better.
I suggest you hold back from buying that book.
First set off and register at Udacity.
Then use A Byte of Python for things that CS101 doesnt teach.
I have personally found that online resources and ebooks available for python are quite good.

[abhijangda]

Yeah, I would also recommend go for Python rather than C/C++, these are complicated languages. Moreover, Python is not that inefficient. If programmed wisely then Python programs are also efficient. Also, remember one thing practice practice and practice. Also, Python in a Nutshell is also a very good book.

[$$Lionking$$]

Start with C.

Its extremely easy and more powerful than any other language listed on this page.
Once you are familiar with the syntax you will have many different choices - U could make faster programs the same ones u made earlier or you could do some low level advanced stuff or go into Windows API and make simple apps like Notepad, Paintbrush etc.. or programming for even more advanced graphics using DirectX11 etc...

C Rockks dude!

With python u will have limited scope.

You could download The C Programming Language by Kernighan & Ritchie.
Good book for beginners...

[Sujeet]

A beginner programmer will not give two hoots about "less efficiency". And most programs would barely benefit from that "performance". A misguided programmer would be more likely to write an inefficient program in C++ than Python anyway.
If fact it's a lot better to be platfrom neutral as a beginner programmer than a pseudo-performance junkie. (yes that means no Visual C++ or any C#.NET and any such platform restricted technology)

@OP: Download "A Byte of Python" (for Python2) and follow Udacity CS-101 classes You'll be good.

Refrence was made to Java and C++ not to VC++ and C#.
The Visual C++ book that has been referenced is also very good for Native C++ for beginners.

The most important thing is to be acquainted with OOP which can learnt and understood quite well by using C++/C/Java.

Learning Most Powerul Language in first Go wont Hurt.

Lets not talk about how easy or hard it is to catch up a language.It depends on learners efficiency not on language.

[Liverpool_fan]

Refrence was made to Java and C++ not to VC++ and C#.
The Visual C++ book that has been referenced is also very good for Native C++ for beginners.

There are better books.

The most important thing is to be acquainted with OOP which can learnt and understood quite well by using C++/C/Java.

Python does every bit as good in OOP as any of these languages.

Learning Most Powerul Language in first Go wont Hurt.

Power in terms of what? Performance? I've spoken about it already. I'll go and say Python gives programmer the power and it is infinitely more powerful in that sense than C or C++.

Lets not talk about how easy or hard it is to catch up a language.It depends on learners efficiency not on language.

It does my friend, it does.

P.S.: The term learners' "efficiency" is a load of bull, especially talking about beginners.

P.P.S.: Are you a C/C++/Java/C# only programmer?

[Sujeet]

There are better books.

I didnt say thats the best book!Did I?
Alternatives always exists.

Python does every bit as good in OOP as any of these languages.

Power in terms of what? Performance? I've spoken about it already. I'll go and say Python gives programmer the power and it is infinitely more powerful in that sense than C or C++.

Explain.

P.S.: The term learners' "efficiency" is a load of bull, especially talking about beginners.

I am talking about learners Efficiency not Language's.Jeez.!

P.P.S.: Are you a C/C++/Java/C# only programmer?

+
Python+html5/cs3+Unrealscript+Jquery(Javascript).
If that matters.

[$$Lionking$$]

Power in terms of what? Performance? I've spoken about it already. I'll go and say Python gives programmer the power and it is infinitely more powerful in that sense than C or C++.

Can you access the binary data at any particular sector on your harddisk directly using python? Power in terms of what the language can enable you to do is also important. There are a lot of things that are just beyond python comparing it to C/C++ is insane.

P.S.: The term learners' "efficiency" is a load of bull, especially talking about beginners.

Really?? How?! Explain dude!!!

[pranav0091]

^
You'd like to learn about numbers before jumping into number theory.
IMO it makes more sense for the OP to learn a simple language like python to kick off his programming journey. You can always go into the nitty gritties later. But if you mess up your fundamentals when trying to learn, trust me, its a lot harder to get it right later on.

BTW doesnt the OS module of python handle things like you mentioned?

edit: Online sources indicate that reading sectors of the HDD is OS dependent, not language dependent.

[$$Lionking$$]

^I dont really think u can do that with python.

In C u cud use inline assembly and INT13H & INT21H(C shud probably have a function for this too..) both provide ways to do read/write on HDD directly...

What you read about OS dependency was that some OS might block direct access to HDD via any software... probably a security feature...

@this is OS dependant not language dependant ?? r u actually saying these words out loud?

THIS IS ALL OFF TOPIC. POINT IS C IS MORE POWERFUL THAN PYTHON DUDE!!!

this nitty gritty was only an example... u shudnt have taken it so literally... I was just giving an example of low level programming that will probably not be possible to do in python considering its a high level language...

1st language is very important... it should be C.

[ico]

Reading posts, one thing I'm dead sure. Everyone saying C/C++ in this thread for a beginner have zero idea about Python. And the people who are saying Python, very well know about C/C++ to make the right judgment.

