March 2025
Intermediate to advanced
584 pages
15h 31m
English
Overview
A fast-paced introduction to Python for intermediate developers–now with coverage of generative AI!
For over 25 years, The Quick Python Book has been one of the best Python books money can buy. It concisely covers programming basics, while introducing Python's comprehensive standard library and unique features in depth and detail. In this fourth edition, you’ll find new coverage of AI coding tools like Copilot and Google's Colaboratory (Colab), and develop a mindset that can make the most of AI.
The Quick Python Book, Fourth Edition includes:
Whether you’re new to Python or looking to advance your basic skills, The Quick Python Book, Fourth Edition will get you writing effective Python code fast. Python authority and former Chair of the Python Software Foundation Board or Directors Naomi Ceder has returned to author this extensively revised fourth edition. With the personal touch of a skilled teacher, Naomi beautifully balances details of the language with the insights and advice you need to handle any task.
About the Technology
System automation. High-performance web apps. Cloud and back-end services. Cutting edge AI. No matter what you’re building, it pays to know how to read and write Python! The Quick Python Book has helped over 100,000 developers get up to speed with the Python programming language. This revised Fourth Edition, fully updated for Python 3.13, explores the latest features and libraries and shows you how to code smarter with AI tools like ChatGPT.
About the Book
The Quick Python Book, Fourth Edition teaches you the essential Python features and techniques you need for most common scripting, application programming, and data science tasks. Written for developers comfortable with another programming language, it dives right into the good stuff. New interactive notebooks, quick-check questions, and end-of-chapter labs all help practice and consolidate your new skills. Plus, you’ll find practical advice on writing prompts and using AI assistants to accelerate your day-to-day work.
What's Inside
About the Reader
For beginning-intermediate programmers. No prior experience with Python required.
About the Author
Naomi Ceder has been learning, teaching, and writing about Python since 2001. An elected fellow of the Python Software Foundation, Naomi is a past chair of its board of directors. In 2022 she became the seventh person to receive the PSF Distinguished Service Award.
Quotes
Brilliantly crafted! It’s the book I recommend to smart people learning Python for the first time.
- David Q Mertz, Service Employees International Union
A good Python book should be on everybody’s bookshelf. Let me suggest The Quick Python Book!
- Delio D’Anna, cognitivplus
I recommend it! It’s useful, clear, and engaging—a combination that’s difficult to achieve!
- Doug Farrell, Author of The Well-Grounded Python Developer
Hits the sweet spot between quick overview and deep dive.
- Trey Hunner, Python Morsels
For over 25 years, The Quick Python Book has been one of the best Python books money can buy. It concisely covers programming basics, while introducing Python's comprehensive standard library and unique features in depth and detail. In this fourth edition, you’ll find new coverage of AI coding tools like Copilot and Google's Colaboratory (Colab), and develop a mindset that can make the most of AI.
The Quick Python Book, Fourth Edition includes:
- Python syntax, data structures, and best practices
- Python as an object oriented language
- Common Python libraries
- Basic data handling with Python
- Using AI code generation tools with Python
Whether you’re new to Python or looking to advance your basic skills, The Quick Python Book, Fourth Edition will get you writing effective Python code fast. Python authority and former Chair of the Python Software Foundation Board or Directors Naomi Ceder has returned to author this extensively revised fourth edition. With the personal touch of a skilled teacher, Naomi beautifully balances details of the language with the insights and advice you need to handle any task.
About the Technology
System automation. High-performance web apps. Cloud and back-end services. Cutting edge AI. No matter what you’re building, it pays to know how to read and write Python! The Quick Python Book has helped over 100,000 developers get up to speed with the Python programming language. This revised Fourth Edition, fully updated for Python 3.13, explores the latest features and libraries and shows you how to code smarter with AI tools like ChatGPT.
About the Book
The Quick Python Book, Fourth Edition teaches you the essential Python features and techniques you need for most common scripting, application programming, and data science tasks. Written for developers comfortable with another programming language, it dives right into the good stuff. New interactive notebooks, quick-check questions, and end-of-chapter labs all help practice and consolidate your new skills. Plus, you’ll find practical advice on writing prompts and using AI assistants to accelerate your day-to-day work.
What's Inside
- Python syntax, data structures, and best practices
- Object-oriented Python
- Must-know Python libraries
- Data handling
About the Reader
For beginning-intermediate programmers. No prior experience with Python required.
About the Author
Naomi Ceder has been learning, teaching, and writing about Python since 2001. An elected fellow of the Python Software Foundation, Naomi is a past chair of its board of directors. In 2022 she became the seventh person to receive the PSF Distinguished Service Award.
Quotes
Brilliantly crafted! It’s the book I recommend to smart people learning Python for the first time.
- David Q Mertz, Service Employees International Union
A good Python book should be on everybody’s bookshelf. Let me suggest The Quick Python Book!
- Delio D’Anna, cognitivplus
I recommend it! It’s useful, clear, and engaging—a combination that’s difficult to achieve!
- Doug Farrell, Author of The Well-Grounded Python Developer
Hits the sweet spot between quick overview and deep dive.
- Trey Hunner, Python Morsels
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access
More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly
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.