Book Recomendations

[Ira Solomon]

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

Thanks

Ira

 

[Ryan M.]

I am an experienced programmer (40 years).  I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality.  I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

Thanks

Ira

I would recommend checking out the official Python tutorial -
http://docs.python.org/tut/ - it has some valuable information, and is
always kept up to date.

I'm haven't looked at any Python books (yet), so I can't provide any
recommendations there.

HTH.

 

[Tro]

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

The official tutorial is required reading. After that, Dive Into Python
(http://diveintopython.org/).

Cheers,
Tro

 

[Micah Cowan]

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

I have found the official documentation available at python.org
(including both the tutorial and references) to be very
high-quality.

 

[Jeff Schwab]

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

Python In A Nutshell:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pythonian2/

Here's a previous discussion of books for newbies, but I gave my
recommendations for other experienced programmers; be forwarned that I'm
not quite as experienced as you appear to be.
http://www.nabble.com/newbie-in-python-td15608979.html#nabble.star15617714-1

 

[subeen]

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

Thanks

Ira

I have found that 'Dive into Python' is a good book for people who
have experience with other languages. It's available free here:
http://www.diveintopython.org/

regards,
Subeen
http://love-python.blogspot.com/

 

[Paddy]

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

Thanks

Ira

Hi Ira,
Get Python installed on your machine - I would suggest the latest 2.5
release then either start up idle (or pythonwin if you have that on
windows), or just type python at a command line prompt to get you to
pythons shell.

The Python shell together with the official tutorial is a great way to
learn Python.

If you start to flag, then their are a few videos of pre-teen kids
learning Python here:
http://showmedo.com/videos/python?topic=beginner_programming
If they can learn it .... ;-)

Welcome to Python, have fun!

- Paddy.

 

[js]

I wonder why nobody mension Python Cookbook yet.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pythoncook2/
Web version: http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/

and Python Standard Library
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pythonsl/
http://effbot.org/zone/librarybook-index.htm

 

[David Cook]

Python In A Nutshell:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pythonian2/

Another vote for the Nutshell book, which I find a very useful and practical
book.

I never found the "Dive in" book useful.

Dave Cook

 

[Tommy Nordgren]

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

Thanks

Ira

I would recommend "Programming Python", by Mark Lutz, from O'Reillys

 

[Ken Dere]

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

Thanks

Ira

I started off with Fortran 6X so I have been in the business about as long.
Do just about everything now in Python.

I liked Learning Python


Ken D.

 

[Jeff Schwab]

Because cookbooks are not supposed to be language introductions. They
are collections of non-obvious techniques, for use by people already
familiar with a core language and its standard libraries. Python in
particular offers a lot for traditional programmers to wrap their minds
around before considering cookbooks; Programming Python, for example,
purports to help programmers think Pythonically, and probably belongs
chronologically between the introductory books and the cookbooks.

Many programmers coming from different languages tend (at first) to
write code that makes experienced Pythonistas cringe. Effective use of
the language depends on an understanding of its extremely dynamic
nature, which can be tough to grasp for those of us coming from compiled
language backgrounds. It seems to me, based purely on discussions seen
in comp.lang.python, that even folks coming from relatively dynamic
languages like Lisp often underestimate the level of run-time
indirection provided by Python. One of the neat things about the
Nutshell book is that it shows how even the process of resolving object
attributes is potentially complicated, and how the new 'type' metaclass
helps to at least make the process more consistent than with old-style
objects.

Experienced programmers first have to learn that an expression like
"a.x" means something very different in Python from what it means
elsewhere; then, they can begin leveraging these language features to do
the sorts of things illustrated in the cookbooks.

 

[Micah Cowan]

I would recommend "Programming Python", by Mark Lutz, from O'Reillys

Programming Python assumes you already have a working knowledge of
basic Python programming (that is, it assumes you've read Learning
Python).

 

[David Lees]

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

Thanks

Ira

Different people have different learning styles. Two books I like are
Wesley Chun's Core Python Programming (2nd edition) and Mangnus
Hetland's Beginning Python. Have fun with Python. I discovered it
about 7 years ago, use it by choice for my intermittent programming
requirements and find it a pleasure to use. Also this group is very
helpful.

(My programming experience also goes back to Algol, Basic and assembler
circa 1965. Which makes me middle aged, but not necessarily experienced
)

David

 

[rockingred]

The "Python Forum" has a good set of selections in their "General
Forum" section:

http://python-forum.org/pythonforum...sid=9b04b79b60f9afb56e4237856910d354&start=20

 

[apatheticagnostic]

Another vote for the Nutshell book, which I find a very useful and practical
book.

I never found the "Dive in" book useful.

Dave Cook

Here's another vote for Python in a Nutshell. If you have a lot of
experience with other languages, it should be all you need to get up
to speed with python quickly.