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Programming books

There are lots of great free resources for learning programming, but sometimes it's useful to have a book to work through. Below are a few books for learning programming. These are designed for different ages and levels of experience so check before buying.

My own programming books

Learn Electronics with Raspberry Pi

Learn Electronics with Raspberry Pi.

This book is a guide to learning electronics and physical computing through projects involving the Raspberry Pi. It covers various electronic components, sensors and outputs using fun projects to build. This includes games using Scratch and Python and controlling robots and model trains. It's designed for those looking to get started in electronics as well as those looking for fun project ideas.

It starts at the very basics using simple switches controlling a Scratch game. It then moves on to more complicated electronic circuits including various different sensor, controlloing motors and one of my favourites NeoPixels (RGB LEDs). It also goes on to more complicated circuit designs and how to design and have made a PCB.

Beginning Games Programming with Pygame Zero

Beginning Game Programming with Pygame Zero on a Raspberry Pi

I've also written a book on games programming using Pygame Zero.

The is a fun way to learn computer programming by creating computer games. This is designed as a book to give you all the skills you need to start programming your own games, from designing the game, creating the graphics, designing sound effects and programming using Pygame Zero.

Technical reviewer and other contributions

Also see other books I've been involved with:

Other programming books

The links below are primarily to Amazon.co.uk for the print version, but if buying ebooks that you'd like to be able to read your ebook across different devices and particular on the Raspberry Pi then I'd recommend getting DRM free ebooks which can be read on any device. If you buy ebooks specifically for a device, or through a retailer then they are likely to be DRM restricted, however some publishers provide DRM free books direct through their own sites (such as Apress, O'reilly and Manning.

Scratch

Raspberry Pi Education Manual - Computing at School

A free ebook created by volunteer teachers at Computing at School. As it's free then it's worth taking a look at this first.

Adventures in Raspberry Pi - Carrie Anne Philbin

Written by a former teacher, who has now gone to work for the Raspberry Pi foundation. This book provides a gentle introduction to a few programming languages and coding tools for the Raspberry Pi. It is well written and particularly aimed at young people looking to learn programming. A great starting point, but due to it's wide scope it doesn't cover the topics in as much depth as some other books.

  • As far as I know this book is not currently available in a DRM free ebook format that can be viewed on the Raspberry Pi
  • Python

    Raspberry Pi Education Manual - Computing at School

    A free ebook created by volunteer teachers at Computing at School. As it's free then it's worth taking a look at this first.

    Adventures in Raspberry Pi - Carrie Anne Philbin

    Written by a former teacher, who has now gone to work for the Raspberry Pi foundation. This book provides a gentle introduction to a few programming languages and coding tools for the Raspberry Pi. It is well written and particularly aimed at young people looking to learn programming. A great starting point, but due to it's wide scope it doesn't cover the topics in as much depth as some other books.

      As far as I know this book is not currently available in a DRM free ebook format that can be viewed on the Raspberry Pi

    Python for kids

    A python programming book that goes beyond the basics to include graphics programming and creating games. This book is clearly aimed at children, but keeps going after many other children books have finished.

    Python Basics Coding Club - Chris Roffey

    Part of the Coding Club (not to be confused with Code Club) series of books. This provides a gentle introduction to python programming.

    • As far as I know this book is not currently available in a DRM free ebook format that can be viewed on the Raspberry Pi

    Books on programming algorithms and general programming

    Lauren Ipsum - Carlos Bueno

    A children's story book which introduces computer science topics. Whilst not actually designed to teach programming it does create awareness of certain computer science topics through the story. All digital editions of this book are provided DRM free and for every book purchased one is donated to schools, libraries and educational programs.

    Blog links and videos on programming

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