Python is an awesome language, simple, explicit, readable and powerful.

I spent a lot of time wondering about how to start learning Python, which resources use and what books I should buy.

After this and some money spent on books I want to share my experience:

First of all there’s a lot of free resources so I think it is not useful to invest too much money on books or other things.

To start

There's a lot of interesting Python online courses, they don't talk about every aspect of Python but they are a good starting point.

Remember to start with Python 3 !

Online courses

• Codecademy Python Track - Very useful, with a few hours of practice you can begin mastering the Python basics.
• Learnpython.org - Another interesting online course
• Learn Python the hardway - If you prefer the "hardway" both course/book.

So pick up one of this course and start learning Python.

Books

If you prefer some good books I think this is the best to start.

• Learning Python - Awesome book, it talks deeply about every aspect of Python and sometimes it’s a little “boring”. But, personally, I can call it the Python Bible. This book costs a lot of money and it's worth it, but often you'll find interesting offer (50 % discount) on O'Reilly site.

Useful resource

Video

• Pyvideo - A collection of PyCon talks

Books

• Officiale Python Docs - save it in your bookmarks, it's your reference about Python.
• Python for Data Analysis - Awesome book about Numpy and Scipy is in my to-read-list.
• Mining the Social Web - Great book about data mining, another must read book.
• Building Machine Learning Systems with Python - If you want to start with ML this is the right book for you.
• Python Pocket Reference -It's a good pocket reference, if you can get it for 5 bucks it's a best buy.
• Test-Driven Development with Python - I've read some pages, interesting but I recommend from an intermediate level.

Same as for "Learning Python", these books cost a lot of money, but you can get them with some good discount on O'Really site.

Slides

• Slideshare
• Speackerdeck

Events and Conferences

Go to meetup.com and look for a Python meetup in your city and most of all take a ticket for the next PyCon in your country. This is my first year that I’ve participated in PyCon Italy and DjangoVillage and it was a great experience which left me wondering why I have not gone before.

Mistakes to avoid

Don’t make my mistake to buy a lot of interesting long books about Python when you're not started to code yet.

Remember, reading docs and books is important but code is much more important ! So after studying function, generators, class and others remember to write some code to see if you understood what you have studied.

It's time to code now !