the one python book

[dhr]

newbie question:

Is there a 'K&R" type of Python book? The book that you'd better have on
your shelf if you are going into Python?

 

[markacy]

newbie question:

Is there a 'K&R" type of Python book? The book that you'd better have on
your shelf if you are going into Python?

There are actually two of them:

"How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python" by
Allen B. Downey, Jeffrey Elkner and Chris Meyers
http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/thinkCSpy/

and

"Dive Into Python" by Mark Pilgrim
http://diveintopython.org/toc/index.html

Hope this helps

Cheers and good luck,
Marek

 

[Aahz]

newbie question:

Is there a 'K&R" type of Python book? The book that you'd better have on
your shelf if you are going into Python?

There really aren't any, assuming you're comfortable reading web-based
material. If it's important to you to have a reference book, probably
_Python in a Nutshell_ would be best. If you're looking for a tutorial,
I'll plug my own _Python for Dummies_. ;-)

 

[O.R.Senthil Kumaran]

newbie question:
Official Python Tutorial and all Library reference document is somewhat
similar to K&R for C. You cannot expect the same kind of book, although a
variety of good books are available in Python.

Depending on your level there are lot of good books available in Python.
Go to www.python.org Beginners Tutorials and take up any of the Book for
Programmers and Non Programmers list.
Read more than one book and know for yourself as which one you will find it
useful.

Btw, do not miss to read Official Python Tutorial written by Guido.

 

[BartlebyScrivener]

newbie question:

Is there a 'K&R" type of Python book? The book that you'd better have on
your shelf if you are going into Python?

I second the comment about the Official Python Tutorial, however you
did say, "on the shelf" in which case I would recommend:

Python Essential Reference, David Beazley, 3rd edition Feb 2006
great, esp. if you already know some other programming language.

http://tinyurl.com/38f5mh

rd

 

[Neil Cerutti]

newbie question:

Is there a 'K&R" type of Python book? The book that you'd
better have on your shelf if you are going into Python?

C is such a small language that the same slim volume can be both
a great tutorial and an awesome language reference.

With Python, you won't find anything like that. Python is too
huge.

So get used to the idea of needing several books.

 

[Michael Tobis]

With Python, you won't find anything like that. Python is too
huge.

That's silly. Python is small in the sense that C is small. The Python
standard library is probably much bigger than the C standard library,
but Kernghan and Richie don't cover it.

K&R is a unique book. I have never seen anything comparable for any
language. The closest Python equivalent is the official docs:

http://docs.python.org/

I think the core Python bookshelf is:

Learning Python (Lutxz & Ascher) and/or
Dive Into Python (Pilgrim) for tutorial

Python in a Nutshell (Martelli) AND
Python Essential Reference (Beazley) for reference

The latter two books are not perfect (both indexes are infuriating)
but I usually find that I can find what I am looking for in one or the
other.

Like most people I eventually plan to read Moby Dick, War and Peace,
and Lutz's Programming Python. Maybe when I retire.

mt

 

[Neil Cerutti]

That's silly. Python is small in the sense that C is small.

What way of measuring makes that true?

The Python standard library is probably much bigger than the C
standard library, but Kernghan and Richie don't cover it.

The complete standard library, plus some Unix-centered stuff is
covered in K&R. Python compares closely to C++ in the scope of
its built-in features.

K&R is a unique book. I have never seen anything comparable for
any language.

That's partly because C is so small, though. Also Kernighan is a
good technical writer. I'm not sure of Ritchie's contribution, as
I haven't read any other books he wrote.

The closest Python equivalent is the official docs:

http://docs.python.org/

I think the core Python bookshelf is:

Learning Python (Lutxz & Ascher) and/or
Dive Into Python (Pilgrim) for tutorial

Python in a Nutshell (Martelli) AND
Python Essential Reference (Beazley) for reference

The latter two books are not perfect (both indexes are
infuriating) but I usually find that I can find what I am
looking for in one or the other.

That's an excellent list.

Like most people I eventually plan to read Moby Dick, War and
Peace, and Lutz's Programming Python. Maybe when I retire.

Don't forget Rarnaby Budge, by Charles Dikkens, the well known
Dutch author.

 

[kyosohma]

newbie question:

Is there a 'K&R" type of Python book? The book that you'd better have on
your shelf if you are going into Python?

I would recommend "Programming Python 3rd Ed." by Lutz or "Core Python
Programming" by Chun. Lutz has more examples than Chun, but Chun has
lots of good information about the language's history. Both authors
share interesting facts about the language, some of which are pretty
obscure. Lutz has good case studies though, so it may be slightly more
valuable.

Mike

 

[marduk]

Like most people I eventually plan to read Moby Dick, War and Peace,
and Lutz's Programming Python. Maybe when I retire.

LOL. Lutz's Programming Python is actually how I learned Python.

 

[Paul Rubin]

Is there a 'K&R" type of Python book? The book that you'd better have on
your shelf if you are going into Python?

I don't think so, at least not if you are starting Python with
experience in other languages. There are some books that are useful
but none are really crucial. It's enough to just read the online
documentation, which will let you transfer your experience onto
Python, and then hang out here on clpy to soak up Python culture.

If you're less experienced in programming but not a complete beginner,
Dive Into Python looks pretty good and Python in a Nutshell also is
supposed to be excellent. If you're a complete beginner, I'm not sure
what to suggest.

