Head First Python, 3rd Edition

Chapter 2. Diving in: Let’s Make a Splash

The best way to learn a new language is to write some code.

And if you’re going to write some code, you’ll need a real problem. As luck would have it, we have one of those. In this chapter, you’ll start your Python application development journey by making a splash with our friendly, neighborhood, Swim Coach. You’ll begin with Python strings, learning how to manipulate them to your heart’s desire, all the while working your way towards producing a Python-based solution to the Coach’s problem. You’ll also see more of Python’s built-in list data structure, learn how variables work, and discover how to read Python’s error messages without going off the deep end, all while solving a real problem with real Python code. Let’s dive in (head first)…

This sounds interesting.

Your subsequent chat with the Coach starts to tease out some of the details…

When it comes to monitoring the progress of his young swimmers, the Coach does everything manually. During a training session, he records each swimmer’s training times on his trusty clipboard then, later at home, manually types each swimmer’s times into his favorite spreadsheet program in order to perform a simple performance analysis.

For now, this analysis is straightforward. The times for the ...