HackerReposA FIELD GUIDE TO OPEN SOURCE
ProSponsor the shelf♧ 0
← Back to top all-time
gregmalcolm
python_koans
Python2011–2026
gregmalcolm / python_koans

python_koans

Python Koans - Learn Python through TDD

Learning & Reference
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
12Distinct people
12Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
5.1KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Python Koans - Learn Python through TDD

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 11:56:56 AM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year12 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2011-07-13 02:15:58 UTC to 2026-06-30 19:56:34 UTC.

01232011-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments20112012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 0 submissions, 3 comments2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 1 submissions, 2 comments2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments20182019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 1 submissions, 1 comments. Incomplete calendar period.2026*

* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20112011-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20122012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC303
20132013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC312
20142014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20152015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20162016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20172017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20252025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
2026 (partial)2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC211

What Hacker News says

12 sources
alecdbrooks·Jun 1, 2013
Other functional language koans: * https://github.com/functional-koans/clojure-koans * https://github.com/HaskVan/HaskellKoans * https://github.com/rubbish/scala-koans Other interpreted language koans: * https://github.com/bittersweetryan/ColdFusion-Koans * https://github.com/matyb/java-koans * https://github.com/liammclennan/JavaScript-Koans * https://github.com/midpeter444/mybatis-koans (In Java, but for the library MyBatis 3) * https://github.com/kikito/lua_missions * https://github.com/forcedotcom/PerlKoans * https://github.com/TorontoPHPSoftwareCraftsmanship/PHPUnit-K... * https://github.com/gregmalcolm/python_koans * https://github.com/DASpringate/Rkoans * https://github.com/neo/ruby_koans * https://github.com/brysztofor/koans (Ruby on Rails koans) Other language koans: * https://github.com/marcinbunsch/bash_koans * https://github.c
Read the rest
om/paytonrules/PointerKoan (C pointers) * https://github.com/CoryFoy/DotNetKoans * https://github.com/torbjoernk/CppKoans * https://github.com/liammclennan/coffeescript-koans * https://github.com/patrickgombert/erlang-koans * https://github.com/VictorDenisov/go_koans * https://github.com/cdarwin/go-koans * https://github.com/cjudd/groovy_koans * https://github.com/joecannatti/Objective-C-Koans Other programming or technical koans: * http://stevelosh.com/blog/2013/04/git-koans/ * https://github.com/chicagoruby/MongoDB_Koans * http://blog.sanctum.geek.nz/vim-koans/ (For any aspiring koan writers, Arc, Rust, and Scheme lack koans. And PHP's and R's are pretty sparse.)
In Lisp Koans by Google
JulianWasTaken·Aug 26, 2012
So, just for a bit of (opinionated) guidance, since the question of "What book should I read to learn Python itself" will never go away, if you are a beginner, I would recommend Zed Shaw's book there, or if you try it and don't like its style (or want to compliment it), then Downey's How to Think Like a Computer Scientist is also pretty good. If you're already coming from some other language, or would classify yourself as something other than a beginner, the best resource is the official tutorial (http://docs.python.org/tut), which isn't listed on that list. Also since it comes up so often, Dive Into Python is not a resource that I would recommend. From what I've seen, Google's video series is mediocre, and an OK intro if books are not for you. The recent Udacity course hasn't been too great from the small samples I've seen from it either
Read the rest
, but I can't say that's enough to say "skip it" conclusively. I also was recently made aware of KOANS for Python (https://github.com/gregmalcolm/python_koans) which, though I haven't gone through it, I'd very much agree with ideologically as a good beginner's resource to complement a book.
In Best Open Python Books

MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME

A few shortcuts

/
Search the collection
?
Open this guide
Esc
Close dialogs and navigation

Your saved repositories and interests stay in this browser.