There are lots of resources out there to help you learn to program with Python. In addition to books, you'll find no shortage of online classes and tutorials. Here are just a places to check if you're just setting out to learn Python.
Schoolcraft College offers an online course in Python and Java, another programming language. The course promises to prepare you employment as an entry-level Java or Python programmer". You will be able to ask your instructor questions and receive feedback on your coursework. You can start the course at any time and is self-paced (you'll have a year to finish). For more information or to enroll, see:
Online Python and Java Course at Schoolcraft
At EdX, you can audit some courses for free. You'll be able to access course readings and lectures and participate in discussion forums, although you won't receive any instructor feedback on your work. Here are the current courses being offered at the introductory level in Python. (Click on a course to see if you can audit it for free; once you click on a course, you'll also be able to see the time commitment required to complete the course.)
Introductory Python Courses on the EdX Platform
Coursera is another online learning platform that allows learners to audit some classes for free. If you audit the course, you'll get access to the lectures and readings for free. In a few cases, you may be able to get instructor feedback even if you're just auditing a course. Here are the available beginner Python courses at Coursera:
Python.org is the official site for the Python programming language. Here you can download the latest version of Python and also find the information you need to get started using Python.
Python for Beginners at Python.org
Python.org also has a number of good tutorials for beginner Python programmers here:
Python Tutorials at Python.org
W3 Schools is a beginner-friendly, free resource for developers. Tutorials are organized by topic, with lots of easy-to-follow examples. Click on the green "Try it Yourself" buttons below each example and a console will pop up where you can edit and create code, run it, and see the results.
Modules are pieces of pre-built code that you can pull in so you don't have to code certain functions from scratch. You can also make your own modules and then use (and reuse) them in your code. Using modules saves time and energy! Here are some helpful links to learn more about modules.
Using Built-in Modules and Creating Your Own
Community-created Python Libraries
Here are a few examples of commonly used modules.
Broadly speaking, Pandas is designed to help you work with data. The links below will help you get started with Pandas and show you what you can do with it. The first link covers installing Pandas. The second link will walk you through how to use it, step by step.
Beautiful Soup is useful for "scraping" information from a web site. The link below has instructions for how to import this module, examples of projects people have done with it, and a link to the module's source code, in case you want to see how it works.
So, where do you actually write and run Python code? While you can write code in a text editor, like Notepad, there are applications built for coding. These applications, called IDEs, or Integrated Development Environments, have features that make writing code easier. For a general article on IDEs, see the following link. (You may need to create a free account.)
Python IDEs and Code Editor Guide
Specific examples of IDEs you can use with Python: