Make Fractals in Python Turtle with the FractalArtMaker Module
Posted by Al Sweigart in misc
FractalArtMaker is a module for creating fractal art in Python's turtle module. You can install the module by running pip3 install FractalArtMaker
How to Use Python 3.11's New TOML Parser, tomllib
Posted by Al Sweigart in misc
Python 3.11 will include a TOML parsing module called tomllib. Let's learn what TOML files are (they're similar to JSON), how they're useful for configuration files, and how you can write Python code to read them.
Downloading Web Pages and Files in Python 3 and 2 Without the Requests Module
Posted by Al Sweigart in misc
How to download web pages and files off the internet only using Python 3 and 2's standard library.
I Like Al Sweigart's Books, What Can I Read to Get Into Game Programming?
Posted by Al Sweigart in misc
If you like my programming books, here's a few more resources you can use to get into video game development.
What Kind of Computer Do I Need to Learn Programming?
Posted by Al Sweigart in misc
You don't need to buy a new computer to learn programming. It's a common misconception that you need a powerful computer to program. This guide will give you some hints to guide you in the right direction.
Book Review: Make Python Talk
Posted by Al Sweigart in misc
Mark H. Liu’s “Make Python Talk” is a solid book for anyone who wants to leverage the power of the Python programming language to add speech capabilities to their programs. The chapters cover third-party libraries for speech recognition and text-to-speech in an engaging way.
Book Review: Serious Python
Posted by Al Sweigart in misc
Serious Python by Julien Danjou is an excellent book for those who have gone through the "hello world" tutorials or those coming to Python from other programming languages, and want a book that teaches you not just how to write code, but how to write code the pythonic way.
Book Review: Tiny Python Projects
Posted by Al Sweigart in misc
Writing for an intermediate audience is hard, but Ken Youens-Clark has nailed it with Tiny Python Projects. This is a great book for those who have dabbled with a few beginner Python tutorials but still feel like they don't "get" programming. The projects in this book are short and simple; perfect for beginners who want to get experience with actual programs instead of just code snippets.
How to Represent a 2D Grid in Python Code
Posted by Al Sweigart in misc
This blog post examines different ways that Python lists and dictionaries can be used to represent a 2D data structure. I also write some test programs to measure the performance of each data structure.
JavaScript Books That Misspell "JavaScript": How Amazon Became a Minefield of Low-Quality Programming Books
Posted by Al Sweigart in misc
Here's a hint for programmers writing their resumes: "JavaScript" is spelled as one word, capital-J, capital-S, and no hyphen. But this isn't a blog post about programmers who make typos on their resumes, but about what a minefield of low-quality programming books that Amazon has become.