Learn Python 3 the Hard Way

This book is the Python 3 edition of the Learn Python the Hard Way series, an introductory tutorial originally titled Learn Python 3 the Hard Way. It is based on Python 3.6 and, apart from "Exercise 0: The Setup," contains 52 exercises. The first 26 cover three major themes—input/output, variables, and functions—while the second 26 move into more advanced topics such as conditionals, loops, classes and objects, code testing, and project implementation. The structure is highly consistent: each exercise first presents a code listing and explanation; readers must type the code in character by character (the author explicitly opposes copy-paste), run it and check the output, then complete additional exercises and read the frequently asked questions. The author advocates "the hard way"—repeated hands-on practice, making mistakes actively, and debugging on one's own—so as to truly understand how computers work, what makes a good program, and how to read code, write code, and trace code in one's head. The training path starts with printing "Hello World" and gradually advances to reading and writing files, functions, dictionaries, modules, object-oriented programming, and automated testing, ending with a small web-based game project. The book also includes about five hours of accompanying instructional videos (accessed by scanning a code) that demonstrate how to deliberately break code, locate errors, and debug and fix them. The language is plain and the demands are strict; many chapters require readers to persist through repetitive exercises, so it is called a "self-disciplined" introductory book: suitable for those with zero background but willing to invest time to build solid fundamentals, and not for readers seeking quick results or wanting to jump straight into advanced frameworks.