Python Resources

Deborah R. Fowler

Resources for Python

Updated on July 18 2014
Updated on April 23 2022

If you are new to programming see Introduction to Programming

To install:

download from https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/

video instruction for 3.8.4Windows x86-64 executable installer

previous video instruction for 3.6.8 Windows x86-64 executable installer
note that python 2.7 installs in C:\Python27 however 3.8 will install in C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38
to change your environment path variable on Windows for Python 3 add it to your path variable (video instructions below)

adding path variable for python3 on Windows 10

click for full instruction on Windows/Mac/Linux to install the PIL (python imaging library, now Pillow), below briefly describes the process for Windows

PIL (python imaging library) site has the file PIL-2.0+dummy-py2.py3-none-any.whl to download

in a cmd window type install the whl file (in some cases you do not have to type the entire path, just pip)
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38\Scripts\pip install PIL-2.0+dummy-py2.py3-none-any.whl

IDLE - is one of the easiest ways in interface with python. It comes installed with python on Windows. On my linux laptop I "yum installed" by using the following command

yum install python3-tools

Sites: The best starting places for learning Python are:

the documentation. This official site has lots of wonderful information, be sure to select your version

Why you should use python 3 https://wiki.python.org/moin/Python2orPython3

and within Houdini, sidefx python documentation

as well as https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/hom/intro.html

class 8, exercise 4 and https://deborahrfowler.com/PythonResources/PythonInHoudini.html

www.openbookproject.net/thinkcs/python/english2e/
an interactive version similar to the above at https://runestone.academy/runestone/books/published/thinkcspy/index.html

Also recommended are

tutorialspoint on Python (Thanks Kristen!)
Think Python (on-line) by Allen Downey- note that the section on turtle graphics is not the same as the we are using, however the algorithms are valid and the code is very similar
www.upriss.org.uk/python/PythonCourse.html

http://inventwithpython.com/IYOCGwP_book1.pdf
File I/O https://www.pythonforbeginners.com/cheatsheet/python-file-handling/

For a brief introduction to OOP: http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/python-tutorials/python-from-scratch-object-oriented-programming/

In addition Professor Malcolm Kesson has information on Python at www.fundza.com
Kenneth Huff has extensive references and some wonderful gems on his site including:

Nick Parlante has created codingbat.com, a site with on-line exercises for Python (and Java)

Books

Online: The two listed at the top of this page.

Others that are excellent:

Learning Python by Mark Lutz

Two textbooks are geared toward game students, but are good introductions:

Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner by Michael Dawson
More Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner by Jonathon S. Harbour (may be available on Safari books, SCAD library)

The first book listed is written by the same author that has written an excellent textbook for C++ ( previously used in ITGM 315).

Two books that are interesting when using Python in other contexts (may be available at Safari Books Online) are: