1.1 Introduction

Python is amazing. Python is the first language you should learn. Python can babysit your children, and take your dog for a walk. How often on the Internet have we seen these outlandish claims but have oftentimes found it very difficult to substantiate any of them? Well, not today. Today, we're going to show you from beginning to end how you can start with very little knowledge of a programming language, such as Python, and learn the ins and outs and the fundamental building blocks of the language so much so that you'll begin being able to write applications right away. And then, we're gonna take that foundational knowledge and we're gonna move it up a level and we're gonna start to learn about data structures. And how Python is structured to very quickly and easily allow you to get in and out of a lot of the built in data structures and even allow you to make your own. Then we're gonna show you how you can interact with files, to be able to save dated files, read data from files, and even take complex objects and store them in files for later use. And then do you think that's it? Absolutely not, we're gonna take it a step farther and we're gonna start talking about networked applications. How can we use Python to create very complex client server type applications in a very simple way? Then how can we interact with other network services and protocols out on the internet? How can we interact with websites? How can we interact with FTP sites? How can we sync our computer's clock to network time protocol servers out on the internet? All sound outlandish and crazy but I'm telling you, these things are within all of our reach. So sit down with me and join me for a while as I take you through the entire story from soup to nuts to take you from an absolute beginner in Python programming to being able to write very sophisticated and useful applications for yourself today. Think it's outlandish? Not anymore. My name is Derek Jensen and welcome to Python.