Book Recommendation

[Anthony]

Hello I'm currently trying to read Core Python Programming, but by the
looks of it im never going to get done the book is about 860 pages long
real intimidating, but im guess im going to have to stick in there. have
any of you ever read it? is it a good book? if not what do you suggest i
read. Please help me i'm eager to learn

Thanks

 

[Gerrit Holl]

Hello I'm currently trying to read Core Python Programming, but by the
looks of it im never going to get done the book is about 860 pages long
real intimidating, but im guess im going to have to stick in there. have
any of you ever read it? is it a good book? if not what do you suggest i
read. Please help me i'm eager to learn

</quote>

I don't know the book, but...

If you're eager to learn, you should be happy with such a big book, this
means you can learn a lot!

BTW, there is a 'tutor' mailinglist, which may interest you. You're
questions are welcome here, but that list is specifically designed
for beginners, so you have more chance in getting questions answered
faster there.

Gerrit.

 

[Cameron Laird]

Hello I'm currently trying to read Core Python Programming, but by the
looks of it im never going to get done the book is about 860 pages long
real intimidating, but im guess im going to have to stick in there. have
any of you ever read it? is it a good book? if not what do you suggest i
read. Please help me i'm eager to learn

Thanks

I like *Core Python Programming*. My goals might differ
from yours, though. What are you after? What's your back-
ground? Those probably determine more than the book itself.

Perhaps <URL: http://www.unixreview.com/documents/s=7822/ur >
and <URL: http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/moinmoin/PythonBooks >
will interest you.

 

[Anthony]

I like *Core Python Programming*. My goals might differ
from yours, though. What are you after? What's your back-
ground? Those probably determine more than the book itself.

Perhaps <URL: http://www.unixreview.com/documents/s=7822/ur >
and <URL: http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/moinmoin/PythonBooks >
will interest you.

Well I know C, bash and i work with scripting alot i know the basics of
programming, incremental development, debugging, etc I wanna implement
gentoo's portage system which is completely written in python. I
wanna become a gentoo developer which requires me to learn bash and python
gentoo's ebuilds are written and portage in python. That means i have to
be a top notch python programmer I've read the first four chapters of the
book which is very good it doesn't play around it gets straight to the
point, but as i said the size, and weight of the book is intimidating. MY
mom bought me this book so i dont wanna just leave it here collecting dust
i might just have to pick it up and read it

Thanks

 

[Cameron Laird]

.
.
.

Well I know C, bash and i work with scripting alot i know the basics of
programming, incremental development, debugging, etc I wanna implement
gentoo's portage system which is completely written in python. I
wanna become a gentoo developer which requires me to learn bash and python
gentoo's ebuilds are written and portage in python. That means i have to
be a top notch python programmer I've read the first four chapters of the
book which is very good it doesn't play around it gets straight to the
point, but as i said the size, and weight of the book is intimidating. MY

.
.
.
I assure you: you do NOT have to know everything
in *Core Python Programming* to "become a gentoo
developer".

In fact, it might be appropriate to refine *that*
notion: what does "a gentoo programmer" mean to
you? Someone who *could* do gentoo system admin-
istration, if a need arose? Someone who earns a
full-time living specializing in gentoo peculi-
arities? Someone who once delivered one
application that satisfied a gentoo end-user?

This is, by the way, the life of a programmer:
lots of conversations on the theme of, "What do
you mean by that?"

 

[Michael Geary]

Well I know C, bash and i work with scripting alot i know the basics of

programming, incremental development, debugging, etc I wanna implement
gentoo's portage system which is completely written in python. I
wanna become a gentoo developer which requires me to learn bash and python
gentoo's ebuilds are written and portage in python. That means i have to
be a top notch python programmer I've read the first four chapters of the
book which is very good it doesn't play around it gets straight to the
point, but as i said the size, and weight of the book is intimidating. MY
mom bought me this book so i dont wanna just leave it here collecting dust
i might just have to pick it up and read it

Have you gone through the tutorial at www.python.org?

http://www.python.org/doc/2.3.2/tut/tut.html

When I started learning Python, I made the mistake of skipping the tutorial,
figuring that I didn't want an introduction to programming (having been
programming for over 30 years). I didn't realize that this tutorial was also
very good for programmers with experience in other languages.

My favorite Python books at the moment are Alex Martelli's _Python in a
Nutshell_, David Mertz's _Text Processing in Python_, and David Beazley's
_Python Essential Reference_.

