Readability PDF: <a href="http://sumukh.me/GFM5+" rel="nofollow">http://sumukh.me/GFM5+</a><p>Site seems to be down (PDF posted above) but the link to the lessons is a good link to keep handy.<p>Link to class: <a href="http://code.google.com/edu/languages/google-python-class/introduction.html" rel="nofollow">http://code.google.com/edu/languages/google-python-class/int...</a>
Link to video 1: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKTZoB2Vjuk" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKTZoB2Vjuk</a>
That's how I started with python. Even year after that I sometimes went to that site for reference for some specific things I knew I'd find there. If someone knows how to program this is the resource I recommend for starting with python. It's easy, it's short, it's entertaining (some of the tasks) and it gives pretty nice overview.
These videos were my first "Aha!" with programming, I loved them!<p>I've shared it with many who were starting to program and they have proved to be very helpful in understanding, not only python but some of the basics of programming and what can be done with it.
Awesome for switching between languages, but not so good for absolute beginners. I forwarded this to a PhD biologist friend who wants to learn the basics of programming (to possibly apply to the bioinformatics field), and she said "...what?!"