Mastering Python... Best Resources?

[Travis Parks]

On Aug 26, 9:28 am, Chris Angelico <ros... at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 26, 2011 at 10:58 PM, Travis Parks <jehugalea... at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I haven't gotten to the point where I can truly use the language
> > features to my full advantage. I haven't seen enough "tricks" to be
> > effective. I feel like there is so much of the language I am not
> > utilizing because I'm still thinking in terms of a less powerful
> > language. I was hoping to find a series that would familiarize me with
> > how real Python programmers get things done.
>
> Ah! Then I recommend poking around with the standard library. No
> guarantees that it's ALL good code, but it probably will be. In any
> case, it sounds like you're well able to evaluate code in your own
> head and recognize the good from the ugly.
>
> In the source distribution (I'm looking at the latest straight from
> hg, but presumably it's the same everywhere), there's a whole lot of
> .py files in ./Lib - there's sure to be some good examples in there
> somewhere.
>
> ChrisA
>
>

I've been thinking about going through the docs on the main website.
Cool thing is it has links to the actual lib files. I was checking out
string.py yesterday.

I was searching all over youtube for good videos of some type. Google
has an intro course, but it didn't really do much for me. Microsoft
has these series called 'Going Deep' that occasionally runs something
super in-depth. The videos on C++ and the STL are really excellent. I
was hoping someone had taken the time to create a similar series for
Python.

I can't help but remember my one professor in college, who really made
pointers, bitwise arithmetic and low level OS operations make sense.
He explained to us a lot about how the STL worked and showed us tons
of C++/STL hacks. I probably learned more in the 2 years I had classes
with him than I have in all the time I've programmed. To get that type
of insight into another language, like Python, would be the ultimate
gift for someone like me. Personally, I am tired of working in
languages that don't strongly support functional paradigms.