Includes the latest version of Python, Python 3.0!

The text is structured around problem solving rather than language features and therefore includes problems of general interest rather than a traditional language element structure. 

The text is organized into three natural parts: Chapters 1 thru 5 introduce all of the key control structures and Python data types; Chapters 6 thru 9 build upon those key concepts and provides students with an opportunity to get more comfortable with basic programming concepts while introducing additional problem solving patterns; the last chapters emphasize object oriented programming and introduce the concepts needed to design and build classes.

Provides three kinds of exercises throughout the text: In the first, students run code that has been presented as a part of the section. These exercises ask students use the code to learn or explore on their own. The second requires students to modify, extend or improve upon the code provided in the section. The third section includes programming exercises at the end of each chapter that provide complete projects for in-class or homework assignments.