Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, 2nd Edition: Practical Programming for Total Beginners

Positive Python LogoAutomate the boring stuffAutomate The Boring Stuff With Python : Practical Programming for Total Beginners Sean Massey 5 Feb 2023Automate the boring stuffCategories: Book Review, Foundation, Intermediate, SkillsIf you’ve ever spent hours renaming files or updating hundreds of spreadsheet cells, you know how tedious tasks like these can be. But what if you could have your computer do them for you? In this fully revised second edition of the best-selling classic Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, you’ll learn how to use Python to write programs that do in minutes what would take you hours to do by hand—no prior programming experience required.…I’ve just finished the final challenge of the final chapter of Al Sweigart’s awesome Automate the Boring Stuff With Python. It has been an immensity enjoyable journey through Python’s basic and intermediate programming skills and I have learnt a great deal about how I will build my applications in Python.It covers the basics very quickly, Al is really upfront about this though and from my point of view it meant I could brush up some core skills before diving into what feels like some pretty advanced stuff really quickly. Each chapter follows a really clear structure; basic principals, example code typed into IDLE, build a sample project in your editor that Al provides, review, questions about the chapter, Al offers some challenges for you to do yourself. These are done in the style of the technical challenge on The great British Bake Off, by which I mean he offers a description of what app you need to bake, with some essential ingredients you should be using, but leaving plenty of space for you to bake your code, your way. Everything you need is in the book so you will never get lost.As the books travels through the chapters, some of these example projects combine skills learnt previously and really opened my eyes to the power that can quickly created by the combination of great foundational Python skills and the libraries available to me.Al’s writing style is conversational and direct, which I found very easy to follow and if you also follow him on Twitter you will see reflects his free-spirited Twitter personality. I’d love to meet him one day to see if it matches his actual personality…I’ll bet it does.A couple of things to think about while you are using this book;1. Al (quite deliberately) does not use full PEP8 styling in his code. For me this was not a problem at all, if anything it enhances the accessibility of the book. I found I used his styling when entering code into REPL, but when coding in the IDE I ‘translated’ to PEP8 as this helped me reinforce those skills for myself and also forced me to really understand how the projects work, which helped me when I wrote my own.2. There have been some changes to APIs and Libraries since the book was published, however the book’s website helps you through this and also has all the download files you need to complete the project, a feature I don’t see in many other books aimed at the same market.3. You will need to learn a bit about how your operating system manages paths/folders/files which can be a little esoteric. However, Al provides great guidance on this topic and for me this is an essential skill for any Python coder.4. At first the end of chapter challenges feel a little daunting….believe me if you complete them all (and all the knowledge you need is in the book) then you will improve your understanding of you will build your own applications more quickly then you can imagine!The areas covered in the book are;Part I: Python Programming BasicsChapter 1: Python BasicsChapter 2: Flow ControlChapter 3: FunctionsChapter 4: ListsChapter 5: Dictionaries and Structuring DataChapter 6: Manipulating StringsPart II: Automating TasksChapter 7: Pattern Matching with Regular ExpressionsChapter 8: Input ValidationChapter 9: Reading and Writing FilesChapter 10: Organizing FilesChapter 11: DebuggingChapter 12: Web ScrapingChapter 13: Working with Excel SpreadsheetsChapter 14: Working with Google SheetsChapter 15: Working with PDF and Word DocumentsChapter 16: Working with CSV Files and JSON DataChapter 17: Keeping Time, Scheduling Tasks, and Launching ProgramsChapter 18: Sending Email and Text MessagesChapter 19: Manipulating ImagesChapter 20: Controlling the Keyboard and Mouse with GUI AutomationAppendix A: Installing Third-Party ModulesAppendix B: Running ProgramsAppendix C: Answers to the Practice QuestionsBy the end of this book I could manage files, scrape websites, send SMS’s from Python, look for patterns in massive data sets, manage image files and much more. Thanks Al, I am ready to build my own apps now!

I bought this because it seemed an easy re-entry into programming, and in particular I wanted to wrangle some data in a way that's beyond excel, whilst using excel as both data source and output mechanism.I'm a lapsed programmer, so was coming to the party with some previous, and the straightforward approach the author takes was just spot-on, dealing with just enough coding and plenty of realistic examples to whet your appetite and give you something to develop and grow with.The basics are covered first - just enough to get you going, don't expect a full reference here - then specific topics are worked through such as automating OS-type file/ folder work, then progressing on to dealing with pdf, JSON, CSV, excel (and in this latest version, Google sheets), docx etc files, which gives you a great grounding into the book's overarching aim - automating those trivial everyday repetitive tasks that take up so much time and are generally error-prone.I've now got upwards of 50 short scripts that automate all sorts of work-workload, from wrangling 5,000-record datasets down to monitoring a server folder for excess files (large backups that tend not to get rotated.)On top of re-awakening my interest (and ability!) in programming, I'd estimate this book saves me a good 5 hours a week at work, all boring drudge work. For that alone it's worth the purchase price.Currently my most-used script scrapes a booking website for Covid-19 vaccinations (I manage a small doctors' practice), pulls multiple clinics into 1 spreadsheet and outputs a mail-merge file that prints out card labels with name/ DOB/ NHS number/ clinic date & time. I run it every day at the moment and it saves me 30 minutes a day, minimum. More if we have late-changes- so the book is also helping in the fight against Covid!If you haven't guessed already, I'm a fan.If you have the slightest interest in Python, in learning programming in a practical, useful way, or work a lot at a computer and want to save yourself from boring, repetitive work, do yourself a favour and buy this book. If you don't save the purchase price in time savings within a week, you haven't read it properly.

Easy to navigate

A good way to learn Python if you are a beginner or seasoned programmer.

I'm pretty good in excel, in terms of formulas, nesting, throwing around tables etc, but never really branched into programming and as a New Years resolution (I know!) I wanted a new skill.Speaking to my developers at work, Python appears to be the weapon of choice for coding the day to day heavy lifting. So I've started my commitment to a bit everyday and its going well. The book is simply laid out, yet covers topics in depth and clarity.Online resources on Youtube and via the books links are also a great mine of information. At some point I want to break from the book to work on a specific task. A few weeks away yet, but as far as taking the plunge, Python ticks ALOT of boxes.

Not going to make you an expert but gets you going on the basics

You can get this free online, but buying this supports the author. It's great to work through.

I had look a lot of books about web scraping but this is the best one ive read it teaches you the basics of download sites easy and parse through html tags,i learned webscraping in couple of minutes.My only complain is the lack oop otherwise awesome book for beginners to learn the syntax and web scraping.

This isn't my first Python book and I find it very useful to get down to the simply use of writing and understanding functional code.If you want school learning then this isn't for you, it will however get you going and is much easier to follow than most other books.

I tried learning python in the past and had a lot of trouble following online guides. But the author uses great practical examples and practice projects to really reinforce what you learned. It’ll still challenge you, but I never felt too lost like with other materials.

Recomendo a compra.

This product came without tracking code, which made me anxious about where this item is. But it came over and I can now learn using this book.

Helt okey intro bok till Python.