
Learn Python The Hard Way Now For Sale - fogus
http://sheddingbikes.com/posts/1288830708.html
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joag
I'd definitely buy Learn C the hard way, I've been following the book LPTHW
online few weeks ago and the way you teach IMHO is the best approach so no
programming folks like me can grasp the language.

Way to go Zed.

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aaronblohowiak
Re: LCTHW, I am taking "Linux Systems Programming In C" course at ucsc
extension. You are supposed to already know c before taking the course, but it
has been a fun trial-by-fire to dust off ye olde c skills AND learn the
intricacies of POSIX programming simultaneously.

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zedshaw
You should go grab valgrind and run your programs under it all the time. It'll
help you spot and avoid those annoying memory errors.

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aaronblohowiak
This is why the world needs LCTHW =)

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m0nastic
I just ordered a copy, and for what it's worth, I'll gladly buy either a
"Learn R The Hard Way", or "Learn C The Hard Way".

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zedshaw
Cool, thanks a bunch. Seems the voting is C, then R, then ChucK.

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levesque
Are you really going to write two additional books like this one? Nice. I cast
my vote for R!

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lazyant
I liked the "Advice From An Old Programmer" at the end:

"Which programming language you learn and use does not matter. Do not get
sucked into the religion surrounding programing languages as that will only
blind you to their true purpose of being your tool for doing interesting
things"

"Programming as a profession is only moderately interesting. ...You are much
better off using code as your secret weapon in another profession.

People who can code in the world of technology companies are a dime a dozen
and get no respect. People who can code in biology, medicine, government,
sociology, physics, history, and mathematics are respected and can do amazing
things to advance those disciplines."

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zedshaw
I actually got pissed at an editor who tried to change that. Poor guy. :-)

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SkyMarshal
I hear similar stories of editors not getting something important like that.
What did he want to do with it, and what did you say that got him to grok it
and leave it alone?

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batasrki
I'm putting in my vote for Learn C the hard way. If I need to buy this book to
support that, I will.

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jasonz
I vote for "learn R the hard way" for the next book

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zedshaw
Yeah, it's a tough call. I can see R being very useful, but ChucK is way more
fun. C just seems like a book that _needs_ to be written before the "learning
C sucks" situation gets worse.

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gaelian
For what it's worth, my vote would be for Learn C The Hard Way. Not having
learned C in any formal setting and coming from a background of mainly
interpreted languages, I've found it quite difficult to determine reliable, up
to date resources for learning C. It's not that there's none around obviously,
it's just hard to know which stuff to go with and hard to find something in
between complete n00b and full master, which is what I'd be hoping for.

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lazyant
"hard to find something in between complete n00b and full master" - My theory
is that the best technical books or books for learning are the "intermediate"
ones.

There are usually a ton of acceptable beginner's books and then very
specialized and complex books but very few good "intermediate" books like the
favorites:

\- TCP/IP ilustrated \- Perl Camel book \- R&K C book \- Silman's
groundbreaking chess books \- Harrington's groundbreaking poker books

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simonista
Dang, I'd love R, C, or ChucK. That is a tough choice.

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mahmud
Woah, another ChucK fan. Why not PD? I submitted a link to a PD book yesterday
but got not love.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1858875>

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simonista
Didn't see the submission, and haven't heard much about PD but I'll check it
out. Thanks for the link!

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runjake
Zed did a great job on this book. I hope that he does do the C version and
eventually (don't kill me) a Ruby version.

Thanks, Zed!

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sigzero
"Learn C The Hard Way" would be my choice for the next one.

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wwortiz
I really like that this book was written but $30 dollars isn't actually cheap
for a technical book, I'd much rather like to buy something like Land of Lisp,
but I'm probably not the main audience and I don't know how well I fit into
the target audience.

It is a short book for $30 dollars though, and I don't know if it is just
Lulu's pricing that is causing this, but kudos for offering it for free.

Edit: well sorry that I called a short book short, it is short on content
compared to the other beginning python books imo as it doesn't really get very
far in depth (you will know basics but you won't really know how to program in
python past the basics) so it isn't really teaching you the same thing in less
time it is teaching you a subset of the same thing in less time.

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TomOfTTB
I hate, Hate, HATE this logic. Your comment is what's wrong with the technical
book industry right now. Publishers instruct authors to pad their books to
increase the perceived value while at the same time pushing them to cover less
so the publisher can sell a "Pro" follow up book.

If this book can teach you Python in half the pages that INCREASES its value
as far as I'm concerned.

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andymoe
Agreed. I have a bookshelf full of 60+ dollar tech books full of obsolete
stuff. 30 bucks is a reasonable price for a tech book and one I'll gladly pay.
(Also, +1 on the C book)

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allbutlost
Just ordered, been waiting for this one - I find it much easier following a
book like this when it's printed and sitting beside my computer, not as a
browser tab to be constantly switched back and forth.

+1 for LCTHW from me

(ps coupon code LEAF305 will get a small discount on the lulu order).

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wyclif
I enjoyed LPTHW and my vote for the next book would be Learn C The Hard Way.
As I'm sure you know, that scratches an itch in a way that the other options
for the new book don't IMO.

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levesque
I am curious as to why you picked lulu instead of amazon? In fact, did you
have a choice to make?

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jules
I'd buy Learn Assembly The Hard Way (x86/amd64) and (modern) OpenGL The Hard
Way ;)

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SkyMarshal
Second. Assembly is a big gap in my programming knowledge and I'm on a search
for the best ways to learn it. Hoping to come across something as enlightening
as PG's lisp essays were, but nothing clear yet.

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SkyMarshal
Add one more vote for R and C each.

Regarding the C one, what would it teach that K&R doesn't already?

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frou_dh
Well done Zed.

I would buy both the ChucK and C books you describe. The ChucK one sounds
coolest :)

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eof
I think we're in the minority here, but I would also be into ChucK. there are
so many resources on C already (though, and python) but I found ChucK hard to
delve into.

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alexsherrick
here is the free version:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/e11pz/learn_pyt...](http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/e11pz/learn_python_the_hard_way_free_book/)

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earl
For everyone wondering wtf chucK is and only able to find information about
some tv show when you google: it's a synthesizer or some such.

<http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu/>

