preface
Programming used to be something that only a handful of people did. But with computers at the center of everything we do in the modern world, many people now realize that coding is a useful skill. At the very least, learning to program gives you insights into how computers work. At best, it can give you control over many aspects of your home and work lives.
Python was designed to be easy to learn and use, while still being useful and powerful, and it lives up to those promises. It’s certainly easier to learn than many other languages, such as C++ and Java, which explains the huge growth in its popularity over the last decade or two.
But “easy to learn” doesn’t mean that it always comes easily or naturally. Programming is a skill, one that takes time to learn. Even for programmers who have mastered another language or two, it can take time to internalize Python’s ways of doing things. I often encounter people who use Python in their full-time jobs but still haven’t mastered native Python idioms, resulting in code that works but has what I call “a heavy Java accent.”
That’s where Python Workout comes in. Through repeated practice with exercises that focus on specific aspects of the language, you’ll improve your understanding of how to use Python.