Impractical Python Projects: Playful Programming Activities to Make You Smarter

Authors: Vaughan, Lee
Publisher: No Starch Press
BISAC/Subject: COM051210, COM051360, COM051390
ISBN: 9781593278915, Related ISBNs: 159327890X, 1593278918, 9781593278908, 9781593278915
Classification: Non-Fiction
Number of pages: 424,
Audience: General/trade
Synopsis: Impractical Python Projects is a collection of fun and educational projects designed to entertain programmers while enhancing their Python skills. It picks up where the complete beginner books leave off, expanding on existing concepts and introducing new tools that you'll use every day. And to keep things interesting, each project includes a zany twist featuring historical incidents, pop culture references, and literary allusions.

You'll flex your problem-solving skills and employ Python's many useful libraries to do things like:
- Help James Bond crack a high-tech safe with a hill-climbing algorithm
- Write haiku poems using Markov Chain Analysis
- Use genetic algorithms to breed a race of gigantic rats
- Crack the world's most successful military cipher using cryptanalysis
- Derive the anagram, "I am Lord Voldemort" using linguistical sieves
- Plan your parents' secure retirement with Monte Carlo simulation
- Save the sorceress Zatanna from a stabby death using palingrams
- Model the Milky Way and calculate our odds of detecting alien civilizations
- Help the world's smartest woman win the Monty Hall problem argument
- Reveal Jupiter's Great Red Spot using optical stacking
- Save the head of Mary, Queen of Scots with steganography
- Foil corporate security with invisible electronic ink

Simulate volcanoes, map Mars, and more, all while gaining valuable experience using free modules like Tkinter, matplotlib, Cprofile, Pylint, Pygame, Pillow, and Python-Docx.

Whether you're looking to pick up some new Python skills or just need a pick-me-up, you'll find endless educational, geeky fun with Impractical Python Projects.
Sign up for our literacy platform for reading at home

LightSail includes up to 6,000 high interest, Lexile aligned book titles with every student subscription. Other titles are available for individual purchase.

Watch the power of

Lightsail in action

×

SUPPORT GROWING READERS

Immediately Engage Students
Immediately Engage Students
Simple intuitive design has classrooms reading within minutes.
Exponentially Grow Reading Time
Exponentially Grow Reading Time
Students love the LightSail experience and naturally spend more time reading.
Accelerate Literacy Development
Accelerate Literacy Development
Students reading 25 minutes a day on LightSail are seeing 2+ years of Lexile growth in a single year.

LightSail Education is a comprehensive Lexile and standards-aligned, literacy platform and digital e-book library. Including multimodal learning functionality and featuring books from leading publishers, LightSail holistically assesses and nurtures each student on their reading and writing-to-learn journey, throughout elementary, middle, and high school.

*LightSail offers a 2,000 or a 6,000 title bundle with its student subscriptions. Other titles are available for individual purchase.