Learning Python 4e

OK, that's an obvious title, but given the subject matter can you blame me?I've programmed using many languages over the years, from Pascal to BASIC (various dialects) to C (again, more than one dialect) and various shell scripts though in recent years my programming output has dropped to the occasional bit of korn shell and a little bit of COBOL. So this is a toe in the water of something that's a little more recent.My first encounter with Python goes back to the days when I discovered that BitTorrent, the popular peer to peer sharing system, was a Python program but that my own main desktop at the time, namely Miyuki, my Acorn Risc PC, didn't appear to be running a version despite the fact that RISC OS, even back then, had Python capability. At the time, however, I didn't really have much time to muck around with it, especially as RISC OS back then wasn't exactly up to speed with the various libraries needed to get something like BitTorrent going, though I believe that has changed on more recent systems.So what is Python? Well, the opening chapter goes into some detail about what it is. To put it as concisely as I can, it is an interpreted computer programming language, something along the lines of what BASIC used to be but a lot more powerful and elegant than the old FORTRAN spinoff. Because it is interpreted, it can be run immediately though it can suffer with speed issues as the computer has to run the code through the interpreter to make sense of it, but what you have is something that is more readable on the human side than some compiled programs like the aforementioned C or COBOL.I've only just started on this book so I can only give you a rough idea about it. This book is about teaching you how to construct programs. It's a big book (about 1200 pages) but it doesn't really get into the actual uses of Python. That's covered by the followup book "Programming Python" though if you are an old programming hand, chances are that you will have your own ideas about that!

This books is a comprehensive description of Python 2.6 and Python 3, from basics through to advanced topics such as decorators and metaclasses. The author is an experienced Python teacher, and the book has plenty of examples.My main criticism is that it is somewhat repetitive and very long - well over 1000 pages. I can't help thinking that a more focussed approach could cut several hundred pages, and the result would be more digestible, easier to navigate, less daunting, and just more fun. By comparison the O'Reilly book on Ruby is less than half the length but gives a similar depth of coverage, though it is aimed more at experience programmers and includes fewer examples.Having said all that, I did learn some unexpected things about Python (especially differences between Python 2.6and Python 3), and I don't know any other Python books to recommend.

I'm an amateur programmer and all I can say is that this book is very-very good.No problems in executing any of the code so far (that's a usual problem I had with books in other languages in the past) and I get to understand everything, as it is written in an understandable way.I would definitely suggest it to any amateur programmer.

I bought this book to hopefully read through it and gain more knowledge, experience and insight into the Python language however when it arrived I quickly realised this book would better be suited as a door stop. It's massive!I'm not saying that the content isn't good, it's very thorough and if you had the time and patience to read through it you would no doubt have a very broad understanding of the language. I got about a 1/3 of the way through the book before I lost my patience. Some of the stuff you may never use or have no interest in. In which case you would be better off just consulting the online documentation if and when you stumble across a problem. I don't think you would sit down and trawl through this book in that situation.This book sat on my desk for years and I never once consulted it for information. It was always easier or quicker to read the online documentation. I eventually sold it.

excellent purchase and excellent price.I purchased it at the same time as Programming Python. I feel you need both books for cross reference purposes.

This is not a book that is suitable for people who have never programmed before. From the get go, it will rely on prior (albiet simple) concepts of programming, most prominently from people migrating from a language like C or C++. To further compound the issue, there are very, very few proper exercises (each chapter gives you a little pop-quiz at the end, and each section gives exercises). On top of that, the code examples used when introducing and explaining are fairly abstract, using little "cute" peices of arbitrary code followed by their output. While this makes for quite a comprehensive reference, it is an absolutely terrible pedagogical approach.If you're not sufficiently put off at this point - it gets worse - the author will introduce higher-level concepts or areas of knowledge unrelated to the current chapter, further adding to the complexity of the matter at hand, and spreading the information uselessly across the book. For example, file objects are introduced briefly at the start, and slowly, throughout the chapters, the way to handle files appropriately and pythonistically are fed to you at interim periods. If I want to turn to this book to learn about how to handle files, instead of all the information being consolidated in one chapter, the knowledge is flung about the book in a haphazard and disorganised way.And that's it- this book is lazy and disorganised. It cannot answer the needs of someone learning Python and it cannot serve the needs of a reference. You will rue the day you bought this doorstop.

Great side book for universal python programming with lots of python content. It also happens to be one of the best of its kind, good deal.

Lo consiglio ad ogni persona che voglia iniziare seriamente a programmare in Python, purché abbia già un background di conoscenze riguardo ai concetti base di programmazione, come cicli, programmazione orientata agli oggetti... non è una guida per principianti, è una chiara e completa guida per programmatori.

After going through several tutorials, and trying other books. I have found this one to be the best way to start learning the python language, -- at least for me. I need to know the why and the how something works, not simply type this, do that. This book gives an under the hood look at the why and the how of python to get you started and whet the appetite. Granted for some the first three chapters will seem slow in developing, but the explanations are clear and exact. There is a little of the "you will learn this later" as one hears in any algebra class about calculus, but the author delivers on that statement. One additional thing, I appreciate the author not taking the role of cheerleader as others have about the various languages out there; that being how awesome python is and bad the other languages are, he simply lays out what python can do, and how it can integrate or be integrated with other languages, and operating systems. All around I enjoyed the candor and the quality of the presentation, and the nuts and bolts of python which I think is integral to being a great developer, no matter the language.

Warum können nicht alle so schreiben wie Mark Lutz? Ok, das Buch ist sehr lang, es richtet sich aber an Programmieranfänger und erklärt wirklich einfach wie Python tickt. Es wird auch erklärt warum Strings vor Listen eingeführt werden und erklärt sehr genau was man mit Strings als machen kann. Dafür ist der Abschnitt über Lists kürzer, da schon vieles im Kapitel über Strings erklärt wurde. Man wird natürlich als erfahrener Entwickler schonungeduldig, wenn Mark Lutz in Kapitel über Lists Iterationen anschneidet und dann auf Kapitel über Iterationen verweist. Trotzdem kann ich es unbedingt empfehlen, weil der Stil von Mark einfach toll ist. Wer eine gute und detaillierte Beschreibung in Python sucht ist hier gut aufgehoben.

Si tienes una idea basica de programar y quieres aprender a hacerlo en python, este es tu libro.Si sabes programar y quieres aprender python ... este es tu libro.En general una lectura "obligada" digamos. solo hace falta tener el tiempo para pasar por todas sus paginas ... y una buena espalda si quereis llevarlo a algun sitio ...