 

[rgrdev]

That's silly. Python is small in the sense that C is small. The Python
standard library is probably much bigger than the C standard library,
but Kernghan and Richie don't cover it.

K&R is a unique book. I have never seen anything comparable for any

That's very true.

language. The closest Python equivalent is the official docs:

http://docs.python.org/

I think the core Python bookshelf is:

Learning Python (Lutxz & Ascher) and/or
Dive Into Python (Pilgrim) for tutorial

I can recommend (for a big fat reference at a good price) "Programming
Python" by Mark Lutz from O'Reilly.

Python in a Nutshell (Martelli) AND
Python Essential Reference (Beazley) for reference

The latter two books are not perfect (both indexes are infuriating)
but I usually find that I can find what I am looking for in one or the
other.

Like most people I eventually plan to read Moby Dick, War and Peace,
and Lutz's Programming Python. Maybe when I retire.

Aha. You heard of it :-;

mt

--

 

[Eric_Dexter]

newbie question:

Is there a 'K&R" type of Python book? The book that you'd better have on
your shelf if you are going into Python?

I thought Python Essential Reference was helpfull but It doesn't work
that well without another book to go with it.. I used the internet
alot o get examples with the book as a reference..

 

[Thorsten Kampe]

* dhr (Sat, 4 Aug 2007 16:23:49 +0300)

Is there a 'K&R" type of Python book? The book that you'd better have on
your shelf if you are going into Python?

For Tutorials STFW but the one and only book is definitely "Python in
a Nutshell" from Alex "Python" Martelli. Get the second edition.

The other book I would go for is the "Python Cookbook" from Martelli
and others.

Thorsten

 

[jehugaleahsa]

newbie question:

Is there a 'K&R" type of Python book? The book that you'd better have on
your shelf if you are going into Python?

Personally, I have two paths for you to take.

If you are a programmer already, then I would recommend that you buy
Python in a Nutshell. It is actually a very concise book for people
who just want to know what the language provides. I would actually
recommend stopping once you get to the library reference and I would
make sure look into classes. After you done with that day-long read, I
would get your hands on the newest version of "Progamming
Python" (O'Reilly). It has a lot of practical applications for Python
and it is *not* a one-day read. It is enormous and it skips around a
lot. I like it because it is doesn't necessarily stick to one topic so
you pick up a lot of tricks along the way. It gets you started off
learning some sweet c-style OS functions. If you don't know just about
everything about Python by the end of that book, I would be very
surprised.

BTW, almost all of the Nutshell books have been fabulous. They kind of
put it out there for you to suck up like a vacuum. The only failure in
my opinion is the PHP nutshell . . . Since you even know hwo K&R (good
job) is, then I assume you know how to program and are ready to skip
all the crap.

Best of luck,
Travis

 

[vasudevram]

Python in a Nutshell, the Python Cookbook and Programming Python are
all very good, IMO. Programming Python comes with a CD of all the
source code in the book (at least the 2nd edition did, as well as
Python language - this can save you some time keying in the examples.
Of course, many of the O'Reilly books (and all 3 of these are from
O'Reilly) have links to downloadable source code from them. Just
Google for the name of the book, then in the results, hit the
appropriate link to the O'Reilly site for the book, and look down the
page for the link to the examples' source.

Or (for Programming Python):

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/python2/
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/python3/

Vasudev
============================================================
"1 person in 100 understand binary. The other 11 don't."
Vasudev Ram
Biz site: http://www.dancingbison.com
Blog: http://jugad.livejournal.com
PDF creation/construction toolkit:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xtopdf
============================================================

 

[Silfheed]

Assuming that you already know that a ton of great stuff is on the
web, I'd also recommend 'Programming Python' and 'Python Cookbook'.
'The Python Book' would have to be the Python book ('Programming
Python', cuz it has a python on the cover and covers the python
language, brilliant!....) It's huge and is full of great scripts and,
most importantly, promotes good coding style. Hopefully they've
updated the index tho, since the 2nd edition has an utterly pathetic
index, tho you can still find what you want pretty quickly with just
the toc.

Python Cookbook is necessary because it covers so many little hidden
secrets of python. The section on dateutil is worth the price of the
book alone.

 

[Dick Moores]

Python in a Nutshell, the Python Cookbook and Programming Python are
all very good, IMO. Programming Python comes with a CD of all the
source code in the book (at least the 2nd edition did, as well as
Python language - this can save you some time keying in the examples.
Of course, many of the O'Reilly books (and all 3 of these are from
O'Reilly) have links to downloadable source code from them. Just
Google for the name of the book, then in the results, hit the
appropriate link to the O'Reilly site for the book, and look down the
page for the link to the examples' source.

Or (for Programming Python):

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/python2/
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/python3/

No CD with 3rd edition, but here are the examples:
<http://examples.oreilly.com/python3/>

Dick Moores

======================================
Bagdad Weather
<http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/IZXX0008_f.html>

 

[Some Other Guy]

K&R is a unique book. I have never seen anything comparable
for any language.

I'd say the definition for the language Scheme is pretty astounding.
The entire language, including semantics, is just 48 pages (R5RS):

http://www.schemers.org/Documents/Standards/R5RS/

Python owes a lot to scheme, so this post is not off topic