Captain Code: Unleash Your Coding Superpower with Python

I got this book to have something a little more relatable to students in the 12-17 age range that I will be teaching next year. I found the book to be really well laid out and easy to read and understand. I am going to suggest to all my students to get this book so they can read ahead if they want (we do individual speed class). I will be using this with "Think Like a Programmer", "Automate the Boring Stuff" and some Django dev stuff.

This is a fantastic read with easy to follow examples, challenges, and explanations. I highly recommend this book for both kids and adults. I have 30+ years of coding experience, and this is one of the best books about coding I have ever read.

Written by veteran writer and educator Ben Forta, along with Shmuel Forta (a gifted educator in his own right), this book is a fantastic way for young (and young at heart) to jump into learning Python, and programming in general.Overall, this book gives a comprehensive understanding of Python in a clear and easy to understand way. All without sacrificing the sometimes tedious details that would accompany more traditional methods of learning. It accomplishes all this by being extremely well written, having relatable examples that cleanly mirror what a programmer actually does, along with easy to follow graphics and visual art.The thesis of the book is to learn by doing. The first chapter gives the reader an understanding of the general guidelines which underpin computer programming, as well as a brief set up to get going. It then dives in head first.Part one of this book takes a number of popular games children are familiar with in the real world. Think Mad Libs, Rock Paper Scissors, and Hangman. The book gives these fairly simple and common games an entirely new dimension by teaches children the superpower of translating actions that occur in the real world, and being able to interpret them in a way that a computer can understand.Along the way, the reader is aided by tips, sidebars, and extra challenges, that push the reader forward and deeper, rather then just completing a monotonous set of tasks. This keeps the excitement going as the reader can do side tasks that give a better understanding of programming, without losing focus of the overall goals.Part two of the book is to build an original text based game. Now having a much better understanding of programming, the book explains more advanced techniques that are utilized by everyday programmers, all the while building the text based adventure game.Part three. The real fun. In part three of the book, the reader gets to build a racing game. Using assets downloaded from the book website, the book teaches how to create a visual racing game, along with different fun variables introduced. Such as the enemy collisions, and slippery ice cubes.By the end of the book, the reader has a broad understanding of programming in general, and Python in particular. In addition, it encourages you to take your newfound knowledge and superpower further, by providing additional tips and resources.If you're looking for an introduction to Python, that's actually as enjoyable as it is practical, look no further.

I've been learning, off and on, Python now for over a year. I still don't use it a lot, but the more I do, the more I appreciate it. I've come to realize that I think Python would be an amazing language for new developers. It's simple - doesn't require a compilation step - and lets you gradually expand your skillset as your needs and experience grow.Speaking of new developers, this is where the book I'm reviewing will really come in handy. "Captain Code: Unleash Your Coding Superpower with Python", written by Ben and Shmuel Forta, targets people who have never written a line of code before and gently walks them through the process of becoming a code. It's light hearted, and uses games for many of it's examples, but I'm not sure I'd say it's a kids book. I'd say anyone who wants to give coding a try would be a perfect fit for this book.While going through the text I was honestly shocked by how many things the authors took time to explain that would have absolutely been a problem for non-traditional developers. As an example, very early on in the text they explain how you have to create a folder for your scripts. They explain getting an editor, saving and naming your files. This is something I figured out a very, very long time ago, but the more I think about it, the more I realize how non-obvious this would be. Think about how most mobile and tablet devices hide away the idea of a file system. While you may have a "Files" app on your device, just the initial "where do I start writing" idea is going to be something a reader has to learn once.This continues throughout the text. Time and time again the authors explain concepts that folks coming from other languages wouldn't necessarily need, but first time coders would. For example, using variables in your programs so you don't have things hard coded in logic. The first time you write a program with hard coded values and realize how hard it can be to update, you figure this out. I love that the book calls this out. As I said, I really feel like Python makes a great first language, and this book makes a great introduction to first time coders.I also appreciate how the reader is never talked down to. Like I said, it does look like a book aimed towards kids (although, um, I'm kinda into superheroes too ;) but it's one that never treats their readers as children.Another thing I appreciated were times when the book pointed out concepts in such a way that the "academic" aspect of something could be contrasted with the "practical" nature of something. This is useful for times when we may say, "the precise definition of something is so" but "we almost always just do so and so in real life".All in all, this feels like the work of people who've done real teaching, and quite a bit of it, and have crystalized it into a book that's easy to understand and quick to pick up.The book is split into three sections. The first section really does a great job of covering the basics - essentially everything you need until you realize you need to start building re-usable blocks of code. By the end you've built a real game and have been given quite a few challenges and ideas for more things to build.The second section really digs deep into packaging up your code, covering functions, and classes and additional libraries.The third section introduces graphics and Pygame. I've only recently discovered it (in the other Python book I'm reading) and it's an incredibly cool games framework.At 400 pages, quite a lot is covered, but there's two things missing I'd like to see added in either a new edition or a follow up book. First, there's no use of HTTP. With so much of a developer's work being API driven, I'd like to see at least a short section on this topic. Heck, using the Random Dad Joke API would be a perfect fit for this book. The second topic not covered is unit testing. Now... I'm not necessarily religious about unit testing. Obviously I believe in it! When learning a new language, I'm not sure I'd teach it in the first book, or first semester, etc. That being said, I remember being really surprised that Python had unit testing built in, and I can't help but think it should be highlighted. The book absolutely talks about testing your code. It does a great job in demonstrating real techniques that will be useful in that regards. But I'd still like to see maybe an appendix on unit testing.Do I recommend this book? Absolutely. That being said, if you are an experienced developer learning to pick up Python, keep in mind this book will cover concepts you already know. If you would rather not pick up the book for that reason, I'd suggest the "Python Crash Course" book by Eric Matthes.

This is the book I needed that I did not know I needed. Having taught myself Python and having taught students, there are still some gaps in my knowledge that Captain Code quickly filled. The overall design of the book is wonderful and easy to read. All of the questions I have normally had when it comes to Python are answered on the pages. The code is cleanly written and the ability to scan a QR code so you can copy the code digitally is a major time-saver. What is most evident about this book is that it has been written by people that have worked with students. Too often books are written for students by people who have never taught and it never translates well on the pages. Captain Code is accessible for students and teachers and I think it is a must have for any classroom that is exploring Python. I know I will keep one at home for me and a few more in the classroom.

I’m an absolute beginner and I found the book easy to follow the instructions were precise and not overly complicated and the content was engaging.