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Hootshell · home of the HootNotes

Handwritten notebooks that teach.

One subject per notebook, taught the way a patient teacher would: a scene you already know, then the idea, then the code, with the why spelled out every time.

On the shelf now: Think in Patterns · for Python coding interviews

Go to the bookshelfTry a free lesson

Open a notebook

  1. The cover of Think in Patterns

    HootNote No. 1 · for Python coding interviews

    Think in Patterns

    The Python Coding Interview Notebook

    Don’t memorise 340 problems. Learn the 36 patterns behind them.

    In an interview nobody tells you the chapter. Try one of the book’s own stories on the facing page.

    $29₹699Regular price:$39₹999Save 26%Save 30%₹699 in India

    Launch price. The regular price, $39₹999, starts after 31 January 2027.

    See the bookRead 42 pages free

    In an interview nobody tells you the chapter.

    Which pattern is this?

    A sign-maker has a tray of loose plastic letters for the café board. Given the tray and today's message, can she put the message up without buying more letters?

    Story 1 of 8 · from the book’s Mixed practice, page 2250

  2. The next HootNotebeing writtenTell me when it’s out

Leaf through it

Nine pages from Think in Patterns, exactly as printed. Turn them as you would the real thing.

The page "Three ways through this book": what you need before page 1, a table of the three routes, and how the book checks you
The Route B page: who it is for, what you can do after it, the interview toolkit, and the first core problems with their page numbers

p. 13 · Three ways through the book, and what you need before page 1p. 17 · Route B: the 57-problem Interview core, every step with its page

How every HootNote teaches

Start from something you already know, and the new idea has somewhere to land.

  • A scene before the code

    Each idea starts with something everyday: raffle tickets, lockers, a meeting.

  • The why, every time

    Not only the steps, but why they work and the mistakes people make.

  • You do part of the work

    Questions to predict, dry runs to finish and twists to try, with every answer one link away.

  • Checked before it’s printed

    Every solution file runs against its tests before a release.

More HootNotes are being written. Tell me when the next one is out.

Who writes them

Asks why. Proves it. Then finds a better way.

I studied electronics at NIT Goa, automated payment operations at a global bank, and today work as a senior AI/ML engineer and solution architect. Every notebook is written the way I work: ask why a solution works, prove it, then look for a better one.

Ravi Teja K

Made the cut among a million · AI/ML solution architect

Elsewhere: LinkedIn

About Hootshell

And in the margins, the crew

Five small helpers live at the foot of the pages. Each has one job: a tip, a fact, something to remember.

  • Bitthe robotfun facts
  • Luckythe waving catgood luck and fun facts
  • Hootthe owltips
  • Elliethe elephantthings to remember
  • Shellythe turtlePython tricks

Tap one of the crew for a line from the notebooks.