Python Basics Book Resources

Bonus resources, exercises, and errata for Python Basics: A Practical Introduction to Python 3. This is where you can find all of the bonus material for the book and leave your feedback. Thanks for getting a copy!

 

 

Python Basics Book

Last Updated: Nov. 21, 2023

Guided Tour / Learning Path

This learning path is meant to accompany our Python Basics book. It will guide you through the chapters, quizzes, and exercises in the book:

Learning Path

Python Basics Book

19 Resources ⋅ Skills: Python 3 Fundamentals, Real-World Projects

On-Demand Courses for Python Basics

We’ve also adapted the chapters in the book into a series of on-demand video courses, available for Real Python members. With the course series you’ll learn by doing, with the guidance of experienced instructors showing exactly what to do through screen recordings:

Learning Path

Python Basics: Introduction to Python

16 Resources ⋅ Skills: Python 3 Fundamentals, Real-World Projects

Solutions for Exercises & Challenges

The book comes with a full set of coding exercises and project-based assignments. You can find the exercises and code challenges at the end of many sections in the book.

You can access and download solutions and sample implementations from the realpython/python-basics-exercises GitHub repository.

Alternatively, you can download a .zip archive with the exercise solutions by clicking the button below.

Browse exercise solutions Download as .zip file

Questions / Support / Getting Help

Interactive Quizzes

Most chapters in this book come with a free online quiz to check your learning progress. You can access the quizzes using the links provided at the end of the chapter or in the learning path linked above. The quizzes are hosted on the Real Python website and can be viewed on your phone or computer.

How Real Python Quizzes Work

Each quiz takes you through a series of questions related to a particular chapter in the book. Some of them are multiple choice, some will ask you to type in an answer, and for some you’ll be asked to write actual Python code. As you make your way through each quiz, it keeps score on which questions you answered correctly.

At the end of the quiz you receive a grade based on your result. If you don’t score a 100% on your first try—don’t fret! These quizzes are meant to challenge you and it’s expected that you go through them several times, improving your score with each run.

We intended these quizzes as a fun way for you to check your learning progress as you work your way through the book. They will help you identify weak spots in your Python knowledge. Use this to figure out which chapters and exercises in the book you should re-read. Once you can complete the full set of quizzes for the book with a 100% score you should feel proud of yourself. You’re a real Pythonista now!

Use your mouse or a touch-screen device to complete each quiz. If you prefer using keyboard controls, the following shortcuts are also available:

  • ↑ / ↓ to move the cursor selection up or down
  • Space to select the item at the cursor
  • Enter to submit your answer or move on to the next question

Links and additional learning resources we recommend to further deepen your Python skills. We will update and expand this over time.

Python Fundamentals

Learning Path

Introduction to Python

30 Resources ⋅ Skills: Core Python 3, Python Syntax

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Getting Started

Chapter 3: Your First Python Program

Chapter 4: Strings and Methods

Chapter 5: Numbers in Python

Chapter 6: Functions and Loops

Chapter 7: Finding and Fixing Code Bugs

Chapter 8: Conditional Logic and Control Flow

Chapter 9: Tuples, Lists, and Dictionaries

Chapter 10: Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)

Chapter 11: Modules and Packages

Chapter 12: File Input and Output

Chapter 13: Installing Packages With Pip

Chapter 14: Creating and Modifying PDF Files

Chapter 15: Working With Databases

Chapter 16: Interacting With the Web

Chapter 17: Scientific Computing and Graphing

Chapter 18: Graphical User Interfaces

Chapter 19: Final Thoughts and Next Steps

Errata

Here we’ll list any errata, bugs, and corrections for the book.

  • Page 327, Chapter 12.2 “Working With File Paths in Python”, under “Using the / Operator” the description text refers to a Documents subdirectory, but the code example shows a Desktop subdirectory. The name of the subdirectory should be the same in both cases. Reported by Peter Matulis.
  • Page 342, Chapter 12.3 “Common File System Operations”, the code example shows the output of list(new_dir.glob("?older_?")) and shows folder_a and folder_c getting selected, but the description text below the code example mentions “folder_a/ and folder_b/” instead of “folder_a and folder_c/” as the selected directories. Reported by Peter Matulis.
  • Page 447, Chapter 15.1 “An Introduction to SQLite”, code snippet defines create_table but then misspells it as crate_table further down. Reported by Edward Plant.

Any issues found we generally fix right away in the ebook version available on Real Python. You can always find the latest version of the ebook files under “My Purchases” in your realpython.com account.

Feedback

We welcome ideas, suggestions, feedback, and the occasional rant about the book. Did you find a topic confusing? Or did you find an error in the text or code? Did we omit a topic you would love to know more about? Drop us a line!

Your feedback really helps make this book an even better learning resource for Pythonistas around the globe.

Whatever the reason, good or bad, please send in your feedback at the link below:

→ realpython.com/python-basics/feedback