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Beyond Python Crash Course

One of the guiding questions for Python Crash Course is, “What’s the least you need to know in order to start working on interesting projects?” That’s what has helped this book bring people with no programming background to the point where they can understand how to build a meaningful game, make interesting visualizations, and deploy a functioning web app, without it becoming a 1500-page doorstop.

However, once you’ve understood the material in Python Crash Course, there’s a lot more that you’re ready to learn. I may write a follow-up book at some point, but I’ve also been wanting to write up a series of articles for people who have wanted a little more detail after reading through the book.

Some of this material is just meant to expand your awareness of the fundamentals of programming in general, and Python specifically. Some of this is written to support people working on some of the Challenges, which require specific concepts that weren’t included in the book.

If you have questions or feedback about anything presented here, please feel free to get in touch.

Enjoy!

  • Random Functions

    Randomness is discussed when it’s needed in the book, but it can be helpful to have a number of these functions described in one place. There are also a couple functions mentioned here that are not covered in the book, which can be useful in some of the challenges.

    This section will make sense after you’ve worked through Chapter 4.

  • Using Sprite Sheets in Pygame

    This guide will help you build games that involve lots of images. For example, a deck of cards has 52 different cards in it. If you tried to load 52 separate images, the performance of your game would suffer. Sprite sheets allow you to load one image, and then create game elements from all of the images contained within that single larger image.

    This section will make sense after you’ve worked through Chapters 12-14.

  • Pygame: Adding Sound and Automating Game Play

    Adding sound to your games makes them much more interesting, and it doesn’t take much code. Also, the class-based structure of the Alien Invasion project makes it possible to automate the game play, which is a really interesting exercise.

    This section will make sense after you’ve worked through Chapter 14.

  • Pillow: Working with Images

    Pillow is an imaging library that lets you load and work with existing images, and also lets you create images from a blank canvas. This guide is used for the set of challenges about making your own photo filters.

    This section will make sense after you’ve worked through Chapter 10.

  • Extracting Data from Excel Files

    In the book you learn how to extract data from JSON files and CSV files. That’s a good start, but there’s also a huge amount of data stored in spreadsheets. This resource shows how to extract the data directly from an Excel file, which will greatly expand the number of external resources you’ll be able to work with. This guide is used for some of the challenges in Coding for Social Justice.

    This seciton will make sense after you’ve worked through Chapter 16.

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