Learning Python, 3rd Edition
by Mark Lutz
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Book Reviews of Learning Python, 3rd Edition
Book Review: Wonderful Manual
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is a wonderful introduction and reference manual to Python 2.5+. Starting with no understanding of the language itself, in eight hours of reading (over half the book) I managed to learn everything I needed to know to create a useful application to monitor my corporation's client networks. Two days after that, I wrote a GUI for the same program. Since then, the entire Operations department has been using my program to monitor our networks.
The book gives you the basics up front and gives the harder things (object-oriented programing, exception handling, etc.) near the back of the book. In the first 400 pages, I found everthing I needed to make my program work as expected. While this book is great for learning and reference, it is best paired with the [...] website, which gives all the possible methods of the standard library. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a basic programming knowledge and a desire to learn the language.
Book Review: Much better than previous editions
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought an earlier incarnation of this title a year or two ago and sent it back immediately. I was pretty wary of making the same mistake twice, but I'm happy to say that this 3rd edition is a significant improvement. I have a feeling it's a bit too obtuse for those who are new to programming in general, but if you've been at it for a while and simply need to pick up the various and less commonly used features of the language, it's a fine introductory text. It even highlights some of the upcoming changes in Python 3; not necessarily in any meaningful way, but it gives you enough information to future-proof your code as much as possible so as to make porting easier.
Unfortunately it is riddled with tragically unfunny Monty Python catchphrases you probably got tired of hearing 20 years ago. I can't wait for someone to create a language named "Rick James" or "What" so we can go on hearing Chappelle's Show quotes regurgitated ad nauseum.
Book Review: Is this really from O'Reilly?
Summary: 2 Stars
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.
Book Review: Learning Python - A Review
Summary: 5 Stars
An excellent book for anyone new to both programming and the Python programming language.
If you want to learn how to program and are unsure where to begin, this book is definitely worth considering, both for it's concise, clear explanation of Python and programming concepts in general, and because the language Python is itself clear and concise.
Pros:
-Clear, concise
-Well written, decent pace
-Good intro for non-programmers
-Leads nicely into Programming Python and Python Cookbook
-Python itself is easy to learn, clear, and yet still powerful and cross-platform
Cons:
-Tends to drag in the beginning, spending too much time going over the details of the language instead of diving right into some useful code.
-NOT for programmers who have other language(s) under their belts. Consider Programming Python instead.
Book Review: THE Definitive Python Learning Tool
Summary: 5 Stars
'Learning Python' is one of those rare books that is an absolute MUST BUY. If you want to learn Python or want to become a better Python developer, this book is essential... E-SSEN-TIAL.
The author Mark Lutz is the guru of Python and he bares his Python-loving soul in this book. Covering 29 chapters, you will go from the basics of the history of the language and main uses to all the goodies that you would expect. Declaring variables, conditional branches, types, strings, documentation, functions, modules, OOP, database access, it's all here and is it ever goooood.
I was going to go into more detail about why you should buy this book but I'm stopping here. You came to this page because you are going to program in Python or want to learn more about it right? Buy the book and get coding!!!
***** HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION