Ebook: Python Playground : Geeky Projects for the Curious Programmer

Put the fun back in Python programming and build your skills as you create 3D simulations and graphics, speech-recognition machine-learning systems, IoT devices, and more.

The fully updated 2nd edition is here, now with 5 brand-new projects!

Harness the power of Python as you turn code into tangible creations with Python Playground, a collection of 15 inventive projects that will expand your programming horizons, spark your curiosity, and elevate your coding skills.

Go beyond the basics as you write programs to generate art and music, simulate real-world phenomena, and interact with hardware, all through the use of Python and common libraries such as Numpy, Matplotlib, and Pillow.

As you work through the book’s projects, you will
Craft intricate Spirograph-like designs with parametric equations and the turtle module
Generate music by synthesizing plucked string sounds
Transform everyday images into ASCII art, photomosaics, and eye-popping autostereograms
Design engaging cellular automata and flocking simulations
Explore the realm of 3D graphics, from basic shape rendering to visualizing MRI scan data
Build a Raspberry Pi–powered laser show that dances along with music

New to this edition: We’ve expanded your playground with five new projects: you’ll draw fractals, bring Conway’s Game of Life into 3D space, and use a Raspberry Pi and Python to create a musical instrument, an IoT garden monitor, and even a machine learning–driven speech recognition system.

Who Is This Book For?
Python Playground was written for anyone curious about how to use programming to understand and explore ideas. The projects in this book assume that you know basic Python syntax and basic programming concepts and that you’re familiar with high school mathematics. I’ve done my best to explain in detail the math you need for all projects. This book isn’t intended to be your first book on Python. I won’t walk you through the basics. I will, however, show you how to use Python to solve a variety of real-world problems in a series of nontrivial projects. As you work through the projects, you’ll explore the nuances of the Python programming language and learn how to work with some popular Python libraries. But perhaps even more important, you’ll learn how to break down a problem into parts, develop an algorithm to solve that problem, and then implement a solution from the ground up using Python. It can be difficult to solve real-world problems because they are often open-ended and require expertise in various domains. But Python offers the tools to facilitate problem-solving. Overcoming difficulties and finding solutions to real problems are the most important parts of your journey on the way to becoming an expert programmer.