-Mike

 

[Anthony]

Hello I'm currently trying to read Core Python Programming, but by the
looks of it im never going to get done the book is about 860 pages long
real intimidating, but im guess im going to have to stick in there. have
any of you ever read it? is it a good book? if not what do you suggest i
read. Please help me i'm eager to learn

Thanks

Ok you guys are the best I'm going to stop bugging you now and get to work
there is just one more question i have to ask. "Michael Geary" said read
the tutorial on python.org, but Core Python Programming covers everything
should i read the tutorial on python.org anyway or just the book?

 

[Paul Rubin]

Ok you guys are the best I'm going to stop bugging you now and get to work
there is just one more question i have to ask. "Michael Geary" said read
the tutorial on python.org, but Core Python Programming covers everything
should i read the tutorial on python.org anyway or just the book?

First, read the tutorial. Then, if you're still confused, go look at
the book in the store and see if it answers your questions. If it
does, buy it and read it. If it doesn't, look for another group, ask
questions on the newsgroup, etc.

In my opinion, if you have solid experience programming in other
languages, then the tutorial and reference manual are probably all you
need to get going with Python, and you needn't bother with any books.
But if you're less experienced, you may benefit from a Python book.

Also, I'm not familiar with "Core Python Programming" but if you feel
you need a book, the first one I'd look at is "Python in a Nutshell".

 

[Paul Rubin]

First, read the tutorial. Then, if you're still confused, go look at
the book in the store and see if it answers your questions. If it
does, buy it and read it. If it doesn't, look for another group, ask
questions on the newsgroup, etc.

Bah, I'm not typing well today. I meant to say "If it doesn't, look
for another BOOK, ask questions on the newsgroup, etc.".

 

[Michael Geary]

Ok you guys are the best I'm going to stop bugging you now and get to work

there is just one more question i have to ask. "Michael Geary" said read
the tutorial on python.org, but Core Python Programming covers everything
should i read the tutorial on python.org anyway or just the book?

Why are you asking? The tutorial is free, just go read it and then decide if
it was worthwhile!

You can also read _Text Processing in Python_ for free on David Mertz's
site:

http://gnosis.cx/TPiP/

If nothing else, read David's Appendix A which provides some real insight
into how the Python language works:

http://gnosis.cx/TPiP/appendix_a.txt

And you can get a free 14-day trial of Safari at http://safari.oreilly.com/
and read _Python in an Nutshell_ and _Python Essential Reference_ there.
Gonna be a busy couple of weeks for you.

-Mike

 

[John J. Lee]

Hello I'm currently trying to read Core Python Programming, but by the
looks of it im never going to get done the book is about 860 pages long
real intimidating, but im guess im going to have to stick in there. have
any of you ever read it? is it a good book? if not what do you suggest i
read. Please help me i'm eager to learn

I'd say read the stuff on language issues, skim the stuff on libraries
&c. (assuming that's what fills all those pages?), then ditch the book
and just write some code. You just need to have read enough to have a
good mental map and some basic knowledge -- at that point, reading
without doing becomes an inefficient way of learning. Then come back
to this newsgroup and c.l.py.announce, read other people's code, read
the rest of the book and articles on the web, experiment with
libraries, etc. That's what I did when learning Python (in sharp
contrast to C++, which scares me enough that I read several books
before writing a line of code...).


John

 

[John J. Lee]

Hello I'm currently trying to read Core Python Programming, but by the [...]
any of you ever read it? is it a good book? if not what do you suggest i
read. Please help me i'm eager to learn

No idea about Core PP, but I can certainly say that the Python
Cookbook is good. Other people have said good things about the
Nutshell (both books are published by O'Reilly). Apparently you can
read these free for a month by signing up for O'Reilly's Safari
service, then canceling.


John

 

[Terry Reedy]

Ok you guys are the best I'm going to stop bugging you now and get to work
there is just one more question i have to ask. "Michael Geary" said read
the tutorial on python.org, but Core Python Programming covers everything
should i read the tutorial on python.org anyway or just the book?

At 860 pages, CPP is either very verbose, uses huge type, or covers
more than is core python programming for any one learner. My standard
suggestion for learning Python is this: open either an interactive
browser or one of the guis that wrap or imitate one (Idle, PythonWin,
???) and open the tutorial in a browser window. Then move back and
forth. Skim stuff you already know, but pay particular attention to
the Python data model, semantics of binding/assignment, and the
difference between that and in-place mutation. Try out questions that
occur to you, like "what happens if I leave an index blank?"

If CPP starts with similar material (don't know, have never seen it)
then you might start with that instead. But tutorial gives you
Guido's view of language, which may be different from CPP's. (I
personally have learned from getting multiple explanations for certain
aspects.) It should take you about 2-3 hours (or maybe more since
current version seems expanded from 7 years ago). So don't spend 2-3
hours deciding whether to read it or not ;-)

Terry J. Reedy

 

[python newbie]

I recommend "dive into python" by Mark Pilgrim, free at diveintomark.com.
It's a great pdf, continually updated. At the start of each chapter, you get
some new python code in your face right away, and then he explains the
chapter's concepts using this code, and covers a lot in a painless, quick
way.

