For those who are already versed in programming and scripting languages, including Python, this book can serve as a quick reference because the content is well indexed and the code snippets are clearly highlighted. It’s a good book to understand and use Python from the ground up, meaning that even those who are not programmers will be able to build meaningful programs, ranging from classic data processing to web and analytics applications. It’s clearly and concisely written and does not assume any previous knowledge of software engineering, and yet it will help beginners and practitioners alike.

For those who are new to programming, Automate the boring stuff with Python can be followed as a self-taught course easily enough, starting with the installation of Python and the use of the IDLE editor and debugger. The first part of the book follows the standard organization of programming language tutorials, covering the basics of any programming language, like data types, variables, statements, functions and methods, and simple data structures. However, it’s the second part that describes meaningful applications with Python, including web scraping, leveraging and managing data in a variety of formats (CSV, Excel, JSON, PDF, Word), and processing images.

This book also includes two appendixes, one with information on how to run scripts directly from the operating system (OS) and the other on how to install and invoke third-party libraries. With the exception of OS-specific details that will be needed for more specialized systems programming, this book does contain the building blocks to program portable, pragmatic applications in Python.

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