Python in easy steps, 3^rd edition teaches you to program in the powerful Python programming language – the world’s favorite coding language. It gives complete examples that illustrate each aspect with colorized source code. This 3^rd edition includes a new chapter on how to process web form data with the Flask web framework for Python.

View full Table of Contents and first chapter – FREE!

Python in easy steps, 3^rd edition teaches you to program in the powerful Python programming language – the world’s favorite coding language. It gives complete examples that illustrate each aspect with colorized source code.

Python in easy steps, 3^rd edition begins by explaining how to install the free Python interpreter so that you can quickly begin to create your own executable programs by copying the book’s examples. It demonstrates all the Python language basics before moving on to provide examples of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). A new chapter for this edition then demonstrates how to process web form data with the Flask web framework for Python. The book concludes by demonstrating how you can use your acquired knowledge to create and deploy graphical windowed applications.

Python in easy steps, 3^rd edition has an easy-to-follow style, and makes no assumption you have previous knowledge of any programming language, so it’s ideal for:

• The newcomer to computer programming.
• Programmers moving from another programming language.
• Students studying Python programming at school or college.
• Those seeking a career in computing who need a fundamental understanding of computer programming.

About the author

Mike McGrath now lives in South-east Europe, on the sun-kissed shores of the Aegean Sea. Mike gained his extensive knowledge of computer languages while working as a developer contracting to companies around the world. His interests include coins of ancient Greece, dining-out with friends, and the ongoing evolution of the world wide web.

Reviews

Review by Eric Cai on LinkedIn (August 2026)

If you have no experience with computer programming whatsoever and find it intimidating, I suggest using the book “Python in Easy Steps” by Mike McGrath. I like it for several reasons:

– It teaches Python in plain English. The explanations are clear and simple to understand for someone who is new to coding.

– It starts from the very beginning and shows how to complete each task step by step. For example, I like the screenshots and the labels in the instructions for installing Python. This initial phase can be confusing for many beginners and frustrates them into giving up, so this installation guide is particularly valuable.

– It uses colour to distinguish between meaningful aspects of each lesson and coding example, but it is not too colourful to the point of being distracting. This is a tricky balance to strike, and this book does it well.

– It is relatively brief. At only 192 pages, it covers plenty of topics to teach a solid foundation, but it is not so long as to overwhelm a novice.

The table of contents and the first chapter are freely available on this book’s webpage. I encourage you to read them to get a sense of how this book flows and what you can learn from it.

1. Getting started
2. Performing operations
3. Making statements
4. Defining functions
5. Importing modules
6. Managing strings
7. Programming objects
8. Processing requests
9. Building interfaces
10. Developing applications

Download the original source code for checking against your own work from our Downloads page

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