Thinking in Python
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Bruce Eckel's new free Python book uses Claude heavily to refine content and formatting.
Bruce Eckel has published 'Thinking in Python', a free online book covering Python 3.15+ and spanning 47 chapters across five parts: Foundations, Techniques, Patterns, Functional Programming, and Effects. The book is heavily AI-assisted, using Claude to explore and implement features like automatically interleaving commented output in code listings. Eckel states that without AI the book would not exist. The content is licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 and can be read online or built into an EPUB from the GitHub repository.
What commenters are saying
Commenters note Eckel's 'Thinking in' series shaped a generation of programmers by focusing on mental models. The Python version draws nostalgia from readers who learned Java and C++ from his earlier books. Some debate the AI-assisted approach: one camp argues that unedited AI output produces low-information, verbose text, while others differentiate between slop and heavily revised content like this book. Practical tips include cloning the repo and running `make epub` for Kindle reading. A few commenters raise concerns about targeting unreleased Python 3.15.