Real-World Python A Hacker's Guide to Solving Problems with Code

A project-based approach to learning Python programming for beginners. Intriguing projects teach you how to tackle challenging problems with code.

You've mastered the basics. Now you're ready to explore some of Python's more powerful tools. Real-World Python will show you how.

Through a series of hands-on projects, you'll investigate and solve real-world problems using sophisticated computer vision, machine learning, data analysis, and language processing tools. You'll be introduced to important modules like OpenCV, NumPy, Pandas, NLTK, Bokeh, Beautiful Soup, Requests, HoloViews, Tkinter, turtle, matplotlib, and more. You'll create complete, working programs and think through intriguing projects that show you how to:

Save shipwrecked sailors with an algorithm designed to prove the existence of God

Detect asteroids and comets moving against a starfield

Program a sentry gun to shoot your enemies and spare your friends

Select landing sites for a Mars probe using real NASA maps

Send unbreakable messages based on a book code

Survive a zombie outbreak using data science

Discover exoplanets and alien megastructures orbiting distant stars

Test the hypothesis that we're all living in a computer simulation

And more!

If you're tired of learning the bare essentials of Python Programming with isolated snippets of code, you'll relish the relevant and geeky fun of Real-World Python!

Lee Vaughan is a programmer, pop culture enthusiast, educator, and author of Impractical Python Projects
(No Starch Press). As a former executive-level scientist at ExxonMobil, he spent decades constructing and reviewing complex computer models, developed and tested software, and trained geoscientists and engineers.

Introduction
Chapter 1: Saving Shipwrecked Sailors with Bayes’ Rule
Chapter 2: Attributing Authorship with Stylometry
Chapter 3: Summarizing Speeches
Chapter 4: Sending Super Secret Messages
Chapter 5: Finding Pluto
Chapter 6: Winning the Moon Race with Apollo 8
Chapter 7: Selecting Martian Landing Sites
Chapter 8: Detecting Distant Exoplanets
Chapter 9: Identifying Friend or Foe
Chapter 10: Finding a Safe Space
Chapter 11: Charting Exoplanets
Chapter 12: Are we Living in an Alien Simulation?
Appendix: Answers to the practice problems
Index