Python Basics

This book was written for practising Python programmers who want to become master in Python 3. If you know Python 2 but are willing to migrate to Python 3.4 or later, you should be fine. At the time of this writing, the majority of professional Python programmers are using Python 2, so I took special care to highlight Python 3 features that may be new to that audience.

However, Python Basics is about making the most of Python 3.4, and I do not spell out the fixes needed to make the code work in earlier versions. Most examples should run in Python 2.7 with little or no changes, but in some cases, backporting would require significant rewriting.

Having said that, I believe this book may be useful even if you must stick with Python 2.7, because the core concepts are still the same. Python 3 is not a new language, and most differences can be learned in an afternoon. What’s New in Python 3.0 is a good starting point. Of course, there have been changes since Python 3.0 was released in 2009, but none as important as those in 3.0.