Praise

The following quotes are taken verbatim from some of the email I’ve received. Thanks for the encouragement :)

If you like my stuff, you could also become my fan on Facebook.

Mark Gordon writes:

Thank-you for the Instant Python article. I plan to use it to support Python within my organization.

Jeff Rush writes:

I just browsed both of your Instant […] articles. Nice. I’ll remember them and point other people to them when I need to introduce them to Python.

Bryan Hann writes:

I like it a lot! I would be interested in exploring how the examples you give might be extended so as to get novices into thinking about objects with persistant state as soon as possible.

Nicholas Piper writes:

Magnus,

I read your crash-course today. Thank you for writing it.

[…] it was a useful introduction to Python for me.

Ray St. Marie writes:

I haven’t programmed since the late 70’s and I look to your site as a great refresher. Really, I need to learn everything over again and look forward to your site updates. Keep up the good work!

Your willing student

Ray St. Marie

M Liss writes:

You’ve created a very nice tutorial page

Joel Rosdahl writes:

I just browsed through your nice document “Instant Python” […]

Stefan Harms writes:

Thank you for the Python programming introduction. For the first time I understand some things, the way you explain them.

Please continue with the project, I want to know how to write functions, and understand the Object-Oriented stuff.

[…] I have three books on Python, and none of them for the absolute beginner, so I am very grateful for your explanations, that have a certain light-footedness to them.

Jørgen Gårdsted Jørgensen writes:

Very good indeed, in fact all You need…

Thilo Ernst writes:

In the course of gathering material suitable to lurk people into Python, I had a look into your “Instant Python” page, and I like it much.

Ryan Petzar writes:

wow! i love your Instant Hacking page about Python

Robert Ohnemus writes:

Thanks for these articles … I’ve just started with Python after being an amateur programmer for 20 years and your articles are just what I need to understand the new concepts . I’m especially in need of Oop instruction so please keep up the excellent work. I bought a book on Python but your articles are much easier to understand. Thanks again
Bob Ohnemus

Chris Sagedy writes:

Thank you for the wonderful tutorial you have written. I have wanted to program for a long time, but I didn’t understand all the gibberish. Now that I have read you work, I am finally understanding this stuff. Keep up the good work!
Chris Sagedy

Ultra75924 writes:

your site helped alot!!!
thanx for the great info…WOW! no other site helped me like that. all the other sites that i was at didnt make much sense…thanx

Meredith writes:

[…] I just wanted to tell you, I think your tutorial is really good. It’s very understandable to a complete novice, like me.

Paul R. Bennett writes:

Thanks for your very useful crash course. I had to make a small modification to a Python program without having any experience with the language. After struggling to find just the pieces I needed in a book and on the python web site, your crash course was just the thing!

Paul Bennett

Merit Smith writes:

Really great work. Thanks for the wonderful effort and common sense appraoch to a complicated topic. Merit Smith

Kevin Liang writes:

Hi..

I’m findind your python tutorial very helpful..it made a lot more sense than some floating on the net. […]

Kevin

Ryan McRae writes:

[…] your article was very informative and well written. I’d like to congratulate you on a job well done.

Sincerely,
Ryan McRae

Delton Phillips Jr writes:

This intro has been pretty easy to understand, i’m a programmer from Jamaica and the other stuff i read elsewhere was totally confusing.

Delly.
Stony Hill, Jamaica.

Frank writes:

Hello, you have a great website. I want to thank you for making Python so clear and easy to learn and understand. […]

Thank you,
Frank

Satan and Co writes:

I just wanted to say thanks for the awesome tutorial of python!

Johnny Rotten writes:

Before i read that i did not know anything about python but afterward i know ALOT more….

Nils Kassube writes:

Guten Abend.

Congratulations for your “Instant Hacking” article. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. (For teaching purposes, I know how to program =:->)

[…]

Cheers,
Nils

Nicholas Carroll writes:

Thank you for taking the time to write such a nice simple introduction to Python.

Nicholas

Josh writes:

I read your instant Python and Instant Hacking…
Great Job!!!! the most informative tutorial I have found!!
[…]

Thanks
Josh

Dan Stankiewicz writes:

I read you’re Python page. You’re awesome.

