Top all-time · #625
Al Sweigart
Personal blog · inventwithpython.comprogramminggameswriting
Al Sweigart writes Learn to program. For free. - Invent with Python, a personal blog at inventwithpython.com about programming, games and writing. Since 2009, 100 different Hacker News readers have linked it 135 times, most often “Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python (Free e-Book)”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Often recommended · 22 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Al Sweigart's free, game-based Python books and tutorials (Invent Your Own Computer Games, Cracking Codes, Automate the Boring Stuff) for teaching kids and beginners to program.
- Recommended for · 22 comments
- Praised as easy to follow, fun for kids, and good for learning Python through games; one recursion post called among the best.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
A Page in : Learn to program. For free.
Most-linked posts?
- Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python (Free e-Book)21 people · 22 mentions · first linked 2009-10-27
- Learn to Program, for Free9 people · 10 mentions · first linked 2015-02-16
- Learn Python by writing games (free book)5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2009-12-23
- Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python (free ebook)3 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2009-11-09
- Ideas for Game Clones to Code (2012)3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2012-05-14
- Best explanation on recursion?3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2012-04-10
- Beyond the Basic Stuff with Python3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-01-29
- Cracking Codes with Python3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2018-01-24
- Hacking Secret Ciphers with Python 3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2013-04-15
- /cracking/2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-05-27
What Hacker News says?
QBasic was a truly incredible way to start programming. Today I'd probably recommend python with pygame, and especially the book inventing computer games with python: https://inventwithpython.com/
Comment linking /
on “30 years later, QBasic is still the best”Submitted Nobody Wants to Learn How to Program as a story · 316 points
HN discussionJust to address the recursion point that the GP brought up. Here is one of the best explanations I saw where the problem not only lends itself to a recursive solution but where the recursive solution is actually the more intuitive one rather than a loop. Also it explains with 'real-world' problems, albeit in the context of the material (game programming): http://inventwithpython.com/blog/2011/08/11/recursion-explai.…
Comment linking /blog/2011/08/11/recursion-explained-with-the-flood-fill-algorithm-and-zombies-and-cats/
on “Algorithms on Khan Academy – a collaboration with Dartmouth College professors”Submitted Lost Chapter of Automate the Boring Stuff: Audio, Video, and Webcams in Python as a story · 217 points
HN discussionThis is pretty much how the book I'm using on Pygame is working. It's a load of games written in Pygame that the author encourages you to copy out and try to learn how it works yourself. Then afterwards he explains in detail how it all works. The writing it really helps with learning how you can use the simple stuff together to make more complex stuff. Book: http://inventwithpython.com/pygame/index.html
Comment linking /pygame/index.html
on “Want to learn to code? Don't copy and paste, type out other people's code”Submitted Ideas for Game Clones to Code (2012) as a story · 156 points
HN discussionHi, author here. The HTML version of the full book content will be up in a few days. (I'm formatting it right now.) Meanwhile, you can use PYBUTLER for a 30% discount on the book/ebook, and I'm offering a 70% discount on my other books: http://inventwithpython.com/blog/2015/04/21/celebrating-the-... Basically, it's a book for complete beginners who don't necessarily want to be software devs but do want to automate p…
Comment linking /blog/2015/04/21/celebrating-the-release-of-automate-the-boring-stuff-with-python-with-discount-codes/
on “Automate the Boring Stuff with Python”Submitted Free Python Books as a story · 123 points
HN discussionYou can get a 30% discount http://inventwithpython.com/blog/2015/04/21/celebrating-the-...
