Learning Python (Help for Programmers)

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Learning Python (Help for Programmers)

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Author(s): Mark Lutz, David Ascher

Publisher: O'Reilly

Paperback: 384 pages

Language(s): English

ISBN: 1565924649

Published On: 1999-04-07

Studio: O'Reilly

Product Description

The authors of Learning Python show you enough essentials of the Python scripting language to enable you to begin solving problems right away, then reveal more powerful aspects of the language one at a time. This approach is sure to appeal to programmers and system administrators who have urgent problems and a preference for learning by semi-guided experimentation.

First off, Learning Python shows the relationships among Python scripts and their interpreter (in a mostly platform-neutral way). Then, the authors address the mechanics of the language itself, providing illustrations of how Python conceives of numbers, strings, and other objects as well as the operators you use to work with them. Dictionaries, lists, tuples, and other data structures specific to Python receive plenty of attention including complete examples.

Authors Mark Lutz and David Ascher build on that fundamental information in their discussions of functions and modules, which evolve into coverage of namespaces, classes, and the object-oriented aspects of Python programming. There's also information on creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for Python applications with Tkinter.

In addition to its careful expository prose, Learning Python includes exercises that both test your Python skills and help reveal more elusive truths about the language.

Learning Python is an introduction to the increasingly popular Python programming language. Python is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented scripting language. Python is growing in popularity because:

It is available on all important platforms: Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows 98, Linux, all major UNIX platforms, MacOS, and even the BeOS.
It is open-source software, copyrighted but freely available for use, even in commercial applications.
Its clean object-oriented interface makes it a valuable prototyping tool for C++ programmers.
It works well with all popular windowing toolkits, including MFC, Tk, Mac, X11, and Motif.
Learning Python is written by Mark Lutz, author ofProgramming Python and Python Pocket Reference; and David Ascher, a vision scientist and Python user.
This book starts with a thorough introduction to the elements of Python: types, operators, statements, classes, functions, modules, and exceptions. By reading the first part of the book, the reader will be able to understand and construct programs in the Python language. In the second part of the book, the authors present more advanced information, demonstrating how Python performs common tasks and presenting real applications and the libraries available for those applications.
All the examples use the Python interpreter, so the reader can type them in and get instant feedback. Each chapter ends with a series of exercises. Solutions to the exercises are in an appendix.

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Customer Reviews

"Is this really from O'Reilly?"

Written By: Daniel D. Lohin

This is the first O'Reilly book that I will say that I regret purchasing. Coming from Perl and now trying to see what the hype with Python is about. I know Java as well as C++, so I understand OO and all it is supposed to do.

So far I am on page 200 and I still can't do a darn thing with the language. Instead the author chooses to spend pages explaining how python handles objects in memory (not sure how I supposed to understand what an object is if I never did another language). It is now page 200, I have no idea how to do loops, no idea how to accept input or even how to print a string. This book is terrible. My learning Perl book is only 200 pages long and packed with useful information. This book just goes into detail about the language and how it operates internally. That would be fine towards the end of the book, but as it stands this is the only O'Reilly book I can't recommend.

"Wordy"

Written By: Kelly D. Painter

This book should be called "Learning Python for people who have never programmed before". The author states in the preface that no assumptions have been made about the reader's programming background. I think that this is why this book is so wordy.

Amazon's opening statement: "The authors of Learning Python show you enough essentials of the Python scripting language to enable you to begin solving problems right away..." Well, not right away. You have to read half the book first. The book delves into the details of data object types before even talking about basic programming features such as for/while loops (pg. 248). This book is an obvious outcropping of the author's classes on Python. I would think that the author's approach would be fine in a classroom setting, but this hand-holding approach in print is laborious.

The book also has altogether too many references to later chapters. I got tired of reading "X will be covered later in chapter Y". If you aren't going to talk about it now, don't waste the reader's time talking about how you are not going to talk about it now.

That said, I found the information in the book to be useful.

I just received "Programming in Python 3" by Mark Summerfield. This book takes the approach I wish that "Learning Python" had.

"Comprehensive but rather wordy"

Written By: Tia Crush

I have learned Python through this book, but to be honest, it wasn't very pleasant (although that's mostly because I was impatient). The book is comprehensive, but it's rather wordy. The two combined mean that it becomes one really huge book. Due to the length, it will take commitment to read through the whole thing, and in my opinion, for the first time learning, there's no need to go through this much detail. That said, I much prefer reading something easier like Byte of Python and use this book for supplement details.

Another issue about this book is its bottom-up approach. To some, it isn't an issue, but the bottom-up approach to learning isn't exactly everyone's thing.

I might have sound negative, but my score should indicate that I find this book an adequate buy. I personally like how the author mentions some common mistakes beginners make while going through certain language features, and I did learn a lot from this book even if it took commitment.

"The Ultimate Reference For A Python Learner"

Written By: Ira Laefsky

This book with its well organized, top-down, explanatory approach is the ultimate reference for the student new to the Python Language. For each major feature of the language a complete explanation is given including a description of why this feature is implemented in the way that it is, and a "Brain Builder" set of thought questions to reinforce this knowledge. In taking this complete explanatory approach to explaining Python this volume may not offer the most efficient tutorial path for a new learner, like other volumes which take us from a simple explained program to gradually more complex examples. But it provides a reference to why Python does it the way that it does. The next edition should also give an explanation and rationale for the changes in Python 3.0, but in the meantime this is the best reference for the Python Learner.

"Best Book For Python Beginners"

Written By: The Dude

Very well written and easy to understand. One of he best introductory programming books I have read. If you want to learn Python this book will help. However to master any programming language you need to practice and write programs. I would recommend opening python and following along with the author.

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