 

[Dennis Lee Bieber]

Gerrit Holl fed this fish to the penguins on Wednesday 08 October 2003
13:06 pm:

<quote name="Anthony" date="1065639573"
email="(e-mail address removed)">
</quote>

I don't know the book, but...

I seem to have missed the original post...

I know I used to have a copy of CPP... I can't find it.

This makes me think it was one of a fairly large stack of Python books
that I dropped off at Goodwill. IOW, it was a bit outdated (might have
covered v2.0, definitely did NOT cover 2.2, and likely not even 2.1).

Given its age... I'd probably consider a first edition "Learning
Python" to be easier to use (read) if the Python tutorial itself is not
enough.

For more advanced: Python Essential Reference, Python in a Nutshell,
Programming Python...

--

 

[Gerrit Holl]

Have you gone through the tutorial at www.python.org?

http://www.python.org/doc/2.3.2/tut/tut.html

When I started learning Python, I made the mistake of skipping the tutorial,
figuring that I didn't want an introduction to programming (having been
programming for over 30 years). I didn't realize that this tutorial was also
very good for programmers with experience in other languages.

Actually, the reverse is true for me. I started with the online tutorial in
1999, but it was to difficult for me. For true starters, the learning curve
of the online tutorial is quite steep, especially if you don't have a lot
of general background knowledge about things like mathematics and abstract
thinking (I was 13 or 14). So I borrowed Learning Python (well, borrowed,
it's still here and read it carefully, but getting OO under the nails
only happened quite recently: now, I can't imagine programming without it.

Gerrit.

 

[Anthony]

Hello I'm currently trying to read Core Python Programming, but by the
looks of it im never going to get done the book is about 860 pages long
real intimidating, but im guess im going to have to stick in there. have
any of you ever read it? is it a good book? if not what do you suggest i
read. Please help me i'm eager to learn

Thanks

Ok you guys I got everything you guys are the best thanks for all your
replies, and honesty. I can't believe my core python programming book is
outdated my mom just purchased it. please tell me it's still readable i
read the first 2 chapters of it after the original posting, and it was
good i don't like the structure of the tutorial on python.org im going
to look over diveintopython, and learning python since those were
recommended here i still wanna read my book does the date mean a whole lot?

 

[Cameron Laird]

.
.
.

replies, and honesty. I can't believe my core python programming book is
outdated my mom just purchased it. please tell me it's still readable i

.
.
.
Books get on store shelves in a process much akin to
legislation or sausage-making; it certainly would
surprise civilians, and syllogisms like, "available
at retail => current and pertinent" are true only
incidentally--it's tempting to write, "accidentally".

I'll say it more crudely: that a book is available
for sale is absolutely no guarantee that it's cur-
rent, or accurate, or well-written, or any of the
other qualities consumers might favor.

In the case at hand, I urge you not to discard *Core
Python Programming* just because it's old. Python's
a reasonably conservative language; unlike many pro-
prietary offerings, it doesn't change just to extract
renewal fees from its users. If *CPP* suits your
approach, reading it (even in part) will help you.
You'll pick up Python's latest decorations some other
way.

 

[Eddie Corns]

Hello I'm currently trying to read Core Python Programming, but by the
looks of it im never going to get done the book is about 860 pages long
real intimidating, but im guess im going to have to stick in there. have
any of you ever read it? is it a good book? if not what do you suggest i
read. Please help me i'm eager to learn

I think CPP is a very good book (apart from being dated). As someone who had
already done programming I found I just whizzed through it. Each chapter
easily explained how each of the things I knew how to do would be done in
Python and in the right order to build on. I read most of the chapters in 2
days (skipped regexs and classes IIRC on the first pass). Then I went and
started applying it with the book at hand.

Eddie

 

[Michael Geary]

Actually, the reverse is true for me. I started with the online tutorial in
1999, but it was to difficult for me. For true starters, the learning curve
of the online tutorial is quite steep, especially if you don't have a lot
of general background knowledge about things like mathematics and abstract
thinking (I was 13 or 14). So I borrowed Learning Python (well, borrowed,
it's still here and read it carefully, but getting OO under the nails
only happened quite recently: now, I can't imagine programming without it.

Right, I would recommend the online tutorial (along with the books I
mentioned) for programmers with experience in other languages. _Learning
Python_ is a much better bet for someone starting out in programming.

-Mike