Comment linking /blog/2015/04/21/celebrating-the-release-of-automate-the-boring-stuff-with-python-with-discount-codes/
on “Automate the Boring Stuff with Python”Submitted A 5 Minute Quickstart Guide to Python’s logging Module as a story · 113 points
HN discussionThis repo maintains list of free programming books [0]. Many of the books at Green Tea Press[1] are available for free: - Think Python: How To Think Like a Computer Scientist - Think Bayes: Bayesian Statistics in Python - Think Complexity: Exploring Complexity Science with Python - Think Stats: Probability and Statistics for Programmers - The Little Book of Semaphores - Physical Modeling in MATLAB - Learning Perl th…
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: What are your recommended reads that are available for free?”Submitted Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python (Free e-Book) as a story · 113 points
HN discussionThose who have worked with Jake won't be surprised at all by this. These are accusations coming from multiple people in the tech/privacy/infosec crowd, not from the government. For those thinking these are government-sponsored lies, do you think [Meredith Patterson]( https://twitter.com/maradydd ) of [Status 451 Blog]( https://status451.com/ ) is working with the government? https://twitter.com/maradydd/status/73880…
Comment linking /hacking/proceeds
on “Jacob Appelbaum Leaves the Tor Project”Submitted Learn Python by writing games (free book) as a story · 85 points
HN discussionAlso, Al Sweigart makes available many of his books for free on his website, including "Automate the Boring Stuff with Python", which also has a lot of good reviews on Amazon. http://inventwithpython.com/index.html
Comment linking /index.html
on “Half-price Ebooks for Day Against DRM”Submitted The Recursive Book of Recursion as a story · 79 points
HN discussionFor self learning, do this: https://inventwithpython.com/cracking/ Do the exericses. Learn the logic, don't get lost in learning C, you'll go crazy. Learn C or whatever when you learn exploit development. Crypto and exploits are two very different things.
Comment linking /cracking/
on “Ask HN: Best book on modern cryptography?”Submitted Why Is Object-Oriented Programming Useful? With a Role-Playing Game Example as a story · 75 points
HN discussionThis might be the ticket: http://inventwithpython.com/ . I haven't gone through it really, but the goal of teaching through making games is similar, and I do know he wrote a pretty good clone of gorillas ( http://github.com/jesusabdullah/gorillas is my own copy, if it interests you).
Comment linking /
on “Land of Lisp: Learn to Program in Lisp, One Game at a Time”Submitted Python IDLE Reimagined as a story · 66 points
HN discussionStarted programming when I was 8 using basic. Things have changed a lot since then, but one thing probably hasn't: The best incentive I got to continue learning how to program was my ability to impress others. I would develop screen savers (Lines floating on the screen, lines being drawn randomly on screen, ball bouncing off the edges of the screen, flying into a star-field as the stars move away from the center of…
Comment linking /
on “Python Exercises for Kids”Submitted Source Code Makeover: Square Shooter, Part 1 as a story · 52 points
HN discussionI'm sorry but I don't see how these are for kids. "Monte Carlo Pi Estimator" ?? Some stuff kids would enjoy more: https://inventwithpython.com/ http://www.amazon.com/Python-Kids-Playful-Introduction-Progr...
Comment linking /
on “Python Exercises for Kids”Submitted Why I Recommend Against Hackety Hack as a story · 46 points
HN discussionI don't agree that programming has gotten harder, I think it has become easier. What is harder now is finding material to learn programming that is simple for kids but also still "real" programming (not just game creation kits). I wrote a freely available book called "Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python" and released it under a Creative Commons license. It's available at http://inventwithpython.com I think Py…
Comment linking /
on “Why kids don't program”Submitted Programming a Bot to Play the “Sushi Go Round” Flash Game as a story · 36 points
HN discussionATBS is also free to read online [0] and the author has _automated_ to provide free coupons [1] (applicable during first week of a month) for the online course on udemy I'd also suggest realpython [2] for resources on web scraping [0] https://automatetheboringstuff.com/2e/ [1] https://inventwithpython.com/automateudemy [2] https://realpython.com/tutorials/web-scraping/
Comment linking /automateudemy
on “The Art of Automation”Submitted Making Games with Python and Pygame (2012) [pdf] as a story · 31 points
HN discussionThere is a good collection of simple games that you can clone in the Invent with Python website http://inventwithpython.com/blog/2012/02/20/i-need-practice-... I guess what you're looking is the general skill of being able to model things with a programming paradigm.
Comment linking /blog/2012/02/20/i-need-practice-programming-49-ideas-for-game-clones-to-code/
on “Ask HN: What projects are perfect for learning a new language?”Submitted Hacking Secret Ciphers with Python as a story · 19 points
HN discussion
