Learn Python the Hard Way is an excellent introductory book on Python programming written by Zed Shaw. The book leads a student through 52 practical exercises to teach the concepts of programming. This is one of the primary reason why we like this book so much. It teaches programming through practice, which is the way programming should be taught.

You can purchase this book through one of many purchase options found on the book's original page. The HTML version of the book is freely available. I have linked to all the chapters of the book below.

• Create a blog to use as your study journal. You will record your notes, and the code you write, in your blog
• Read a chapter which explains certain Python concepts and requires you to do the actual exercise, and or reflect on certain questions. Do the exercises, and record all your work in your blog
• Below, in the activities section, you will find an activity for each chapter of the book. Submit a link to your blog post for that chapter (you can also submit multiple links per activity)
• Because this is a peer learning community, we all learn from each other. Spend some time reading other student's blog posts, and engage with them in technical discussions, either by commenting on their blogs, or by posting questions, in the course forum
• If you have questions, you can ask them in the course forum (notice the like buttons for questions, and answers. I am sure you know what to do with them)
• That's it - Read, blog, question, answer, and learn... (remember, all the work you submit as part of this course becomes part of your profile on diycomputerscience)