Dan Stankiewicz

Paul Donaldson writes:

As a busness-end project manager, I’ve been trying to expand me horizons for some time - your Instant Hacking tutorial has given me just the push I need to invade the world of programming - well written well thought-out and managing to maintain a good sense of humour throughout …

thank you

paul

Neil P. Davis writes:

Magnus,
Your Python summation is brilliant. As a Windows programmer who is embracing Linux programming (for future survival…), I found your article to be the single most useful document on the internet about getting started with Python on Linux. Comparing structures to other languages helped greatly.

[…]

By looking at the article I was able to quickly gauge the amount that I need to learn to learn basic Python… needless to say, it will not be a very far stretch. I am sure that I have a lot to learn, but this easily cut weeks of trial and error off of my learning curve. […]

I can’t thank you enough. I am excited.

Sincerely,
Neil P Davis

Dennis E. Hamilton writes (to Mikael Olofsson, who recommended the articles, with a copy to me):

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, again!

These are great resources, and a pleasure and delight to read!

I am going to recommend them to the Python Study Group on eGroup too. I see that the Computer Programming for Everyone (CP4E) Edu-Sig already lists one of these, and more, on its home page, http://www.python.org/sigs/edu-sig/

I love the syntax-coloring in the examples and in the text. And just the playfulness of it. My son Doug and I are going to conduct our next tutorial session today, and I am printing Instant Hacking for him to try out. I’m going to work through it too.

— Dennis

Michel writes:

Hi!

[…] what a great tutorial you have […] !

[…]

Michel

doghouse writes:

i like your site good job doghouse

Joe Tarrant writes:

Hi.

I really like your “Instant Hacking” article. I’m trying to learn to program. It’s taking me a long time. […]

However, I learned a lot from the article about procedures and so on. Great article on methods and so on. […]

Thanks.

Joe Tarrant

Morgen Kimbrell writes:

[…] I have greatly enjoyed your tutorial. I am almost done and feel that I can now tackel [sic] something a little more complicated.

morgen kimbrell

Michael Read writes:

Loved your articles on hacking in Python […]

Regards,

Mike

Joshua Monacelli writes:

[…] I read your article on python. Which was awesome. […]
Thank you,
Josh

Chris Riper writes:

Just wanted to tell you thanks for creating your Python webpage […]. I’ve been programming in C/C++ for a few years now and decided to check out Python. Your page was the first one I came across with very easy to understand introductories to Python (the Instant Python and Instant Hacking articles).
Thanks!

Chris Riper

Jeff Holland writes:

Hello,
I find your Instant Hacking to be a very informative intro to Python and programming. Do you plan to release a part2? Just too busy? I hope you find the time as your style is very conducive to my education. Even if you don’t thanks for a jumpstart.
Jeff Holland

Fred Stapleton writes:

I enviously read your carefully constructed web page during a quest for technological aid. And indeed it helped. […]

yours faithfully Cherub

Anders Langworthy writes:

Thank you for the short python tutorial. It is short, concise, well written, and very useful.
I am just learning how to program, and after going through your tutorial I feel I have a pretty strong grasp of the basics of the python language.

—Anders

Leslie D. Hoey writes:

I just wanted to say thank you very much for the time and energy you put in the non-programers tutor of Python. People like you make it an honor to learn how to program.

                                Mr. Leslie D. Hoey

Dr. S. Candelaria de Ram writes:

Greetings!

Intrigued to find, upon taking a look again at materials on python in varied languages, that my favorite tutorials — which turn out to be yours — are appearing in them.

[…]

Congrats.

Dr. S. Candelaria de Ram
PythonJournal, Editor-in-Chief

J-Cat Guard writes:

My god! Something finally written that the “Newbie” can understand. Your site is outstanding and very informative, thank you. Now, please write a book on Python! You have a wonderful ability to convey concepts with your analogies.
Peg Leg

defroth writes:

I read that ‘How to be a Hacker’ page and I was really influenced..
I think that Python tutorial was excellent. So thanks alot..
I’ll keep learning.

NO MAN writes:

Hi there,

   I just wanted to thank you for the information you displayed on the internet. I am currently taking Visual programming and someone mentioned Python to me, so I looked it up and your website was at the top…..I can see why. Thanks to your brief tutorials I am currently trying to work on greeting programs which are specified to each user. Although, I occasionally bump into a few problems, but who said life was easy. Thanks again.

