Python Fundamentals

Learning Path ⋅ Skills: Core Python 3, Python Syntax

This Python beginner learning path is designed to guide you through the essentials of Python programming, starting from the basics and progressing towards more advanced concepts.

Note: If you’re completely new to programming, then it’s best to start with the course-based, guided Python Basics: Introduction to Python learning path instead.

Whether you’re still relatively new to programming or looking to add Python to your skill set, this path offers a comprehensive approach to make progress in your Python learning journey. Through a combination of tutorials, courses, and interactive quizzes, you’ll build a strong foundation in Python that will prepare you for more complex programming tasks and projects.

What You’ll Learn:

The fundamentals of Python, including its history and why it’s a popular choice
How to install and set up Python on your computer
Basic data types, variables, operators, and expressions
String manipulation, list and tuple operations, and working with dictionaries and sets
Control flow using conditional statements and loops
Writing and using functions, understanding namespaces, and file handling
Working with regular expressions, managing packages with pip, and debugging with tracebacks

Python Fundamentals

Learning Path ⋅ 30 Resources

Tutorial

Why Choose Python 3

An overview of the Python programming language, including a brief history of the development of Python and reasons why you might select Python as your language of choice.

Course

Installing Python 3

To get started working with Python, you'll need to have access to the Python interpreter. There are several common ways to accomplish this and in this course, you will learn how to install the latest version of Python on your computer.

Tutorial

Interacting With Python

How to actually execute Python code and run Python programs using the CPython REPL, executing script files, and integrated development environments.

Course

11 Beginner Tips for Learning Python

See several learning strategies and tips that will help you jumpstart your journey towards becoming a rockstar Python programmer!

Course

Basic Data Types in Python

Learn the basic data types that are built into Python, like numbers, strings, and Booleans. You'll also get an overview of Python's built-in functions.

Interactive Quiz

Basic Data Types Quiz

Course

Variables in Python

Learn how every item of data in a Python program can be described by the abstract term "object," and how to manipulate objects using symbolic names called "variables."

Interactive Quiz

Python Variables Quiz

Free Email Class

"Python Tricks" Email Series

Get a short & sweet Python Trick delivered to your inbox every couple of days.

Tutorial

Operators and Expressions in Python

In Python, operators are special symbols, combinations of symbols, or keywords that designate some type of computation. You can combine objects and operators to build expressions that perform the actual computation. So, operators are the building blocks of expressions.

Interactive Quiz

Python Operators and Expressions Quiz

Course

Strings and Character Data in Python

Learn how to use Python's rich set of operators, functions, and methods for working with strings. You'll learn how to access and extract portions of strings, and also become familiar with the methods that are available to manipulate and modify string data in Python 3.

Interactive Quiz

Python Strings Quiz

Course

Lists and Tuples in Python

See the important characteristics of lists and tuples in Python 3. You'll learn how to define them and how to manipulate them. When you're finished, you'll have a good feel for when and how to use these object types in a Python program.

Interactive Quiz

Lists & Tuples Quiz

Course

Dictionaries in Python

In this course on Python dictionaries, you'll cover the basic characteristics of dictionaries and learn how to access and manage dictionary data. Once you've finished this course, you'll have a good sense of when a dictionary is the appropriate data type to use and know how to use it.

Interactive Quiz

Dictionaries Quiz

Course

Sets in Python

Learn how to work with Python's set data type. You'll see how to define set objects in Python and discover the operations that they support. By the end of this course, you'll have a good feel for when a set is an appropriate choice in your own programs.

Interactive Quiz

Sets Quiz

Tutorial

Python Program Lexical Structure

In this tutorial you'll dig deeper into Python's lexical structure and start arranging code into more complex groupings. You'll learn about the syntactic elements that comprise statements, the basic units that make up a Python program.

Interactive Quiz

Python Program Structure Quiz

Course

Conditional Statements in Python (if/elif/else)

Learn how to work with conditional ("if") statements in Python. Master if-statements step-by-step and see how to write complex decision making code in your programs.

Interactive Quiz

Conditional Statements Quiz

Course

"while" Loops in Python (Indefinite Iteration)

Master indefinite iteration using the Python "while" loop. You’ll be able to construct basic and complex while loops, interrupt loop execution with break and continue, use the else clause with a while loop, and deal with infinite loops.

Interactive Quiz

While Loops Quiz

Course

"for" Loops in Python (Definite Iteration)

Learn all about how to perform definite iteration with Python "for" loops. You’ll see how other programming languages implement definite iteration, learn about iterables and iterators, and tie it all together to learn about Python’s for loop.

Course

Understanding Python List Comprehensions

Python list comprehensions make it easy to create lists while performing sophisticated filtering, mapping, and conditional logic on their members. In this course, you'll learn when to use a list comprehension in Python and how to create them effectively.

Course

Python Booleans: Leveraging the Values of Truth

Learn about the built-in Python Boolean data type, which is used to represent the truth value of an expression. You'll see how to use Booleans to compare values, check for identity and membership, and control the flow of your programs with conditionals.

Course

Reading Input and Writing Output in Python

In this introductory Python course, you'll learn how to take user input from the keyboard with the built-in function input() and how to display output to the console with the built-in function print().

Course

The Python print() Function: Go Beyond the Basics

Learn about the print() function in Python and discover some of its lesser-known features. Avoid common mistakes, take your "hello world" to the next level, and know when to use a better alternative.

Course

Formatting Python Strings

See two items to add to your Python string formatting toolkit. You'll learn about Python's string format method and the formatted string literal, or f-string. You'll learn about these formatting techniques in detail and add them to your Python string formatting toolkit.

Course

Defining and Calling Python Functions

Learn how to define and call your own Python function. You'll also learn about passing data to your function and returning data from your function back to its calling environment.

Course

Using the Python return Statement Effectively

Learn how to use the Python return statement when writing functions. Additionally, you'll cover some good programming practices related to the use of return. With this knowledge, you'll be able to write readable, robust, and maintainable functions in Python.