
Learn Python The Hard Way 2nd Edition Released - Ntagg
http://learnpythonthehardway.org/
======
cantbecool
This reminds me of Ruby on Rails Tutorial by Michael Hartl. I love the idea of
the book being online in HTML for free, but you can pay for a better learning
experience: screencasts, PDF files, and online training courses.

~~~
mhartl
It reminds me of the same thing, and I think it's a great trend. I wonder why
Zed only charges $1 for the PDF/ePub, though. Maybe he doesn't realize how
much people are willing to pay? I still sell lots of copies of the _Ruby on
Rails 3 Tutorial_ PDF at $26, and I previously sold hundreds of copies at $39.
I bet he's leaving a lot of money on the table with his current pricing
scheme.

Maybe it's not just about the money? It isn't for me, either. But when the
HTML version is 100% free, people have little grounds to complain about the
price of an e-book. (Indeed, I've never received a single complaint about the
price of any _Rails Tutorial_ product.)

~~~
zedshaw
Actually, I researched it quite a bit, and I found I had 300k downloads of the
PDF last year, but that 150k of those were from bookmarks into the middle of
the PDF. My hypothesis is that 1/2 of the readers want HTML they can bookmark,
and 1/2 want to download a PDF. I'm guessing that if I set the price of the
download really low, then I'll get more downloads and purchases than just a
few hundred.

We'll see how it turns out. I'll be writing about it shortly. Interestingly
enough, people seem to be willing to pay $2.99 for an ePub version. I may try
doing two prices if that's the case.

~~~
eupharis
I'm one of those poor, unemployed young people for whom the $1 price point was
perfect. It's the "What the Hell" price point. The benefit of having it on my
Kindle and not having to switch windows all the time is real, but rather
small. Perhaps worth $2.99... but certainly not $5.

It's worth more now that I've started getting to know the book of course. I've
been reading a lot of programming books for a few months and these examples
are substantially superior to anything else I've seen, except for Why's
Poignant Guide.

Non-DX Kindle side-tip: Convert .epub to .mobi in calibre with "Text
Justification > Linearize Table" checked.

If you don't do this, trying to navigate around the tables on a small screen
will drive you batty.

(Still trying to figure out the regex to get rid all the "orphaned" line
numbers created by this method.)

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rgarcia
What's new in the 2nd edition? Couldn't find a list of updates/additions
anywhere.

~~~
sigzero
For lack of an FAQ:

[https://gitorious.org/learn-python-the-hard-way/learn-
python...](https://gitorious.org/learn-python-the-hard-way/learn-python-the-
hard-way/commits/master)

~~~
shii
Reading the git log for the site with some of the book mixed in isn't the
greatest way for a student to figure out what's changed...

Zed, I think many people would really appreciate a changelog of some sorts
between the two versions.

edit: also see this comment by Zed which basically goes over what's changed:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2700557>

~~~
sigzero
I agree but prior to your posting that link that was the only way I found and
no not real fun wading through the change log like that.

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Sukotto
LPTHW has a good rep, but it looks like it focuses on teaching someone who's
never programmed before.

Would anyone like to recommend something similar for people already well
versed in (a) mainstream language(s)?

~~~
zedshaw
<http://docs.python.org/tutorial/>

then do:

<http://www.djangobook.com/en/2.0/>

But, I'll also say, LPTHW is deceptively simple. Try doing it anyway, since if
you know a language already you can blaze through it, and when you get to
around 30 or so it sneaks up behind you.

~~~
Sukotto
Thanks Zed. I'll have a look.

(What's that about 30?)

~~~
Ntagg
LPTHW starts to get more complicated around exercise 30.

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Ntagg
Zed, are you going to be writing any other books for Python, like Python 3 or
more advanced topics? Maybe "Advanced Python the Hard Way?"

~~~
zedshaw
Nope, I'm not writing any more Python books, instead I'm writing a book on C.

~~~
Troll_Whisperer
If you're open to suggestions, I and I'm sure lots of others would love to see
one for objective C.

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rubergly
Does anyone know of any good books for people that are proficient with Python
and want to learn more about the language and come closer to being an expert?

The idea of LPTHW has always seemed cool, but I've looked at the table of
contents a couple of times and thought "huh, 80% of these topics seem trivial
to me"; maybe I could still benefit by skimming through and reading anything
that I don't already know. Also, it's kind of a bummer that there's no .mobi
version.

