I remember the first time I had to use Python for my Text Mining class at the University of Amsterdam very well. It was a delight not having to use the awful syntax and other time-wasting conventions that I learned programming in Java. After that class, I continued to play around with Python for several spare time projects. Subsequently, my little experience with Python made me decide to go the Python/Django route instead of the Ruby/Rails one on some websites I am working on.

However, even though I’ve been using Python for almost a year by now, I never got a good, thorough introduction to the language. Along the way, I basically learned myself what I needed to know of the language at that time. For a while now, I have wanted to get a good introduction to the language and read Learning Python The Hard Way, but somehow never got to it.

To do: get a structured introduction to Python

The coming weeks though, I will be reading and making the assignments of the fresh and newly purchased second edition of Learn Python The Hard Way by Zed A. Shaw. I am glad he asked $1 for this second edition, giving me, being Dutch, all the more reason to finish it.

As I work my way through the 52 exercises, I will post notes on insights that stand out to me, the things I now finally understand and the parts I don’t grasp at all. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to share your experiences with Learn Python The Hard Way.