February 2025
Intermediate to advanced
1172 pages
42h 20m
English
Content preview from Learning Python, 6th Edition
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Preface
If you’re browsing a bookstore and trying to make sense of this book, try this:
Python is one of the most widely used programming languages in the world. It’s part of nearly every role that computers play in our lives, and its relative ease of use makes it an ideal way to get started with programming.
This book is a tutorial that teaches Python language fundamentals in depth. Its content is aimed at Python newcomers of all stripes, applies to every role that Python plays, and is based on decades of feedback from real learners like you.
This edition updates this book for a decade of changes in Python and its world. It drops coverage of the now-defunct Python 2.X, explores new tools added to Python through version 3.12, and applies to other Pythons past and future.
The rest of this preface provides more background info on this book and its subject. It explains what’s changed since the prior edition, debuts the book’s examples package, and may help you get oriented before jumping into details.
Python
By most metrics you’ll find on the web today, Python is now either the most-used programming language on the planet or very near the top of the list. The oft-cited TIOBE popularity index, for example, has ranked Python most popular for several years. As this edition is being written in 2024, it lists Python at #1 and well ahead of its nearest followers, C, C++, and Java.
Popularity ranks are prone to change, of course, and rely on usage metrics that are open to debate that ...
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.