Books for programmers

[V]

Hi,

I'm a C++, Java and C programmer, and I'm searching for a (preferably
printed) book that teaches me the "Python idioms", i.e. the "Python
way" of doing something.

Ideally, I'm searching for a book like "Effective C++" or "Effective
Java", that does not lose time teaching what is a class, or a
function, or a loop, but that enters into details and describes not
only the "how", but also the "why".

I read the book "Dive into Python", but I found too schematic and not
enough advanced for my interests.

I generally do not like books from O'Reilly, while I prefere those
from Addison Wesley.

Best regards.

 

[Matt]

Hi,

Hm, depends of course, how good your programming skills are in the
languages you knwo already, but I rely on the book "Beginning Python -
From Novice to Professional" by Magnus Lie Hetland, published by Apress.

And for GUI programming I use the official wxPython book. Both books are
really worth their money and with some programming skills there's no
need to read every line because it's easy to navigate through the books
and find the function/structure/whatever you're looking for.

Best regards,
Matt

 

[V]

Hi Matt,

and thank you very much for your answer.

Hm, depends of course, how good your programming skills are in the
languages you knwo already, but I rely on the book "Beginning Python -
From Novice to Professional" by Magnus Lie Hetland, published by Apress.

I think that I'm interested in a more advance book, ideally one that
talk of the Python gotchas, traps, pitfall, idioms, performance,
stile, and so on. I really like the style used from Scott Meyers in
his Effective C++ series, or from Herb Sutter's Exceptional C++, but
after a quick look I did not find anything similar for Python...

Best regards.

 

[Rick Kwan]

I'm a C++, Java and C programmer, and I'm searching for a (preferably
printed) book that teaches me the "Python idioms", i.e. the "Python
way" of doing something.

Ideally, I'm searching for a book like "Effective C++" or "Effective
Java", that does not lose time teaching what is a class, or a
function, or a loop, but that enters into details and describes not
only the "how", but also the "why".

I like "Core Python Programming", 2nd ed., by Wesley Chun. After a
couple of years of reasonably intense learn-on-my-own Python via
"Learning Python" by Mark Lutz, and other resources, I was shocked how
much I didn't know about Python when I picked up Chun's book. It's
pretty thick (1100 pages?) and covers a lot of basic stuff, but that
can be skimmed pretty quickly. Two large reasons it is so thick: (1)
lots of annotated examples; (2) pretty thorough tables on language
features, some of which I didn't pick up going through
docs.python.com. (Full disclosure: I joined a group of Pythonistas
and got to review the 2nd edition book before it went to press; so a
few of my corrections made it into print. But really, I was blown
away by how much I picked up in the process.)

 

[Mike Driscoll]

Hi Matt,

and thank you very much for your answer.


I think that I'm interested in a more advance book, ideally one that
talk of the Python gotchas, traps, pitfall, idioms, performance,
stile, and so on. I really like the style used from Scott Meyers in
his Effective C++ series, or from Herb Sutter's Exceptional C++, but
after a quick look I did not find anything similar for Python...

Best regards.

I agree with Rick. "Core Python Programming" by Chun is pretty good.
However, Lutz's "Programming Python" is also very good and has a few
big example programs to walk through. You might also find the Python
Cookbooks handy.

There's also "Python Power!" by Matt Telles, which is more of a
reference book although not quite as dry as "Python Essential
Reference" was.

Mike

 

[vasudevram]

I agree with Rick. "Core Python Programming" by Chun is pretty good.
However, Lutz's "Programming Python" is also very good and has a few
big example programs to walk through. You might also find the Python
Cookbooks handy.

There's also "Python Power!" by Matt Telles, which is more of a
reference book although not quite as dry as "Python Essential
Reference" was.

Mike

The Python Cookbook - printed version - I've read it - is a very good
book on the lines of what you're looking for, IMO. If you go by its
title, it might not sound like a book in the Effective Series (I've
read Effective C++ too and agree that its excellent), but it actually
is something quite like Effective C++, since its contributors include
many very good Python developers, including Alex Martelli, David
Ascher, Tim Peters, Raymond Hettinger, to name just a few. Though the
explicit goal of the book is not to be a book about idiomatic Python,
the point is that it ends up being a lot like that, since most of the
contributors write idiomatic Python. For example, one idiom that's
mentioned a lot in the book, is about one of Python's greatest
strengths - "smooth signature-based polymorphism" - with good examples
to substantiate it.

Though not a book, you may also find the Python articles by David
Mertz on IBM developerWorks very useful. Go to http://www.ibm.com/developerworks
and search for either "Charming Python" - the name of his Python
column there - or his name - to get the articles.

HTH
Vasudev

 

[Paul Rubin]

I think that I'm interested in a more advance book, ideally one that
talk of the Python gotchas, traps, pitfall, idioms, performance,
stile, and so on.

I may have missed it but I haven't seen Python in a Nutshell mentioned
in this thread.

 

[Tommy Nordgren]

Hi,

I'm a C++, Java and C programmer, and I'm searching for a (preferably
printed) book that teaches me the "Python idioms", i.e. the "Python
way" of doing something.

Ideally, I'm searching for a book like "Effective C++" or "Effective
Java", that does not lose time teaching what is a class, or a
function, or a loop, but that enters into details and describes not
only the "how", but also the "why".

I read the book "Dive into Python", but I found too schematic and not
enough advanced for my interests.

I generally do not like books from O'Reilly, while I prefere those
from Addison Wesley.

O'reilly REALLY got a good book on Python Programming
Programming Python, (3d ed) by Mark Lutz

 

[Dick Moores]

Do not neglect the 2008 book, "Object-Oriented Programming in
Python", by Goldwasser and Letscher.
<http://www.prenhall.com/goldwasser/>
<http://www.bestbookdeal.com/book/compare/0136150314/>

Dick Moores

 

[Michael H. Goldwasser]

Do not neglect the 2008 book, "Object-Oriented Programming in Python",
by Goldwasser and Letscher.
<http://www.prenhall.com/goldwasser/>
<http://www.bestbookdeal.com/book/compare/0136150314/>

Dick Moores

I'll note that our book is designed as a "CS1" text, and thus intended
primarly for beginners. So its probably not a match for the original
poster who wants a more advanced Python book. That said, I think its
a great book for those with less experience.

+-----------------------------------------------
| Michael Goldwasser
| Associate Professor
| Dept. Mathematics and Computer Science
| Saint Louis University
| 220 North Grand Blvd.
| St. Louis, MO 63103-2007

 

[vasudevram]

I'll note that our book is designed as a "CS1" text, and thus intended
primarly for beginners. So its probably not a match for the original
poster who wants a more advanced Python book. That said, I think its
a great book for those with less experience.

+-----------------------------------------------
| Michael Goldwasser
| Associate Professor
| Dept. Mathematics and Computer Science
| Saint Louis University
| 220 North Grand Blvd.
| St. Louis, MO 63103-2007

Yes, "Python in a Nutshell" (also by Alex Martelli) and "Programming
Python" (by Mark Lutz) are also quite good, as others have said above.

- Vasudev Ram
http://www.dancingbison.com