This is my fairly opinionated quick reference on how to learn Python. This isn’t so much a guide as it is something to launch from. There are already plenty of guides. I’m writing this with the novice in mind, but the seasoned programming veteran may derive something useful here.
Learn by doing
Learn by doing seems to trump most other methods for learning a programming language. This is the most bang for your buck in my humble opinion. Minimum viable programming you might call it.
Books on learning Python
I’m kind of old school and I’m a book learner; not everybody is though. It’s worth trying different approaches until you figure out what works for you. Here are the Python books I most often recommend:
- Automate the Boring Stuff with Python by Al Sweigart. FREE online!
- Learn Python the Hard Way by Zed A. Shaw
- Think Python by Allen B. Downy. FREE online!
This may be compelling to the academic; the treatment is through the lense of computer science.
Video series
Python Development Environment
Install Python for your OS.
Python IDEs
I’m partial to VSCode for just about any type of development these days. For the novice, my advice is to learn one general purpose code editor (not necessarioy an IDE…) like VSCode and stick with it for a while.
- VSCode + Microsoft’s Python extension is probably fine to start.
- PyCharm if you really must have a Python IDE.
Python Interpreter
A quick note about the Python interpreter. I think this is an often overlooked
tool when first learning Python. After Python is installed you should be able
to just type python into a terminal and start the interpreter.
i❯ python
Python 3.13.9 (main, Oct 14 2025, 00:00:00) [GCC 15.2.1 20250808 (Red Hat 15.2.1-1)] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
Ctrl click to launch VS Code Native REPL
i>>> message = "Hello World!"
i>>> print(message)
Hello World!
i>>> quit()
This comes in super handy to try stuff out interactively while you’re coding. In my opinion this is all the “IDE” you need to start with.
You can also just run scripts in the terminal using the python interpreter.
python on main is 📦 v0.1.0 via 🐍 v3.13.9 on ☁️ (us-east-2)
i❯ python ./main.py
Hello from python!
I’m a big proponent of the Unix as an IDE philosophy. A little Linux CLI goes a long way; learning the Linux CLI is a bit like having developer super powers.
Supplementary resources
- Python Tutor Visual Debugger and AI Tutor
- Python Regex Tester
- Awesome Python
General advice
I recommend picking 2-3 learning resources to use. When I’m learning a new programming language (or other IT skill) I usually pick a combo of some kind of hands-on learning like Exercism and a solid book resource. Even when working through a course or a book I recommend getting hands-on as quickly as possible to reinforce the learning that’s happening.