Brian Overland

Python Without Fear by Brian Overland is an introduction to the Python Programming Language for Beginners. Although it does have little snippets that talk about what is going on “Under the Hood” so to speak, these are somewhat few and far between. However, before I go any deeper into this review, I am somewhat of a beginner myself. The book is written for Python 3.6.1 and the IDLE environment that goes along with it. As of my writing this review, I have Python 3.7.1 and I don’t notice any major differences.

As with most computer languages, there are a ton out there. This might make one ask “Why this language and not that one?” Overland explains why Python might be a good choice for what you want to do. While he does praise the language pretty extensively, Overland does admit that Python is not without flaws. A lot of these are instances that might not occur for a beginner.

I really like this book for several reasons. It told me how to use IDLE to greater effect, for instance. Like when I make a mistake, it told me that I didn’t have to retype the whole thing which is great. I didn’t want to use IDLE for exactly that reason, but now I don’ t have that excuse anymore. The book has little snippets of code that you can run in IDLE. It has exercises that have you change small portions of code to achieve a different result. Say you have a line of code that changes Celsius to Fahrenheit or vice versa. You can personalize it and have it say which measure is which.

Programming in itself is a skill that you develop by doing. This is another reason that I like this book. All of the books I have on programming do the same, but I suppose I really like how the author includes the format of the language. Take the idea of whitespace, this is something that doesn’t happen for a programmer in C or C or a lot of other languages. Overland takes time to talk about standards of Syntax as well, which might be helpful to Intermediate Programmers. As I said, I am not really a programmer and some of the thought processes required are a bit unusual to me.

Other than that, the book also contains little asides that deepen understanding, or ways to optimize what you made. My only real issue is that I need a setup that can allow me to look at the book without setting it on my knee. It is a real challenge to look from it to what is happening.

Other than that, there really isn’t much to complain about for this book. It has a lot to like and not much to dislike.… (mer)

C Without Fear by Brian Overland teaches programming in the language known as C . Now, I never took a single course in programming, but this book assumes very little in what the reader knows. Basically, it starts out with a lot of hand-holding, but this is good for me. Although I have tried to learn to program, for some reason the basic ideas don’t lead me to have excellent advanced ideas. I can do it as a hobby since I don’t think that I will be able to be employed as a programmer.

The book starts with the most basic ideas of programming; the ideas of proper syntax. Computers are not magical machines that can do anything and everything you demand of them. As the old adage goes, Garbage in, Garbage out. To be more specific, the computer can only do the things that you tell it to do: no more, no less. In that sense, there has to be a lot of peculiar rules and systems in place so that the computer understands you. Computers all over the world speak the same language, that of binary digits or bits. The book begins by explaining this. C is much like the C programming language, but it allows you to use Object-Oriented Programming. The book is kind enough to explain what that is.

Once you are ready to make your first program, the book talks about different compilers and which ones to use. You get to make the basic print output program and so on. Now if you are sufficiently advanced in programming, you could certainly skip a few chapters. This is something the author wholeheartedly recommends. Then again, the book states that it is a book for beginners, so you know how that goes. While I say that, the book does cover up to Polymorphism, so I don’t really know if that is super advanced or not.

With plenty of examples and practice programs, this book is quite excellent. It even contains some explanations of the programs line by line. If you are starting out, this book is probably pretty good for you. It also covers C 0x and some of the new features included in there, but the book is copyright 2011 so I don’t know if there has been a massive paradigm shift in programming since then. Now this book lends itself better to people that participate in the activities, but I am not that kind of guy. This is mainly because my setup is a bit awkward, and I don’t like cracking the spine of the book for no reason. Also, I am not a perfect touch typist.… (mer)