Many thanks to Allen B. Downey, who wrote the excellent Python 2 book Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist. I myself learned Python programming from his book, and used the \(\LaTeX\) template that he graciously provided as the basis for this book. Downey recently released a Python 3 version of his book. If you are already familiar with programming in general and just want to get to know Python, his book might be the way to go.

I am grateful to Peter Wentworth, who produced a Python 3 version of Downey’s book. Peter uses a particular style of teaching that I find does not work too well with the students I have had, but I definitely got a lot of information from his book.

Many thanks also to Guido van Rossum, the original creator of Python. I love the concept of programming, but very few programming languages are actually a joy to use. Python is one of them, and for that I am grateful.

Thanks also to Ákos Kádár, Nanne van Noord, and Sander Wubben, who worked with me on an early version of a Python course, on which I later based this book.

Thanks to the members of Monty Python, whose television shows and audio recordings taught me English in a highly enjoyable way. Their show gave Python its name, and I have used quotes of their shows in some of the demonstrations and exercises in this book.

Many thanks to Myrthe Spronck, for creating the website for this book, found at http://www.spronck.net/pythonbook¹.

Thanks to all the contributors (listed below) who sent in corrections and suggestions.

If you have a suggestion or correction, please send email to pythonbook@spronck.net² (not to be used for assistance with programming problems, of course – there are plenty of places on the Internet where you can get such help), or leave a message at the forum http://www.spronck.net/forum³. If I make a change based on your feedback, I will add you to the contributor list (unless you ask to be omitted).