Other than being familiar with programming in general, no particular specialist knowledge is expected in order to be able to take advantage of this book.

Odoo is built using Python, so it is a good idea to have a sound knowledge of the language. We also choose to run Odoo in an Ubuntu host (a popular cloud hosting option) and will do some work on the command line, so some familiarity will be beneficial.

To get the most out of this book, we recommend that you find complementary readings on the Python programming language, Ubuntu/Debian Linux operating system, and the PostgreSQL database.

Although we will run Odoo in an Ubuntu host, we will also provide guidance on how to set up our development environment in a Windows system with the help of VirtualBox. Of course, working from an Ubuntu/Debian system is also a possibility.

All the required software is freely available, and instructions on where to find it will be given.