Building Games Right from the Start!

I realized today that I actually ordered the second edition of Python Programming, for the Absolute Beginner. I'm not sure of the differences between the editions. I will also be working in Python 2.7.  I read a few things about the differences between Python 2.* and 3 and I decided to start with the Python 2. No special reason for this, I'm just old school and like to work from the ground up. :)

What I really like about Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner is the exercises actually create little games. I just finished the first chapter and the result was a Game Over print out and a little bit of code that I don't understand yet, that keeps the screen open when you run the program, until you press enter.

I'm looking through some of the other chapters. The games sound pretty cool.
Chapter 2, The Useless Trivia Program
Chapter 3, The Guess My Number Game
Chapter 5, The Hangman Game
Chapter 8, The Critter Caretaker Program
Chapter 11, The Pizza Panic Game
Chapter 12, The Astrocrash Game

I love the idea of actually building something I can use and share. I'm a closet game addict. Back in the early Nintendo days I got caught up in Legend of Zelda and forgot to feed my kids dinner. I swore then I would never let a game control me. I revert occasionally, but my kids are grown and feeding themselves now.

Tomorrow I'll go through some of the features of How to Think Like a Computer Scientist. It's an open source, interactive book that you can freely access. It has some cool features, but more about that tomorrow!

Studying Python

I will be studying the programming language, Python for at least the next year! I'm looking forward to learning this simple yet powerful high level language and building some great things! Come join me if you like. I will be studying with two different books. 

The first one is Python for the Absolute Beginner.

http://www.amazon.com/Python-Programming-Absolute-Beginner-Edition/dp/1435455002



The second one is How to Think Like a Computer Scientist Interactive version. It is based on the original book by Jeffrey Elkner, Allen B. Downey, and Chris Meyers. 

http://interactivepython.org/runestone/static/thinkcspy/index.html

I will be posting here on my progress. :) I will start tomorrow with a video and step by step description of how to install Python.

I hope you can come learn with me!