Resources we've written
Intro to Python, April 6 - Recap
Barbara Shaurette
This one-day workshop covered some computing and programming concepts, then launched straight into the basics of the Python programming language. Read more →
Get Your Mac Ready for Python Programming
A PDX PyLady
For a beginner, by a beginner: I'll explain what each line of code is doing so you can learn a little bit about working with a command line interface in the process. Read more →
Other Resources we like
Tutorials and How-tos
- Learn Python The Hard Way
- How to Think Like a Computer Scientist
- Introduction to Twisted: A thorough introduction to Twisted and Asynchronous programming in Python.
- tryGit: Learn Git with GitHub& Codeschool's new tutorial.
- Model, View, Controller explained.
- Basic Python Syntax Tutorial. (Helpful for both new to programming in general, and new to Python with prior programming experience).
- Online Python Tutor: Learn & Practice programming in your browser.
Community
Workshops for Women
Are you interested in doing a women's Python workshop of your own in your city? Email any of the organizers and we'll help you get the word out. Here are some resources:
Community-building
Workshops are just one part of PyLadies' effort to increase the female count in the Python world. PyLadies is a community of female developers who care about helping other women get into Python.
We plan to put together a package of materials to help you build your own local women's Python community. We'll be posting a "PyLadies Kit" here soon.
Web Development
Django is one of the most popular web frameworks. It's a great option if you want to use Python to build web apps. Start with the official Django poll tutorial. Two Scoops of Django: Best Practices For Django 1.5 was co-written by a PyLady - don't hesitate to ask for a free copy if you can't afford it.
Some popular Django hosting options:
- Webfaction
- Heroku and Getting Started with Django from Heroku: A tutorial using Django and deploying with Heroku. Assumes some knowledge of virtual environments.
- OpenShift
- Google App Engine
Other web frameworks
Experiment with all of them! Here are a few links to get you started.
Libraries
Code checking using PEP-8 + PyFlakes: Are you writing code according to the standard Python guidelines? Have no idea? Try out this library
Logr: Simple Python blogger
Git Legit: Git for Humans
Newsletters
- Python Weekly is a free weekly newsletter all about Python (articles, news, jobs, etc).
- Pycoders Weekly is a free weekly python newsletter for Python developers by Python developers (Project, Articles, News, and Jobs).
Speaking at PyCon, DjangoCon, etc
Speaking at conferences about Python is a great way to give back to the community with your own knowledge.
- We Are All Awesome: hosts IRC office hours to help women speakers.
- Protips on Conference Talks: Thinking about giving a talk at a conference? Here is some great advice on how to rock it!
- SpeakUp.io
Tools
Text Editors
- gEdit (Linux & Mac OS X)
- Notepad++ (Windows)
- Sublime (Windows, Max OS X, and Linux)
- Sublime for Python and Web Developers: How to squeeze more power out of one of the most popular, light weight text editors for Python.
- Sublime Short cuts: Learn to get more out of the latest text editor.
- More "advanced" editors are emacs, vim (although @audreyr knows how to use both of those pretty well and still swears by gEdit for everything)
IDEs
- PyCharm
- Eclipse with PyDev plugin
- Wingware
Highly recommended Python package tools
- pip: better installation of packages.
- virtualenv: create isolated Python environments
- virtualenvwrapper: make virtualenv easier to use.
User Groups
A great way to continue learning Python is to work on your own, then attend presentations and ask questions at local user groups. Attend as many as you can!
- Python groups on Meetup.com
- Python.org list of local user groups