Average Customer Review:  
| Best introductory Python book | |
A very fine book about Python!
It's for beginners but describes and teaches also up-to-date Python features new in
Python 2.2. And the best of it all, there are ten projects which were a pleasure to
play with. I hope Apress is going to publish more Python books of this quality!
| Learn Python 2.2 and discover many new features | |
I have most of the published python books and have been using python for over a year now. The language is a revalation in its simplicity and extensiveness.This book covers how to use python. The first few chapters introduce the language for beginners but I recommend experienced programmers to glance at the pages for insights into what for me were unknown ways of using python. The whole book just seems to add knowledge and provide additional programming power. There is a chapter covering the 'magic' functions (those functions that are build into library functions and are used behinds the scenes) and when you should use these functions to extend the power of python. Another chapter covers how to build into the code self testing routines so that if you modify any functions you can easily test that function. There is a chapter on how to understand library modules, how to use the built in documentation to find out quickly what a particular library or class will do. I spend only a small fraction of my time writing software at work (a little more at home for pleasure) and hence I do not hav the time to plough through the vast amount of documentation that exists for python so I read this book in small doses and each time find out something about the language (especially 2.2) that I did not know before. There is also very good advice on how to write good software. I am thinking of requiring all my programming staff (those who use python anyway) to stop work and spend a couple of days reading and making notes from this book.
| Best Python book out there | |
We've used Python for some time at work, building numerous successful yet niche applications. As my interest in Python grew, I decided to pick up a few books in an effort to expand my breadth of knowledge on the subject. This book caught my eye, in large part due to the numerous projects the author provides as learning examples, including a P2P app, game, Web-based file editor, and several other cool apps. These projects have taught me sooo much about the language, not to mention they were actually (gasp) fun to create. I have to say that this is the most interesting and useful Python book out there, and wish other publishers followed a similar format.
|
