Most books and tutorials assume lots of previous knowledge, skip over jargon and new concepts, and use examples that only make sense if you already understand programming.

This book is different. It gives you an introduction to programming in Python from the ground up, starting with tips on installation and setting up your programming environment, and moving through the core parts of the Python language in a logical order. Dr. Jones has drawn on his many years experience teaching programming to produce a book that will guide you through the language step by step in simple terms.

The book doesn't assume any previous knowledge, and introduces fundamental programming concepts like variables, loops and functions using simple terms and easy-to-follow examples that you can run and modify.

The book takes a unique approach to practical exercises. Rather than simply presenting you with the solutions, it shows you how large, complex programs are gradually built up from simple building blocks, explaining the role of every line. You can download the examples and exercise solutions - edit, modify and run them yourself.

• How to install Python and set up your programming environment
• How to work with strings, numbers and variables
• How to understand and fix error messages
• How to read and write data in files
• How to processing large amounts of data with lists and loops
• How to write useful and reliable functions
• How to controlling the flow of your programs with conditions
• How to store data in dicts for lightning-fast processing
• How to find useful modules and figure out how to use them

Dr. Jones trained as a biologist and started his programming career by learning Perl. He started teaching programming to other people shortly after that, and quickly branched out into other languages including Python. Since then he has taught programming to hundreds of beginners, specializing in courses for people without a traditional computer science background. His teaching philosophy is that programming courses must be friendly, approachable, and focussed on practical results.

Dr. Jones currently teaches programming in his position of Lecturer in Bioinformatics at Edinburgh University. He is the author of two previous programming books: Python for Biologists and Advanced Python for Biologists. This is his first programming book for a general audience.