Fredrik Håård's Blaag. I believe that Python is important for software development. While there are more powerful languages (e.g. Lisp), faster languages (e.g. C), more used languages (e.g. Java), and weirder languages (e.g. Haskell), Python gets a lot of different things right, and right in a combination that no other language I know of has done so far. It recognises that you’ll spend a lot more time reading code than writing it, and focuses on guiding developers to write readable code. Python also acknowledges that speed of development is important. This speed of development, the ease with which a programmer of other languages can pick up basic Python skills, and the huge standard library is key to another area where Python excels - toolmaking.
That building custom tools is easy hints at another strength - building and maintaining custom software is easy, period. (*may not be true when installing source-distributed C extensions on Windows) Learn Python - Free Interactive Python Tutorial. S Python Class - Google's Python Class - Google Code. Welcome to Google's Python Class -- this is a free class for people with a little bit of programming experience who want to learn Python.
The class includes written materials, lecture videos, and lots of code exercises to practice Python coding. These materials are used within Google to introduce Python to people who have just a little programming experience. The first exercises work on basic Python concepts like strings and lists, building up to the later exercises which are full programs dealing with text files, processes, and http connections. The class is geared for people who have a little bit of programming experience in some language, enough to know what a "variable" or "if statement" is. Beyond that, you do not need to be an expert programmer to use this material. This material was created by Nick Parlante working in the engEDU group at Google. Tip: Check out the Python Google Code University Forum to ask and answer questions. Python for Bash scripters: A well-kept secret. Pyschools python tutorials and challenges.