suggestions between these two books

[John Salerno]

Hi all. I'm fairly new to programming and I thought I'd like to try
Python. I'm trying to decide between these two books:

Learning Python (O'Reilly)
Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional (APress)

and I was hoping you might have some suggestions. LP seems to be a good
intro, but the other was published only a month ago and covers 2.4. So
one question would be, is 2.2 different enough from 2.4 to warrant
getting the newer book for that reason?

I might end up getting both eventually, but to start with I'm not sure
which to choose.

Thanks!

 

[John Salerno]

Correction: LP covers 2.3. The other covers 2.4.

 

[Curt Finch]

http://software.itmanagersjournal.com/software/05/10/25/1631220.shtml?tid=12
has a good article that talks about why python rocks

 

[rdsteph]

Both of these books are great. Youc an't go wrong with either one.

The Beginning Python has an itroduction to the language and then also
some projects. Learning Python doens't have projects but is a great
introduction to the language.

Ron

 

[rpdooling]

Many different opinions on books. But if you are learning programming
and learning Python, you can't beat the online book: How To Think Like
A Computer Scientist: Learning Pythong

http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/thinkCSpy/

It's concise and well-written.

rd

 

[John Salerno]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I should mention that I misspoke
when I said I'm new to programming. I've actually been learning C# for
the past few months, and I'm fairly familiar with a lot of programming
basics. I just wanted to make sure no one recommended an "Expert" level
book!

Basically I'd like an intro to the Python language/syntax. I don't
necessarily need to know how everything works under the hood just yet.
It seems Learning Python might be good for that. I get the feeling that
Beginning Python starts out with the basics but quickly escalates.

 

[Micah Elliott]

Hi all. I'm fairly new to programming and I thought I'd like to try
Python. I'm trying to decide between these two books:

Learning Python (O'Reilly)
Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional (APress)

Consider first reading the tutorial. If you prefer to read from paper
there is a PDF version
<http://www.python.org/doc/2.4.2/download.html>.

There is also the "Python in a Nutshell" book which only covers Python
2.2 but has a very concise language intro, and will become an
invaluable reference. I wish I had started with this book; then I
wouldn't have needed to buy some of the others.

 

[hrh1818]

I suggest you widen your search and you take a look at Chris Fehily's
Python book. It is one of Peachpit Press's Visual Quickstart Guide
books. The reason I suggest this book is it provides a lot more short
examples of basic Python code than the two in your list.

Howard

 

[Alex Martelli]

Consider first reading the tutorial. If you prefer to read from paper
there is a PDF version
<http://www.python.org/doc/2.4.2/download.html>.

....but both of the quoted books have added value.

Well, I don't actually KNOW that about the APress one, since my good
friend Magnus Hetland didn't think of sending me a review copy (hint,
hint, Magnus, if you want any more recommendations;-), but its
predecessor "Pratical Python" was good indeed.

There is also the "Python in a Nutshell" book which only covers Python
2.2 but has a very concise language intro, and will become an
invaluable reference. I wish I had started with this book; then I
wouldn't have needed to buy some of the others.

Why, thanks! I'm working on a new edition to cover 2.3 and 2.4 (and
perhaps 2.5 by the time I'll be done, as progress is being quite slow --
as uber technical lead at Google, I'm pretty busy these days!-), but I
do agree that the current edition is still quite useful.


Alex