People keep asking about “How to learn Python”, “What to study for Python” or “Recommend Python books…” for VFX/Animation Industry. And here is a brief, not confirmed but, at least, some sort of informative answer I organized on Internet.

For general Python programming:

• Official Python website, http://python.org/, http://docs.python.org/tutorial/
• Learn Python the hard way, http://learnpythonthehardway.org/
• Dive Into Python, http://www.diveintopython.net/
• How to Think Like a Computer Scientist, http://greenteapress.com/thinkpython/
• A Byte of Python, http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Python
• Expert Python Programming, http://www.packtpub.com/expert-python-programming/book
• Python Tutorial for Beginners: Learn in 7 Days, http://www.guru99.com/python-tutorials.html

For VFX/Animation oriented Python programming:

• NUKE Python Developer Guide, http://docs.thefoundry.co.uk/nuke/63/pythondevguide/
• NUKE Tutorial Videos | Python for Artists, http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/nuke/training/tutorials/python-for-artists/
• PyMEL, Python in Maya Done Right, http://code.google.com/p/pymel/

Miscellaneous:

• PyPI - the Python Package Index, http://pypi.python.org/pypi
• Google Python Style Guide, http://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/pyguide.html
• Google’s Python Class, http://code.google.com/intl/pt-PT/edu/languages/google-python-class/
• The Python Wiki, http://wiki.python.org/moin/FrontPage
• The Python tutorial, http://zetcode.com/tutorials/pythontutorial/
• Interactive Python Tutorial, http://www.learnpython.org/
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Packaging, http://guide.python-distribute.org/index.html
• The History of Python, http://python-history.blogspot.com/
• PyCon, Connecting The Python Community, http://pycon.org/
• Popular Python recipes, http://code.activestate.com/recipes/langs/python/

PS. For some serious, academic and formal lectures, you can go take a course “Introduction to Computer Science and Programming” in MIT. Fortunately, MIT open their courses and you don’t need to flight to the US to enroll this wonderful course. Just visit http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-00-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-fall-2008/ and you will see lots of video lectures in http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-00-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-fall-2008/video-lectures/