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Reviews
Synopsis
Provides useful running examples that correlate to the increasingly advanced functions of the Python scripting language, a short language tutorial, and accompanying Python interpreter software. Original. (Advanced). Synopsis
This handbook describes how to use Python, an increasingly popular object-oriented scripting language freely available over the Net. Python is an interpreted language, useful for quick prototyping and simple programs for which C++ is too complex and unwieldy. The Python interpreter is available on most popular UNIX platforms, including Linux, as well as Windows and the Mac. With Python, you can do almost anything you can do with the C or C++ programming languages; but Python is an interpreted language designed for rapid application development and deployment. Python is easy to read and write so that you can accomplish common tasks quickly, but it is also extensible when the complexity of the task requires additional power. Python programs can call C and C++ modules. Python can also be embedded in C and C++ programs. You can use Python with Tk as well, making it an ideal language for prototyping and deploying Graphical User Interfaces (GUI). Python is as easy, or as powerful, as you want it to be. Programming Python is a comprehensive companion to this scripting language. It introduces the language to novice users, but it also contains advanced information about embedding and extending Python for advanced users. The book moves quickly from simple to intermediate to complex tasks. Most of all, Programming Python is practical and full of examples you'll use, including shell tools, database access, rapid development tools, and Internet scripting. The publisher, O'Reilly and Associates
Programming Python is a classic O'Reilly Nutshell Handbook describing the use of the Python programming/scripting language. Python is a popular scripting language freely available over the Net. Like Perl, Python is powerful, but easier to use than a traditional compiler language like C or C++. Although it is used mostly in UNIX environments (including Linux), it is available on Windows and Mac platforms as well. Unlike Perl, Python uses an object-oriented paradigm, making it a particularly useful scripting language for C++ programmers and the Windows/OLE and Mac environments. This book will serve the Python community as our Programming Perl book does for the Perl community. This book complements the online reference material provided with the Python releases. It is endorsed by the creator of Python, Guido van Rossum, who wrote the foreword. The CD-ROM included with the book contains Python 1.3 binaries for most popular UNIX platforms, as well as Linux, Windows, NT, and the Mac. This book is the most comprehensive Python user material available from any publisher. It contains a number of running examples, presented simply at first but becoming more complex as new issues appear. Examples describing Graphical User Interface (GUI) programming use the Tk language. (Tk is usually considered a part of the Tcl scripting language, but is in fact usable with other scripting languages like Perl and Python.) An appendix contains a separate short language tutorial.
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Customer Comments
Average Customer Review:
Number of Reviews: 14
poorly organized introduction to python
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Reviewer:
Patrick Tufts
November 9, 1999
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I thought this would be similar to Programming Perl, both a good introduction to the language *and* a decent reference. Unfortunately, it does neither task well. It fails as a reference because 1) it is poorly organized: information on each concept (printing, for example), is scattered throughout the book; 2) the index is atrocious. There is no way to find the key description of any part of the language using the index, and I often find important concepts in the book that are not in the index. The poor index, combined with the scattered organization, means I'm constantly frustrated when I want to look up some particular element of the language. As an introduction, the book is OK. I would have liked to see some meatier code examples. As another reviewer mentioned, the examples are more about the syntax of the language than actual applications that you might learn from. This is a style point -- if you learn best from large chunks of example code, this is not the book for you. Also, key modules (sys and math, for example) are barely mentioned. --Pat / zippy@cs.brandeis.edu
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Intended for non-programmers.
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Reviewer:
A reader
from Ann Arbor, Michigan
September 7, 1999
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As a professional programmer, I have always been pleased with the quality of O'Reilly titles. Unfortunately, this book was my first disappointment. The tone of the book is that of an introduction intended for non-programmers. In terms of actual hard, factual information, this book leaves a lot to be desired. I would perhaps recommend it to anyone needing to learn Python with no other programming experience, but definitely not to anyone else.
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Nutshell? What kind of tree was that?
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Reviewer:
A reader
from New Mexico
August 22, 1999
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Okay...for the hard-core, knowledgeable programmer, this is book will be annoying--it takes you through the basics of programming, OOP and so on. The sagacious hacker will know all of these things. Good for you. For the rest of us, this book is a God-send. I, for one, am a failed programmer--I've poked at C, C++, VBA, VB...all to no avail. It was all a tad too confusing for me. Programming Python, however, showed me how this all works and--added to Learning Python and the Python Pocket Reference--I'm set. There may be some other small features not included in these books, but I'll worry about them when I get there. For those of you that are already there--why are you using Python in the first place?
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A good introduction, but not a reference
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Reviewer:
Martin Pool (martinp@mincom.com)
from Brisbane, Australia
July 1, 1999
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A good book if you work through it in order to learn the language, but not much good as a reference -- it's quite hard to find information. I'd like to see the Python manuals polished up and printed.
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Great book about Python and programming
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Reviewer:
A reader
from Chicago, IL
April 6, 1999
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This is easily one of the best programming books ever written, and a great introduction to both Python and object oriented programming. As its preface says, it's more of a tutorial than a reference manual, but reference books and manuals can be found elsewhere if desired.
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Poorly organized, poorly indexed, poorly presented Python
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Reviewer:
A reader
from San Jose, California
April 2, 1999
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While I love the language and was hungry for documentation this wasn't it. The docs that come with the language are easier to follow. As an earlier reviewer points out, you can't find what you need when you need it. A 900 page book with a 14 page index isn't much of a reference manual.
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Should be called "Learning Python", not "PROGRAMMING Python"
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Reviewer:
bfulgham@xpsystems.com
from Southern California, USA
March 23, 1999
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When I saw the title of this book, I was anticipating something along the line of ORA's excellent "Programming Perl". "Programming Perl" is a great reference that catalogs language features and programming idioms in a concise, easy -to-find manner. "Programming Python" leaves much to be desired. While it is an excellent tutorial introduction, it is not of the same caliber as my well-worn copy of "Programming Perl". It is designed to be read through, not used for reference. It is exceedingly hard to locate information in a hurry, and many language features were not even documented any place I could find (for instance, class destructors). A good book, but a misleading title.
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Python rocks!
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Reviewer:
Jay Glascoe <jglascoe@jay.giss.nasa.gov>
from New York, NY
February 4, 1999
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Fine book, fine author. Prior to reading Mark's book, I had many difficulties with even the most basic OO concepts. Not only did Mark teach me Python, he also made OOP as crystalline as possible. Highly recommended reading for all hackers.
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