Two birds, one stone: this is my #booktober entry for "First Litsy Post." I quoted this book, which is 100% free to read online (the PDF can be downloaded, also)! Highly recommended... I just completed an advanced Python programming class and I started out with this book (and a few others). If you don't have a CS background, this will help you as a beginning programmer, and if you do, it will still fill in the gaps!