“Python Playground” (http://tinyurl.com/odwk23r) from No Starch Press, $29.95, 352 pp., November 2015) isn't just another introduction to the Python programming language. This is a collection of 14 complex and compelling projects designed to challenge anyone with moderate experience with Python, from programmers who want to tinker with computers and electronics to those who just find the workday programming world a bit dull.

The projects in “Python Playground” will have readers using OpenGL and popular Python libraries like numpy, matplotlib, and pygame to create things like:

° Spirograph patterns and a Conway's Game of Life simulation;

° Realistic music with overtones, using the Karplus-Strong algorithm;

° ASCII art, photomosaics, and autostereograms (a 2D image designed to create the illusion of a 3D picture);

° Particle system simulation of a fireworks display;

° A weather monitor built with a Raspberry Pi;

° \An Arduino-powered laser light show.

“Python Playground” is now available online. It ha 352 pages and costs US$29.95. Author Mahesh Venkitachalam is a software engineer with two decades of programming experience. He has nurtured a passion for technology since the eighth grade, which he channels into his popular electronics and programming blog, electronut.in.