The tech world is growing rapidly, demanding more skilled programmers. Yet, coding is still an intimidating mountain to climb for many, with its complex jargon and seemingly impenetrable logic.

ELDERSBURG — It took twins Molly and Owen Pruitt only a few minutes to learn how to manifest a massive cube of hot obsidian suspended 100 feet in the air above a verdant valley. Then they added fruit.

This updated version of the respected beginner's guide to Python gives newcomers a whirlwind tour of Python 3.9—from object-oriented programming basics to examples involving data analysis, web ...