      Sincerely, otto_02645@[…].com

Bryan writes:

I just wanted to say thanks for writing a no-nonsense python tutorial. It’s great to see that someone actually got the idea of writing a programming tutorial that goes through the basics quickly, as opposed to spending 3 chapters on how to use a simple if.

Thanks again,
Bryan.

NeoBug writes:

  Hello,

  I read your article “Instant Pyhton” and I like it a lot. […] thanks for so great tutorial.

NeoBug

HormoneX writes:

Hi,
I just wanted to drop you a quick note to thank you for the tutorials at hetland.org. I’m a real programming novice, and your instant hacking page really got me going in the right direction. It seems that most programming instructing to be found on the net either assumes you’re a complete idiot and spends way too much time explaining the same concept fifteen different ways, or it assumes you are just trying to pick up a new language and that you already know what people mean by things like loops and data structures. Your site is right in the middle, and therefore extremely useful and informative. Kudos on a great job and keep up the good work!
~J

The Celtic Mosher writes:

Hi there,

Firstly, let me state that I think your approach to teaching newbies like myself is excellent. I have been wanting to learn to program, and understand the concept of programming for a long time now. I have tried many “teach yourself <programming language> in 21 days” teqhniques. And if anything, i know less about it thanks to them. Your page however is briliant.

[…] thanks for providing a great website!

Thanks,

Neil.

J.L. writes:

Thank you very much for taking the time to write your introduction to the Python programming language. Your tutorial is clear and concise.

Have you ever thought about becoming a teacher? You seem to be have a gift for clearly explaining a subject. Most of the profesors that I have encountered may know how to program, but they surely can’t teach it very well.

Thanks again. One of your many fans in America.

J.L. (USA)

Javed Ahmed writes:

i liked ure page i read all the stuff it was good

Kevin Ang writes:

Hey I just want to say thanks for writting those tutorials about python. I really like it. Say do you write a book about any computer language?? […] I went to python site few days ago, hoping to found something more interesting than this pyhton manuals. And so I went to your site. There I found this “Instant HAcking” tutorial for total dummies to learn python from beginning. Hey I really enjoy learning this language from your tutorial. Its easy to understand. You should write a book ya know, I know ppl will liek it.

Mohamed Ibrahim writes:

hello,
  […] i would like to thank you so much about your article, till now it helped me a lot.

David Poblador Garcia writes:

Hello,

[…] I’ve been reading your great article “Instant Hacking” in your Python section and I’ve found it is the best initiation guide I’ve ever read. […]

Thank you for your attention,

Sincerely,

David Poblador Garcia

Felix Leditzky writes:

Hi Magnus!
I read through your python tutorial, and i must say, very good job! […]

sincerely, Felix

Michel Beauvais writes:

Hi Magnus!

Just read your Instant Python - After looking in the originally Python Documentation I almost gave up getting started with Python. BUT, having read your piece of writing I feel like mastering python after just a couple of days now :-)

[…]

cheers, michel

“Joshoohahh” writes:

[…] I just wanted to tell you that I found your tutorial on Python really simple and informative in a fun way.

Joe Orr writes:

Hi,

Wow! What a great tutorial (Instant Python). I just read your article as a quick refresher on Python, and if there is a better quick intro to programming, I haven’t seen it. Now I know where to send people when they want to get started.

Best Regards,
Joe Orr

Kihorse writes:

I want to thank you for your informative website on hacking, the kind of hacking that I’m interested in; not “cracking.” It has been a real struggle to find information on the ethical hacking, the programming kind. It’s annoying that hacking has gotten a bad name from cracking, but your website is one not tainted with the warped alternate definition of hacking. I will definitely be back!

Chad writes:

Thanks for the articles on the Web…they were quite helpful in giving me a quick once-over-lightly of Python.
As Mr. burns would say, “Excellent”!

Chad

Kayvz writes:

Hello,
I’d just like to compliment you on the nice site you’ve made. For the last few days i’ve been browsing hetland.org and reading all your articles and i now have a great interest in Python especially. I’m also learning PHP and i see the things you’ve implemented with that particular language have made the site great. Your simple design makes it great for interested learners like myself to read and enjoy. I think i speak for most of the people that have, and will browse your web page when i say: thanks for the knowledge you’ve shared :).

