Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART I: PYTHON PROGRAMMING BASICS
Chapter 1: Python Basics
Chapter 2: Flow Control
Chapter 3: Functions
Chapter 4: Lists
Chapter 5: Dictionaries and Structuring Data
Chapter 6: Manipulating Strings
PART II: AUTOMATING TASKS
Chapter 7: Pattern Matching with Regular Expressions
Chapter 8: Input Validation
Chapter 9: Reading and Writing Files
Chapter 10: Organizing Files
Chapter 11: Debugging
Chapter 12: Web Scraping
Chapter 13: Working with Excel Spreadsheets
Chapter 14: Working with Google Sheets
Chapter 15: Working with PDF and Word Documents
Chapter 16: Working with CSV Files and JSON Data
Chapter 17: Keeping Time, Scheduling Tasks, and Launching Programs
Chapter 18: Sending Email and Text Messages
,Chapter 19: Manipulating Images
Chapter 20: Controlling the Keyboard and Mouse with GUI Automation
Appendix A: Installing Third-Party Modules
Appendix B: Running Programs
Appendix C: Answers to the Practice Questions
Index
CONTENTS IN DETAIL
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
Whom Is This Book For?
Conventions
What Is Programming?
What Is Python?
Programmers Don’t Need to Know Much Math
You Are Not Too Old to Learn Programming
Programming Is a Creative Activity
About This Book
Downloading and Installing Python
Downloading and Installing Mu
Starting Mu
Starting IDLE
The Interactive Shell
Installing Third-Party Modules
, How to Find Help
Asking Smart Programming Questions
Summary
PART I: PYTHON PROGRAMMING BASICS
1
PYTHON BASICS
Entering Expressions into the Interactive Shell
The Integer, Floating-Point, and String Data Types
String Concatenation and Replication
Storing Values in Variables
Assignment Statements
Variable Names
Your First Program
Dissecting Your Program
Comments
The print() Function
The input() Function
Printing the User’s Name
The len() Function
The str(), int(), and float() Functions
Summary
Practice Questions
2
FLOW CONTROL