Python Cookbook

Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner (Absolute Beginner)

Learning Python, Second Edition

Programming Python, Second Edition with CD

Foundations of Python Network Programming (Foundations)

Python

Core Python Programming (2nd Edition)

Format: Paperback
Author: Wesley J. Chun
ReleaseDate: 08 September, 2006
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Rating:

Decent but you can do better
The font in the book is pretty large and there is copious amounts of whitespace that is wasted. The text covers a wide range of topics but doesn't dive very deep. It would be a decent read through for a beginner-to-immediate person but you will need to do much more to round out your Python knowledge.

Easy read to get you up and running
This book I found while skimming my local library and decided to give this little language a try. I've been a big fan of the Core programming books, including the Core Java volumen 1/2 series. I understand that this is an "outdated" book that covers Python 2. 0, the latest being 2. 4. x as of this writing. However, the material covered in this book is still very valuable.

The author does a good job of introducing the language and arguing why Python should grab your interest as an easy to read, easy to maintain, easy to learn language. Several chapters into the book, without writing a single line of code, I could already understand exactly what the code is doing. Python, as taught in this book, sells itself as a very understandable language.

Furthermore, the book provides excercises in the end of each chapter that helps you think in Python when trying to solve the problems. If you've really studied the chapters, the solution to these questions will seem very obvious. As the Python adage goes, "there's only one obvious way of doing it. "

The overall format of this book should be a model for how new languages are treated. Get this book if you want to add Python to your programming tool chest. If you're already familiar with one programming language you'll be writing productive scripts in a matter of hours. If this is your first language, in the order of days!.

Good book for beginning Python programmers
The book clearly explains its purpose, and the author makes his methodologies known in the beginning as to how he will approach teaching the language. Definitely worth 5 stars. His explanations are clear and concise, and it does not contradict the DOCS available on the Python web site. He's both humorous and informative, with a relaxed style of writing.

The code in itself is neatly organized, clearly explained, and overall, it works. He does cover a lot of Python basics, the majority of the book are Python basics. He also covers advanced topics such as network programming, extending Python through C/C++ modules, and multithreading. All of which are important, being able to write distributed applications, writing responsive programs, and being able to extend the language are all equally important. Python's power is clearly explained and logically thought-out in this book. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn Python but are new to programming.

As a side note, I would also take extra time and check out the DOCS themselves. The author is good, but by no means perfect, supplement the book with the DOCS, it'll help you out a lot more. I have plans on writing more complicated web services using Python, and this book will remain beside me as both a reference and a guide when I'm lost.