~~~
zedshaw
Yeah, LPTHW isn't for you if you already know Python. I guess I would
recommend Mark Lutz books, but really, if you are already proficient in Python
then I'd say go out and read code and implement algorithms in Python to learn
more.

As for .mobi version, it's a pain in the ass to generate it well enough for a
"code book". It's supposed to be coming out on the Kindle store soon, but all
of my previews of it just look like junk. I got it as close as I could, but
.mobi just doesn't cut it when there's strictly formatted code. If you've got
a suggestion on making code look nice in .mobi I'd love to hear it.

~~~
edj
Amazon recommends using JPEGs to display table data in Kindle books. Perhaps
the same solution could work with code in .mobi files.

~~~
zedshaw
Apparently that's what BigNerdRanch does. Seriously, that just makes my inner
nerd cry.

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nin_appa
Has the book "Learn C the hard way" released yet?

~~~
zedshaw
I've laid a stake in the ground for it, and will start writing it for sure in
a couple of weeks. I sort of need a break after this. :-)

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creativeone
Just bought the Kindle version. Now I have the book on my Kindle and iPhone
Kindle App (Looks really crisp on my iphone and has anchor links to each
chapter, although it could use a better table of contents)

Link:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00586LJ2O/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00586LJ2O/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=smacovlan-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B00586LJ2O)

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bane
Awesome! 1st ed was invaluable to my co-Founder when she started learning
Python for our startup a few months ago.

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ChikkaChiChi
I just picked this up on AppSumo. I'm coming from PHP and C, so this will be a
nice chance to try out Python.

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jolosan
Now on exercise 15! Best US$1 I've ever spent so far! Thanks Zed!

~~~
zedshaw
Glad you're liking it, and thanks for buying it.

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aorshan
What are the advantages of using this book over the online tutorials that are
available on the python website or even using some of the MIT OpenCourseWare
courses?

~~~
karlzt
"This book teaches a lot more than the basics of programming, and python. It
teaches important life skills in every facet of life: attention to detail,
persistence & that dedicated practice and application lead to results." ~
taotetek

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creativeone
What is the advantage of the course (on discount today)?

~~~
zedshaw
The course has 8 (I might do more) videos where I go through most of the
exercises and show you how to do them with tips as I go. You basically get to
watch me make mistakes typing the exercises in and learn how I do it. In
addition to that I answer questions people ask on the site.

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sigzero
I am doing all of it with Python 3. So far, very little needs changing to make
the examples work. Very clean and concise. Thanks Zed.

~~~
RexRollman
So this targets an earlier version of Python?

~~~
listic
Yes, and for a reason. Python 3 is still not widely adopted [sic].

Python 3 Wall of Shame: <http://python3wos.appspot.com/>

~~~
sigzero
Stop the "wall of shame" shtick, please. It helps nobody. Projects know about
Python 3 and projects are planning to move to Python 3. It isn't trivial and
there is no "shame" in it at all.

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cvg
Planning to buy the paperback. While checking out the paperback info, I
noticed that the pdf is still free on lulu.

~~~
zedshaw
Yeah, I changed that. I was trying to give people who bought the paper
versions the PDF for free, but lulu considers "free" to mean you get it
without buying the book. I've had to remove that option for now since they
don't allow it.

On a side note: WTF is up with these companies? This stuff isn't hard, but the
whole time I'm trying to do this it's been nothing but friction. So annoying.

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malabar
Thanks Zed, I just bought the epub for my kindle. I am going to give it a go.

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ltamake
Just bought a copy for my iPad. I look forward to reading it!

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capkutay
love this book. very little verbal fluff, allows the reader to figure out the
material on their own with the exercises and extra credit.

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nospoolin
Just bought the PDF, Damn paypal tricket me into paying $1.00 with billmelater
=/

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Ideka
I checked the first couple of sections, and I'm sure learning Python "the Hard
Way" would have been much more exciting than reading the official
documentation... Oh, well. What is done is done.

