Python Book

[David Rasmussen]

What is the best book for Python newbies (seasoned programmer in other
languages)?

/David

 

[Bruno Desthuilliers]

David Rasmussen a écrit :

What is the best book for Python newbies (seasoned programmer in other
languages)?

I don't know if it's the "best", but a DiveIntoPython/PythonCookbook
combo may be a good choice.

 

[Stuart McGraw]

David Beasley's Essential Python (New Riders). It's a little dated
now (covers only up to version 2.2) but lucid, consise, well organized.
It restricts itself to Python's syntax and semantics and does not waste
time explaining basic programming concepts.

I made several attempts to learn Python but found the Python docs
pretty poor, and the tutorial books I looked at were incredibly ponderous
and slow. It wasn't until I got Beasley's book that I could actual find
info effectively enough to start actually writing Python code. I still most
often refer to it in preference to the Python docs.

 

[Stuart McGraw]

David Beasley's Essential Python (New Riders). It's a little dated
now (covers only up to version 2.2) [...]

Oops, that should be "Beazley", "Python Essential Reference", and
version 2.1.

 

[calad.sigilon]

Have you tried the tutorial on python.org? It's pretty good, even for
seasoned programmers.

Calad Sigilon

 

[Kent Johnson]

What is the best book for Python newbies (seasoned programmer in other
languages)?

I like Learning Python. Python in a Nutshell is good if you want something brief.

Kent

 

[Larry Bates]

The ones that were best for me:

-Python 2.1 Bible (Dave Brueck and Stephen Tanner)
(dated but good to learn)

-Python Cookbook (Alex Martelli, Anna Martelli
Ravenscroft & David Ascher)

If you write for Windows:
Python Programming on Win32 (Mark Hammond & Andy
Robinson)

Larry Bates

 

[sjmsoft]

What is the best book for Python newbies (seasoned programmer in other
languages)?

/David

A couple of years ago I was in the same boat you're in now. I learned
from _Python in a Nutshell_ by Alex Martelli and still use it as my
main reference. (It only covers up to version 2.2 so a new edition
would be most welcome.) I also use the on-line Python docs and I
second Larry Bates' comments re. the cookbook and the Windows book,
both of which I also use occasionally.

-- Steve

 

[Magnus Lycka]

What is the best book for Python newbies (seasoned programmer in other
languages)?

I think most of the best books have been mentioned, but I thought
that I'd add some comments. After all, different people have different
ways of learning, and like different book styles.

Both Martelli's "Python in a Nutshell" and Beazley's "Python Essential
Reference" are mainly reference books. In a way, the standard library
manual contains the same information, but Martelli's and Beazley's
books explain things much better, and at least Martelli goes into a
number of things outside the standard library. They have brief Python
tutorials, but don't go into things like writing any larger programs
involving things from several libraries etc. They are excellent if you
want a high information density.

The Python Cookbook mainly contains stuff from the Python Cookbook web
site, but it's carefully selected, well edited (although a redundant
line of code in my recipe remains) and in each chapter there is an
initial discussion which is interesting. It's a great source of good
Python code examples with explanations.

If you prefer books that are more in Tutorial style, you might want
to look at Dive Into Python (try it out in the web version first) or
Magnus Hetland's new book (which is basically an update of his previous
book with a different title.) I think the Python 2.1 Bible was good
too, but it's a bit old by now.

Then there are a lot of other books that are more narrow in scope, like
Holden's Web Programming book, Ascher & Robinson's Windows book etc,
but most of them are a few years old, and things change rapidly when
it comes to libraries and tools in various niches. Many of these books
are still very good and useful, but it takes some familarity with the
Python world to know what to use in these books, and what to find more
current information for.

I hope you'll have a great time with Python!

 

[Dennis Lee Bieber]

If you prefer books that are more in Tutorial style, you might want
to look at Dive Into Python (try it out in the web version first) or

I think it's even included in the help system for ActiveState's
PythonWin release...
--