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Reviews
Amazon.com
The authors of Learning Python show you enough essentials of the Python scripting language to enable you to begin solving problems right away, then reveal more powerful aspects of the language one at a time. This approach is sure to appeal to programmers and system administrators who have urgent problems and a preference for learning by semi-guided experimentation. First off, Learning Python shows the relationships among Python scripts and their interpreter (in a mostly platform-neutral way). Then, the authors address the mechanics of the language itself, providing illustrations of how Python conceives of numbers, strings, and other objects as well as the operators you use to work with them. Dictionaries, lists, tuples, and other data structures specific to Python receive plenty of attention including complete examples. Authors Mark Lutz and David Ascher build on that fundamental information in their discussions of functions and modules, which evolve into coverage of namespaces, classes, and the object-oriented aspects of Python programming. There's also information on creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for Python applications with Tkinter. In addition to its careful expository prose, Learning Python includes exercises that both test your Python skills and help reveal more elusive truths about the language. Book Description
Learning Python is an introduction to the increasingly popular Python programming language -- an interpreted, interactive, object- oriented, and portable scripting language. This book thoroughly introduces the elements of Python: types, operators, statements, functions, modules, and exceptions. It also demonstrates how to perform common programming tasks and write real applications. Synopsis
"Learning Python" is an introduction to the increasingly popular Python programming language--an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented, and portable scripting language. This book thoroughly introduces the elements of Python. It also demonstrates how to perform common programming tasks and write real applications.
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Customer Comments
Average Customer Review:
Number of Reviews: 14
Excellent introduction to Python
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Reviewer:
Neil
from Tokyo
November 22, 1999
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I believe this is an excellent book for learning Python. The author's style is flowing and smooth, the examples well-thought-out, and he makes it really easy to pick up Python. Compared to Programming Perl (the camel book) which is dense and heavily syntax-oriented making you feel like you're wading through syrup, this book was a pleasure to read. Unreserved recommendation.
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Good Beginner Language
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Reviewer:
Ian M (eean@iname.com)
from Columbia, Missouri, USA
November 8, 1999
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I had no programming experience, and though I was worried at first to the many references to the C language it turned out to be an easy to follow book.
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Excellent for any beginner
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Reviewer:
H. Aurag
from Montreal, Canada
November 2, 1999
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This book is simply excellent for any beginner. I had no coding experience whatsoever and I could still learn a lot from this book and do things like scientific computing and even beginning a software project. Of course, python is an easy language some would say. Nevertheless, I truly believe this is a must have for anyone who like me doesn't know about prgramming and wants to learn to use an easy language that could do a lot! Kudos for the creator of the language and the authors of this book. In no time, you will be ble to programm something useful.
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The best introductory programming book I've read!
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Reviewer:
Ken Seehof (kens@sightreader.com)
from Boise, ID
October 5, 1999
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Excellent for beginning programmers. Very clear, light reading. Nice sense of humor. Even for advanced programmers (who are new to python), I recommend "Learning Python " instead of "Programming Python" because it is better organized and takes up less shelf space.
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Fair introduction to Python for an experienced programmer
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Reviewer:
Maksim Khrapov <maksim@mail.utexas.edu>
from Austin, Texas
October 4, 1999
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First off I would like to make a distinction between the Python programming language and this particular introduction to it. Python is a great language and you will enjoy programming in it. This is probably the source of excitement in reviews on this page. Because the book, unfortunately, has a number of flaws. The tradition of O'Reilly Perl books has been not only to teach you the syntax of Perl, but also to introduce programming techniques and ideas how to make best use of the language features. This Python book scores zero on these points. It focuses on syntax exclusively and this makes it unsuitable for an absolute beginner. The examples are unimaginative. The authors show you how to write correct code for using "dictionaries", but not how to USE "dictionaries". A Perl book author would throw in a program that uses a "hash" to search for duplicate data entries (as they did). Besides, the flow of the book is uneven. Functions and classes are discussed at length, but built-in data types and exceptions are looked at only briefly. All this is really unfortunate because there are not very many Python books on the market and it is a very good language. Overall, I think, this book is best for experienced programmers who already know their CS, have to get up to speed with Python very quickly, have $30 to waste, and really love to own O'Reilly books. The rest might be better off by printing out the Python tutorial.
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Now you can make Java fun
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Reviewer:
jrichards@tgix.com
from USA
September 20, 1999
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JPython is a JVM port of Python. It provides Java with generic capabilities similar to C++ templates and Ada generics, something I have been missing from the language itself [sure you can use intefaces, but they're not the same]. I knew very little about Python before reading this book, however I had read in Dr Dobbs about the potential of JPython for automating Java testing and decided to give the language a once over. I am very glad I did. A number of my fellow developers have started using JPython now and I know that it has been saving me a lot of time. Excellent reading, especially if your main interest is in picking up enough [realistic] knowledge about Python to use JPython effectively in simplifying many commonly tedious Java tasks [such as testing].
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Excellent (as long as you can already program)
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Reviewer:
A reader
from Jackson, MS
July 25, 1999
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I already knew C++ (and a little of other languages), so this was not a problem for me, but the book does assume that you already understand most basic programming concepts (and if you don't understand Object-Oriented programming you might have a little trouble at first, though they do give a good explanation). Of course, I can't really tell that part, just my impression. If you can do something as trivial as VB, I guess you'll be fine. Other than that, this is an EXCELLENT book. I read though it in about 3 days, and it was very effective. For example, the day after I finished, I programmed a Python script for work that used COM, despite never having programmed anything in Windows before let alone used COM). It was that good. And it doesn't have an OS-bias (despite that little bit on COM), which is good and really fits the language.
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Beautifully organized; blows "Learning Perl" away
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Reviewer:
A reader
from Seattle, WA
July 13, 1999
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This is a miraculously good book. The writing is crystal-clear and the examples are well-chosen. Best of all, the book's organization is just about perfect. I knew a smidgen of Python before starting this book, but "Learning Python" helped me understand and extend what I already knew. So much has clicked into place now. I'm amazed that anyone would prefer "Learning Perl" to this book. Perhaps that reader was holding a grudge about "Programming Python" -- admittedly, not the best book in the world. :-) While the first edition of "Learning Perl" was nicely written, the second edition was an absolute mess. Schwartz and Christiansen tried to shoehorn too much new information into the old chapter organization, and the result was a nasty tangled mass of a book. I wouldn't wish "Learning Perl" on anybody. Those Perl guys have a lot to learn from "Learning Python". Want to learn a programming language? Start with "Learning Python"!
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