Python Programming

How to Code Python Fast in Just 24 Hours with Seven Simple Steps

By: Scotts Jason

Narrated by: Kirk Hanley

Length: 1 hr and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Are you fed up with reading long, boring, lengthy paragraphs after paragraphs of text and want to get up and running in Python as soon as possible? Well, you're not alone. I for one hate having to read through masses of text for very little benefit. Python Programming: How to Code Python Fast in Just 24 Hours with Seven Simple Steps strips away the non-essentials and instead provides you with the fundamentals from which you can blossom as a Python programmer in just seven simple steps. So, what can I expect from the book? This audiobook provides you with the fundamental building blocks to get you up and running in Python in no time. Written for simplicity so that you can learn Python quickly and efficiently.

SYou start coding as soon as Python is installed on your computer. Anything else? Yes! This audiobook will supercharge your Python learning experience.

©2013 Yap Kee Chong (P)2013 Yap Kee Chong

Difficult to follow.

What would have made Python Programming better?

The subject doesn't lend itself to spoken word very well, but more effort to avoid reliance on reading out long commands would be helpful in following along.

Listening to the narrator try to articulate long strings of digits, or multi-line commands involving structures that get fairly complex is exhausting and I found myself mentally checking out when it was most important to understand what's going on. Simple code to read can quickly become unintelligible when read aloud.

For example this is actually in Chapter 7:

a = 'Hello world'
a
'Hello world'
b = "dog loves cats forever!"
b
'dog loves cats forever!'
c = "f!@#@($*@(&(*@&$(@)"
c
'f!@#@($*@(&(*@&$(@)'

This was so painful to listen to it clearly wasn't intended to be read aloud. There are so many times the narrator is just reading out blocks of text like this, along with syntax errors, and has to articulate "First line, command line, (code), new line, command line (code), next line....." all the way along it's impossible to follow.

Has Python Programming turned you off from other books in this genre?

Yes. I'm not sure the subject lends itself to this medium. I'm currently listening to another title that was released just a few days ago in the hopes that it's more suitable, but so far it's looking like a dud as well.

Would you be willing to try another one of Kirk Hanley’s performances?

Yes, the narration was alright. He was clear and articulate and read the material as well as could be done.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment, I had hoped this would be a quick and clear cut way to cover my bases and get back into Python (I'm familiar, but have been out of the game a long while). Sadly, even after listening to the entire book and then listening again (and again, and again) to try to follow along certain sections were just too mentally taxing to follow along.

Any additional comments?

If you're using the ebook as a companion this is probably a worthwhile purchase, alone it's best to skip it and take in a video based series of lectures or something.

Descriptive, but good.

Would you listen to Python Programming again? Why?

Yes, its easy to follow and provides some decent fundamentals for python.

Were the concepts of this book easy to follow, or were they too technical?

The only issue I notice is when discussing code, or URLs, he sometimes goes into depth like "This bracket, than this symbol, etc".

Any additional comments?

This book is a bit more technical than the other python book Audible, so I would suggest listening to it second. (Listen to Python Programming Techniques, by Lance Gifford first.)

Great beginners book

This was a helpful book I helped my understating of programming a long with a strong fundamentals of python

I played this aloud at work so we could laugh

This ninety minute audiobook is purportedly a primer for programming Python, but instead it's twenty minutes of mildly informative narration scattered through more than an hour of programming examples read character by character.

Let me bring that forward in case it was missed: THE NARRATOR READS EVERY PUNCTUATION MARK AND EVERY BLOCK OF CODE.

Yes, this is programming. Of course operators and indents matter. He still enunciates every single character aloud, like an elderly grandmother reading you a URL for her favorite GeoCities Pug Puppy fansite over the phone. No adaptation was made for an audible medium, and the original book is mediocre at best.

There are no PDFs with practice examples, no website to explore further, and the audio contains as much content as a four page Python FAQ, except to access it you need to wade through babbled examples and exercises.

It's about as useful as an audiobook version of a comic strip. "In the next panel, Calvin is facing toward the left and grimacing. Hobbes is behind him and appears puzzled. Calvin says..."

Would you like to see for yourself? Here's a transcribed example: "First line, print, double quote, input your first number, colon, double quote. Next line, print, double quote, double quote. Next line, A equals raw underscore input open parenthesis close parenthesis. Next line, print, double quote, double quote."

Imagine that read carefully like Ben Stein emoting his grocery list.

Some final notes: This book suffered from two flaws, one being that the content is extraordinarily slim and the second being the idiotic narrative. The paper version will sidestep narration but will still suffer from utter paucity of useful information. As I said, the actual material would fill four pages. Maybe five if you included a table or chart. Considering that the price of the paper book is three times the cost of audio without adding material, and considering that the price also puts it against competitors who are actually competent, I'd suggest skipping this and seeking better resources.

There were some benefits. When listening at triple speed the narrator sounds brilliant. And when played aloud at work, the laughter was intense enough to make us dribble coffee.

Information

Really good information that explained python programming. I wish it was longer. The person reading the information was upbeat and easy to follow. I enjoyed the read very much and would recommend the information.