With C/C++, just after a small bit of learning, you're going to spend most of your time with pointers/memory addressing. C is the most "jugaadu" language out there. Shouldn't be your first step at all.

[Liverpool_fan]

I didnt say thats the best book!Did I?

All right.

Explain.

I am not going to write programs to demonstrate that. If you know Python you'll know the answer (re OOP). As far as programmer having "infinitely more power" is concerned Python has very rich set of libraries, documentation, and everything to do what a programming language is supposed to do - Make writing programs possible for humans with ease. And Python does compile to bytecode, before the bytecode is interepreted to the Python VM, so it's not like Python is very slow or what.

I am talking about learners Efficiency not Language's.Jeez.!

I was talking of the same in that quote.

+
Python+html5/cs3+Unrealscript+Jquery(Javascript).
If that matters.

No it doesn't but it doesn't tally that you're asking me to explain OOP features of Python when you have programmed with it.

Can you access the binary data at any particular sector on your harddisk directly using python? Power in terms of what the language can enable you to do is also important. There are a lot of things that are just beyond python comparing it to C/C++ is insane.

How many programs would actually want to access binary data at any particular sector on your hard disk? That's lol. And Python can interface with C libraries to achieve everything a C program can do. And to add to that no beginner would be fiddling with the bits in your hard disk.
This is like saying a bulldozer is more powerful than a car, so it should be used rather than a car.

Really?? How?! Explain dude!!!

Self-evident.

^I dont really think u can do that with python.

See above.

In C u cud use inline assembly and INT13H & INT21H(C shud probably have a function for this too..) both provide ways to do read/write on HDD directly...

What you read about OS dependency was that some OS might block direct access to HDD via any software... probably a security feature...

@this is OS dependant not language dependant ?? r u actually saying these words out loud?

A modern programmer fiddling directly with the BIOS? What the hell? What do system calls exist for? AFAIK the OS will intercept these call and use their own mechanism.

THIS IS ALL OFF TOPIC. POINT IS C IS MORE POWERFUL THAN PYTHON DUDE!!!

Writing in All Caps doesn't validate your point but makes you look like a 12 year old. That point being bull doesn't help either.

this nitty gritty was only an example... u shudnt have taken it so literally... I was just giving an example of low level programming that will probably not be possible to do in python considering its a high level language...

You're quoting an example which is:
1. FAIL
2. No one will use
3. No one should use
4. No beginner would use it anyway

1st language is very important... it should be C.

And you can't back that up. And bet you haven't written a single line in Python.

Reading posts, one thing I'm dead sure. Everyone saying C/C++ in this thread for a beginner have zero idea about Python. And the people who are saying Python, very well know about C/C++ to make the right judgment.

With C/C++, just after a small bit of learning, you're going to spend most of your time with pointers/memory addressing. C is the most "jugaadu" language out there. Shouldn't be your first step at all.

This. Nothing needs to be said more. Heck while C++ does away with some of the difficulties with C, but the sad thing is most C++ "programmers" don't have a clue about STL, and often end up doing C programming in C++.

[nims11]

Statements like "C++ is better than python" or vice versa are invalid.

unlike C++, python doesn't give you low-level control. Also C++ is much faster than python, the reason being C++ programs are pre-compiled unlike python programs which are interpreted everytime they are executed.

Python on the other hand operates at a higher level and offers better Rapid development environment. It is much easier to learn and read as well.

I am a C++ progammer and i am not very much into python, but still i recommended python because a new programmer doesn't need to know about low level memory manipulation and OOP. He needs a language which is easier to write and understand and most importantly teach him how to program.

This. Nothing needs to be said more. Heck while C++ does away with some of the difficulties with C, but the sad thing is most C++ "programmers" don't have a clue about STL, and often end up doing C programming in C++.

This.
I am sick of my batchmates misunderstanding C++ as just a "better C" and nothing else. forget STL, their OOP knowlegde is limited to classes as a collection of data and functions, and inheritance is just a theory to them. To most of them, polymorphism is only about function overloading!

[Sujeet]

With C/C++, just after a small bit of learning, you're going to spend most of your time with pointers/memory addressing

For Beginner that shouldn't be a major concern.
Why do you think one will get stuck with pointers.
They are simple to catch and not essentials for Small programs.
If you are talking about managing variable with dynamically allocated storage then that's a different thing.

[$$Lionking$$]

And Python can interface with C libraries to achieve everything a C program can do.

You're making my case here - why rip off C libraries when you can just - use C!

A modern programmer fiddling directly with the BIOS? What the hell? What do system calls exist for?

Fiddling with BIOS?? lol? Maybe you could read a book on C!

Writing in All Caps doesn't validate your point but makes you look like a 12 year old. That point being bull doesn't help either.

It was in caps to increase visibility to mods.
If using block letters to better the visibility makes you feel I'm 12y.o. then I just don't care, and you need to seek help!!

A beginner programmer will not give two hoots about "less efficiency". And most programs would barely benefit from that "performance". A misguided programmer would be more likely to write an inefficient program in C++ than Python anyway.

