Hi everyone! 👋 I have big news! The alpha version of my Practical Python Projects book is out! It took me two years and countless hours to get to this stage and I am so proud of it. You can buy it now from here.

The final version of the book will be more expensive than the alpha price of $29.99. Moreover, the first 25 people to use the code ppp-yasoob-blog will get the book at an extra 15% off. This is a wonderful opportunity to buy the book at a lower cost and get all future updates to this version for free!

Background

The major reason for writing this book is that only a handful of project-based books existed in 2018. As far as I am aware, even today only a few of them are out there. When learning to program, most books, websites, and tutorials focus on teaching the intricacies of the language. They do not teach how to create and implement end-to-end projects on real-world topics. This often leaves a void in people’s understanding of how to execute on the very things that often inspire them to get into coding.

This book demonstrates how to combine different libraries and frameworks to build amazing end-to-end projects. I use Python 3.8 but it should work with all Python versions above 3.0.

Book Content

A few of the projects that we will be implementing in this book are:

• A Twilio bot that keeps you updated with latest match scores of FIFA World Cup
• A Facebook Messenger bot the shares latest memes, jokes and shower-thoughts scraped from Reddit
• An automated invoice generator and deploying it using Flask
• Making automated cinema-preshow by downloading and stitching together related movie trailers using moviepy
• Generating automated article summaries and overlaying them on top of images that are ready to be uploaded to Instagram
• Understanding and decoding JPEG images using vanilla Python
• Creating a GUI application using PyQt for downloading online videos
• Implementing a TUI email client that allows reading emails in the terminal

This book contains something for programmers of all skill levels. If you know how to use different Python libraries on their own but don’t know how to combine them to make something unique, this book is going to be a treat. A basic familiarity with Python is expected before you start with this book. If you have read any intro to Python book, you should be fine. If you haven’t read any intro book, go through the first few chapters of Automate The Boring Stuff With Python (online version is free) and you should be well equipped to tackle this book.

If you want to see my writing style, you can read this article about JPEG on my blog that is also a part of the book.

During the COVID era, this is the best way to learn some new skills and build some new projects. Most of these projects are brand new and you can show-case them during technical interviews. This is your chance to differentiate yourself from all other people applying for the same job!

My favorite part about the book is that each chapter ends with a “Next Steps” section. This is where I give you ideas about how to extend the project and make it truly yours. This is extremely helpful if you want to show these projects to friends and potential future employers!

You can buy the book from here.

Reviews

This is what others have to say about this book so far:

“Yasoob’s book really embraces the idea of building small practical projects. He takes the reader on a tour of over a dozen projects, reinforcing research and coding skills along the way. His technical acumen combines with unbridled enthusiasm to make for a delightful and informative book.”

— Daniel Feldroy, author of Two Scoops of Django

Alpha version details

The alpha version contains only the PDF version of the book. The EPUB and MOBI will be released soon. If you buy the alpha version now, you will get the EPUB and MOBI versions for free once they are launched. The print version will be launched later this year and if you buy alpha now, you will receive a discount on the print version.

You might be wondering what does an alpha version mean. Alpha means that the book is still being updated. You might encounter some formatting issues and some areas might be incorrect or incomplete. All the chapters are included in this alpha so content-wise the book is complete.

Book covers

The front cover:

The back cover:

I hope you enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you encounter any problems, please open an issue on GitHub. If you can not afford the book for economic reasons please send an email to hi [at] yasoob.me. I will make sure personal finances don’t become a hindrance for you in getting access to this book.

You can buy the book at from here.

Please share your comments, suggestions, and feedback in the comment section below or email them to me at hi [at] yasoob.me. See you in a future article! 👋 ❤️