Sheena Vaidyanathan

Thanks to NetGalley, I was able to read a digital ARC of Creative Coding In Python by Sheena Vaidyanathan. Important things first, I love the robotic octopus gracing the cover, it’s so ominously cute, and this book teaches Python 3.

The book dives right in with a short introduction covering what coding is, why to learn to code specifically in Python, how to install Python, your first line of code, functions, errors, algorithms, pseudocode, and flowcharts! A lot of information is squished into these first few pages, but I think it’s explained well, and without too much detail which can bog a beginner down.

The rest of the book is split into into five chapters which teach you to create your own simple chatbots, art masterpieces, adventure games, dice games, and finally your own apps and games. Each chapter focuses on a main topic and a project to code, and also introduces various concepts along the way, ending with a number of on-topic exercises. Some of these exercises are new, while some use newly acquired skills to develop further complexity to code written for previous chapters.

Creative Coding In Python is well-written with clear, concise explanations, is aesthetically pleasing, includes a number of exercises to tackle, and even introduces some rather advanced topics, such as graphics and GUIs. Plenty of ideas and resources for further development of coding skills are listed at the back as well as a handy glossary of terms.

I’d have thought this book was brilliant as a tween, and I think it’s pretty great as an adult. Definitely a book to buy!… (més)