This might clear your doubts too - Clearly the syntax is not so different and C is ~23x faster than python. ~3 seconds to do things that can be done in python in ~50 seconds.

Here -

Quick post: Python vs C in compute-bound workloads | Future Chips

Anyways I have a life - bye bye!!!

[lovedonator]

Oh my god,I see that my question has started quite a debate here.
Thanx all of you for your replies.I have decided to learn python first and I will stick with that decision.I'm not much concerned about efficiency at this stage as I'm just going to begin.Your suggestion to not buy the book and instead join aforementioned online courses is duly noted.Thanx a lot evryone

[Liverpool_fan]

You're making my case here - why rip off C libraries when you can just - use C!

A programming language is a tool. Every language is tailored for a particular task, with interfacing a high performance C library with a python program, we get best of both the worlds of ease of programming and performance. While C-only fools can fiddle with pointers and cleaning up memory, a clever programmer is building products using the best tools in hand.

Fiddling with BIOS?? lol? Maybe you could read a book on C!

So you don't have clue about what you post yourself. Maybe you should start reading your own posts?

It was in caps to increase visibility to mods.
If using block letters to better the visibility makes you feel I'm 12y.o. then I just don't care, and you need to seek help!!

"I need" to seek help, since you behave like a kiddo? Ok then.

This might clear your doubts too - Clearly the syntax is not so different and C is ~23x faster than python. ~3 seconds to do things that can be done in python in ~50 seconds.

Oh dear.

Here -

Quick post: Python vs C in compute-bound workloads | Future Chips

The author is using entirely different data structures, array v lists and this is not entirely a fair test. And yes C is indeed much faster for number crunching and similar stuff but that's not the entire use case of a language especially for a beginner.
Programming is not about just number crunching, and certainly not with idiotic algorithms. And of course as I said you can always externally use an efficient implementation in C to achieve speed.
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3...n-python-and-c

Anyways I have a life - bye bye!!!

You mean you are going somewhere else to troll and spread FUD. Tatty bye bye son.

For Beginner that shouldn't be a major concern.
Why do you think one will get stuck with pointers.
They are simple to catch and not essentials for Small programs.
If you are talking about managing variable with dynamically allocated storage then that's a different thing.

Write a program that will enter a name of any length and output the name, using the C programming language. We'll see how concerns can come out.

[lovedonator]

And one more thing,Should I install Python 2.7.3 or Python 3.2.3? Because 'A byte of Python' has Python 2.3.4 as reference

[Liverpool_fan]

And one more thing,Should I install Python 2.7.3 or Python 3.2.3? Because 'A byte of Python' has Python 2.3.4 as reference

A Byte of Python has both 2.x and 3.x versions. If you're following Udacity, Python 2.x since they focus on Python 2.x themselves. Python 2.x is well supported too, so it's a good choice to begin with.
And when you want to learn Python 3.x once you learn 2.x, this reference would be useful for you (easy to do, only thing to rememeber is Python3 is not backward compatible).
Dive Into Python 3

[Sujeet]

Write a program that will enter a name of any length and output the name, using the C programming language. We'll see how concerns can come out.

Like a boss.eeh!?

#include<iostream.h>
#include<conio.h>
int main()
{
char name[];
cout<<"Enter name";
gets(name);
cout<<"The name you entered is";
puts(name);
return 0;
}

Thats C++ implementation BTW.

[Liverpool_fan]

Not cool bro.

[Sujeet]

Codes are not meant to be cool.

[Liverpool_fan]

Wait, you were serious with that program?

[$$Lionking$$]

A programming language is a tool. Every language is tailored for a particular task, with interfacing a high performance C library with a python program, we get best of both the worlds of ease of programming and performance. While C-only fools can fiddle with pointers and cleaning up memory, a clever programmer is building products using the best tools in hand.

Yes, these fools are generally found in MS, Google, EA etc.. You cud even find a whole bunch of these fools working on Free Software world over too!!... But you're clever!! Hahahaha!

So you don't have clue about what you post yourself. Maybe you should start reading your own posts?

No, I think you're too smart to understand the difference between fiddling with BIOS and fiddling with the services provided by it. I'm just another fool what to say!!!

"I need" to seek help, since you behave like a kiddo? Ok then.

I behave like a kiddo??? Well, I was expecting some mod(YOU) to behave like a cry baby and delete my post hence I had to mention it in block letters that I knew it was off topic and then I tried to bring the discussion back on track, but somehow you're still able to cry about it - Just extraordinary!

Oh dear.

Totally!!

The author is using entirely different data structures, array v lists and this is not entirely a fair test. And yes C is indeed much faster for number crunching and similar stuff but that's not the entire use case of a language especially for a beginner.

Yes, I understand, cry more!!! - That will make you right!

Programming is not about just number crunching, and certainly not with idiotic algorithms. And of course as I said you can always externally use an efficient implementation in C to achieve speed.

Programming is not about number crunching? You rockk dude!

You mean you are going somewhere else to troll and spread FUD. Tatty bye bye son.

No I just did not want to end up like you -



Njoi!
I lose, you win! - Happy now?!