Fluent Python

What Hacker News says

1. currysausageJan 2026
   When I need a refresher on the basics of Python, I refer to Python Distilled, and when I want a deep dive, I turn to Fluent Python. Reading these books makes me feel like I'm sitting next to an experienced, witty colleague.

   I will take a look at Python Crash Course.

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2. libraryofbabelAug 2025
   I left it open-ended because it would somewhat depend on the junior developer's previous knowledge and their focus (do they have a CS degree? what topics do they want to go deep on in their career?)

   But here are some titles:

   * Kleppmann, Designing Data-Intensive Applications

   * Nand2Tetris. Computers from first principles, often fills in a lot of gaps. Possibly preceded by Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software if they need even more grounding.

   * SICP if I think they'd be ready for it

   * Crafting Interpreters

   * If they're working with Python I'd give them Fluent Python by Luciano Ramalho. For whatever other language(s) pick a book that allows them to go from intermediate to advanced in that language and really understand it inside out.

   * Ousterhout, A Philosophy of Software Design

   * Data and Reality

   * The Staff Engineer’s Path by Tanya Reilly to demystify the upper IC track. Or The Manager's Path by Camille Fournier.

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3. globular-toastApr 2025
   This is a nice list of "things you might not know" that is worth skimming to add to your toolkit.

   If you are really interested in "advanced Python", though, I would recommend the book Fluent Python by Ramalho. I have the first edition which is still highly relevant, including the async bits (you just have to translate the coroutines into async syntax). There is a second edition which is more up to date.

   I would also recommend checking out the functools[0] and itertools[1] modules in the standard library. Just go and read the docs on them top to bottom.

   It's also worth reading the first few sections of Python Data Model[2] and then bookmarking this page.

   [0] https://docs.python.org/3/library/functools.html

   [1] https://docs.python.org/3/library/itertools.html

   [2] https://docs.python.org/3/reference/datamodel.html

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4. lucasoshiroJan 2025
   Following this format, here's some of my favorites:

   1. Pro Git, by Scott Chacon and Ben Straub (https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2)

   - Skill: Git, covering both high-level aspects (commiting, branching, GitHub/GitLab, etc) and its internals (objects, references, packfiles, protocols, etc)

   - Kind of material: free e-book, book and website

   - Why is it good: easy to read, even when approaching the inner aspects. It's very unlikely that you won't learn something new and amazing after reading it. The Git internals chapter is a gem, providing and demonstrating the plumbing commands that manipulate the internal data structures.

   2. Learn you a Haskell for Great Good by Miran Lipovača (https://learnyouahaskell.com/)

   - Skill: Haskell

   - Kind of material: free e-book, book and website

   - Why is it good: covers the language and functional programming in a very fun and informal way. Reading it and learning Haskell made me a better programmer in other languages (specially in Python and Kotlin)

   3. intro_x86-64 by Luana Martins (https://gitlab.com/luamfb/intro_x86-64)

   - Skill: x86 assembly (NASM)

   - Kind of material: tutorial mixed with code

   - Why is it good: covers the x86-64 assembly using the NASM syntax, explaining the basic instructions, the stack, function calls, syscalls and so on. Easy to read, with some exercises. The chapters themselves are valid NASM code that you can assembly and run in your machine.

   4. Putting the you in CPU by Lexi Mattick (https://cpu.land/)

   - Skill: operating systems and program execution

   - Kind of material: website

   - Why is it good: explain what happens when you run a program, covering syscalls, multitasking, memory management, fork, exec, ELF and so on. Everything written in a very fun and informal way

   5. Fluent Python by Luciano Ramalho

   - Skill: Python, but for those who already know Python and want to improve their skills

   - Kind of material: book

   - Why is it good: explains in depth several Python concepts, sometimes even showing the bytecode.

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5. ludicityDec 2024
   I never realized how bad I was at Python until reading Fluent Python, hah.
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6. ludicityDec 2024
   You can obviously substitute a book for whatever you want, but a great book is a huge accelerator. And yeah, it has to be good, which doesn't seem very controversial. Fluent Python is a great example of this. I could, with enough effort and time, piece together some of the philosophy underlying the language's design, but someone has already put a huge amount of pedagogical effort into pre-chewing a lot of that food for me. This probably isn't intrinsic to books (I really like Josh Comeau's CSS course, for example, which has book-tier thought put into it) but I do think that books attract authors who are thoughtful, and the form factor makes them pleasant to revisit. Even some of the suspect, like The Mythical Man Month, have some beautiful prose and thought that I think wouldn't appear typically appear in a more colloquial format like a YouTube series.

   I do appreciate you taking the time to read my mind for false modesty and vaguely insult me though, thank you!

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