Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Spring Semester, 2007
6.081: Introduction to EECS 1

Resource material

Here are some resources that you should find helpful. We'll be assigning specific readings throughout the semester, but you might also want to look at these on your own.

Python

How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python, by Allen Downey, Jeffrey Elkner, Chris Meyers.
This is a good introductory text that uses Python to present basic ideas of computer science and programming. It's especially recommended if you don't have a lot of programming experience and a good thing to skim even if you do.

Python for Newbies, by David Borowitz
A short tutorial that goes through the basics of Python that only assumes a bit of programming experience.

Learn Python in 10 Minutes, by Poromenos
An even shorter tutorial that covers Python's syntax quickly for those with a fair amount of programming experience.

Learning Python, by David Ascher and Mark Lutz
The O'Reilly book; assumes little/no programming experience, but is quite long and covers topics in great detail. (You need an MIT Certificate to view this one)

Python Tutorial, by Guido Van Rossum
This is the standard tutorial reference by the inventor of Python. It's aimed at people who have previous programming experience.

The Python Challenge
A series of puzzles that you solve by writing Python programs. Optional, for fun, if this is your idea of fun.

IDLE

Official IDLE Documentation
The official Python IDLE documentation, including keyboard shortcuts, debugging, etc.