Dunrie A. Greiling writes:

[…] thanks for an interesting and informative site!
Dunrie

Alex Kelly writes:

I just wanted to let you know how nice of a web page you have and how easy it is to follow. Thanks for making it!

Alex Kelly

Andrea Cabibbo writes:

Very useful and entertaining tutorial indeed, many thanks for this. Actually I was so good in learning that I just had my computer output a perfectly cooked fiesta spam salad. Excellent, really.



All the Best and keep up with the good work,



Andrea Cabibbo

Gavin Bauer writes:

Hi,
I’m a young, new, python programmer, and I wanted to tell you that I love your Instant Hacking article. It is extremely helpful, and I got me through functions which were hard to understand in other tutorials. […]
[K]eep up the good work!

-Gavin

Bob Simpson writes:

I have found a language to start with I found your site to be very useful and simple, straightforward and I will support python.
Bob

Russel D writes:

[…] I have tried programming languages like Euphoria and some others but yours is the easiest to use. It is a really great program and I am looking foward to programing lots of stuff with it. Keep up the good work.

Russell

Pascal van Geest writes:

Hello Magnus,

First of all, thank you for your introductions to Python. I just started looking at it, and it gives some interesting info about the strength of the language and it’s ‘elegance’.
[…]
Keep up the good work, very educational indeed!

Best regards,
Pascal van Geest

Hector Alberto Del Manzano writes:

Hi!
Don’t know how many you get like this a week, but, here’s mine:

Thank you! It’s for people like you that this weird “internet” project was started! In the future I will point to your .org as the standard reference for introductions and small tutorials.

Once again, Great Job, and Thank you mr.

Kok Koon Leong writes:

Dear Magnus,

Browsing through python web pages, I came across your article on Instant Python. It was great! I got a quick tutorial on this language.

I learnt python long ago when trueSpace 4 introduced python scripting but do not really get a chance to write any programs with this language. I do mostly Visual Basic and VBA in my job.

Your site helped me to revise a language which I admire deeply but have almost forgotten. […]

Thanks for putting so much effort in promoting python.

All the best.

Kok Koon Leong
Singapore

Tamotsu Takahashi writes:

Hello,

Your “instant hacking” document moved me a lot! I promise you I will buy your book “practical python” after reading all the stuffs on http://hetland.org

Thanks,

tamo

J. P. Tuttle writes:

Hey—
Just read Instant Python… awesome! I’m the kind of person who will randomly decide to learn a new programming language over the weekend, so it’s very useful having guides/tutorials like yours. […]

— J.P.

Jane Andersen writes:

Dear Magnus,

I just wanted to express my appreciation for your “Instant Hacking” article. I have read several places that Python makes a good first language, so I started hunting, and ended up at your doorstep.

The exposition was clear, the examples were well chosen and well made, and the tasks were great fun. They were simple enough to tackle head on, and were excellent for learning the basic syntax (“wait a minute - how come my program broke??? Oh. I forgot the colon”). They were also an inspiration, and I ended up spending my entire Saturday writing a program taking user input from a virtual Organic Chemistry Lab session, with forks and feedback and everything, and walking them through til a finished product could be handed in. This had me hunting for more ways of doing things and looking for syntax not mentioned in Instant Hacking. In short: Instant Hacking was more than an introduction, it was a spring-board, which is what all good newbie tutorials should aspire to be, IMHO.

I am now saving up for your book Beginning Python.

With thanks,
Jane

Frederick Thomas says:

Subject: Thanks!

For the great Python intro on your website! Great job!
-Rick

Mark says:

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you. Ive grabbed tons of books from the library and just ended up confused. Your lesson was perfect I finally think I have a chance at getting this.


Mark

Durvesh Chury says:

Hi, I read your tutorial it was really good

Stephen G. Lorio says:

Dear Magnus,

I just read your page: […] Instant Hacking.

It is THE BEST intro to PYTHON i have read yet! I have read about 50 tutorials and 2 books […]

Doug Y’Barbo says (about Beginning Python):

I just wanted to tell you that this is an excellent text—it’s a clear, useful tutorial, but also a valuable reference. After a couple hour session with this Text, i feel that i’ve gained some CS theory, increased my python lexicon, and gained some useful practical techniques that i can apply straight away. It’s not easy to do all of this in a single Text.

It is an impressive effort. Thank you very much indeed.

Manuel says:

Thanks for your great tutorials/book