Newbie Question

[John Smith]

Aside from the text online, what are the best books for a newbie learning
python as their first language?

 

[Alex Martelli]

Aside from the text online, what are the best books for a newbie learning
python as their first language?

I would suggest "Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner" (by
Michael Dawson, ISBN: 1-59200-073-8).


Alex

 

[Alan Gauld]

Aside from the text online, what are the best books for a newbie learning
python as their first language?

Well I'm biased but I think my book "Learning to Program Using
Python" is pretty good for the complete beginner

Others include "Teach Yourself Python in 24 hours" and
the "Visual Python"(?) book gets good crits too - but I haven't
read that one.

"Python, How to Program" by the Dietels tries to start at the
beginner level but I suspect it dives too deep too quickly for
many, and it is quite expensive.

Most other books are aimed at those with at least one other
language behind them so don't explain all the jargon and concepts
as much as those above.

However despite being bad for my royalties I'd actually recommend
trying the various beginners online tutorials first and then
buying one of the more mainstream books (Learning Python, Quick
Python etc) as a long term better value investment. You will use
those books for a longer period than the complete beginners
guides I suspect.

Alan G.
Author of the Learn to Program website
http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld/tutor2

 

[Alex Martelli]

Well I'm biased but I think my book "Learning to Program Using
Python" is pretty good for the complete beginner

It is indeed an excellent book, though I have a preference for Dawson's.

Others include "Teach Yourself Python in 24 hours" and
the "Visual Python"(?) book gets good crits too - but I haven't
read that one.

Haven't read them either. I have a bias against the titles!-)

"Python, How to Program" by the Dietels tries to start at the
beginner level but I suspect it dives too deep too quickly for
many, and it is quite expensive.

Unsuitable for anything except a college text with a professor helping,
IMHO (I was a technical reviewer for it).

Most other books are aimed at those with at least one other
language behind them so don't explain all the jargon and concepts
as much as those above.
True.


However despite being bad for my royalties I'd actually recommend
trying the various beginners online tutorials first and then
buying one of the more mainstream books (Learning Python, Quick
Python etc) as a long term better value investment. You will use
those books for a longer period than the complete beginners
guides I suspect.

If one chose this route, I would suggest Hetland's "Practical Python" as
the book to buy after digesting all the online tutorials.

However, the experience of learning from a paper book is quite different
from learning from a screen (if you print out all the tutorials on a
typical printer you're spending more than for printed books...!-), and I
think that for most people the paper book has advantages. Not knowing
whether this applies to a given querant, I would assume it probably
does, and thus suggest your book, or Dawson's.


Alex

 

[Cliff Wells]

Haven't read them either. I have a bias against the titles!-)

Indeed. I won't even consider any of the "Teach yourself X in Y
hours/days" books. The ones I've perused appeared to kill entire
forests for the sake of large print, wide margins and content-free
imagery.

Regards,
Cliff

 

[Ivo Woltring]

google on

Dive into Python
and
Text processing in Python

these are very good books (and online gettable 4 free)
but not 4 the absolute beginner

cheerz,
Ivo.