Hi, all. I'm getting ready to do some projects in Python, and I've cut my teeth a little bit, but I've found the "Learning|Programming Python" books from O'Reilly to be more-or-less useless (to my surprise -- I'm usually an O'Reilly fan). I really, really like "Python Essential Reference", but it's -- well, more of a reference than an intro. So, an introductory text that actually assumes some previous programming experience (as opposed to "Learning Python" which must be the most slowly-paced programming book ever) would be terrific.
On Dec 3, 7:44 pm, "Ken D'Ambrosio" <ken.dambro...@segway.com> wrote:
> Hi, all. I'm getting ready to do some projects in Python, and I've cut my > teeth a little bit, but I've found the "Learning|Programming Python" books > from O'Reilly to be more-or-less useless (to my surprise -- I'm usually an > O'Reilly fan). I really, really like "Python Essential Reference", but > it's -- well, more of a reference than an intro. So, an introductory text > that actually assumes some previous programming experience (as opposed to > "Learning Python" which must be the most slowly-paced programming book > ever) would be terrific.
Try it out. If you want more of examples of how everything is done, then Python Cookbook is another one. You can get many recipes at http://code.activestate.com/recipes/langs/python/ too - the book is just selected recipes from this site.
1+ for "Dive into Python"... get's you started very fast.
After you are thru with DiP book, it's time to keep google (or ur favourite search engine) handy... search at the ActivePython site in the cookbooks, PEP's, mailing-list archive... the answer is generally found within first 4-5 hits. And then, a good Language Reference is indipespensible... for which the standard Python docs are pretty good.
On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 10:48 AM, Kottiyath <n.kottiy...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Dec 3, 7:44 pm, "Ken D'Ambrosio" <ken.dambro...@segway.com> wrote: >> Hi, all. I'm getting ready to do some projects in Python, and I've cut my >> teeth a little bit, but I've found the "Learning|Programming Python" books >> from O'Reilly to be more-or-less useless (to my surprise -- I'm usually an >> O'Reilly fan). I really, really like "Python Essential Reference", but >> it's -- well, more of a reference than an intro. So, an introductory text >> that actually assumes some previous programming experience (as opposed to >> "Learning Python" which must be the most slowly-paced programming book >> ever) would be terrific.
> Try it out. > If you want more of examples of how everything is done, then Python > Cookbook is another one. > You can get many recipes at http://code.activestate.com/recipes/langs/python/ > too - the book is just selected recipes from this site.
On Dec 3, 9:44 am, "Ken D'Ambrosio" <ken.dambro...@segway.com> wrote:
> Hi, all. I'm getting ready to do some projects in Python, and I've cut my > teeth a little bit, but I've found the "Learning|Programming Python" books > from O'Reilly to be more-or-less useless (to my surprise -- I'm usually an > O'Reilly fan). I really, really like "Python Essential Reference", but > it's -- well, more of a reference than an intro. So, an introductory text > that actually assumes some previous programming experience (as opposed to > "Learning Python" which must be the most slowly-paced programming book > ever) would be terrific.
> Thanks for your suggestions!
> -Ken
I had the same experience as you had and almost gave up on Python. I had programmed in other languages before and found the Programming Python book very tedious to read. I just wanted to learn the syntax and library to start writing my own stuff. Luckily, I found Guido's 12 page tutorial (http://www.python.org/doc/2.5.2/tut/tut.html) and that plus the online library reference and Google was everything I ever needed since then. That said I looked at O'Reilly's "Python in a Nutshell" and I thought it was really good. It is a mix between introduction, language and library reference. I should have gotten that instead of Learning/Programming when I started and I probably would have been much happier.
Kottiyath wrote: > .... If you want more of examples of how everything is done, then Python > Cookbook is another one. > You can get many recipes at http://code.activestate.com/recipes/langs/python/ > too - the book is just selected recipes from this site....
Actually, it is significantly more than "just selected recipes" -- the recipes are picked in subject groups, edits applied, and introductions to each section are written by someone chosen for their expertise in that area. You defintely get more than the list of recipes to examine.
On Dec 3, 8:44 am, "Ken D'Ambrosio" <ken.dambro...@segway.com> wrote:
> Hi, all. I'm getting ready to do some projects in Python, and I've cut my > teeth a little bit, but I've found the "Learning|Programming Python" books > from O'Reilly to be more-or-less useless (to my surprise -- I'm usually an > O'Reilly fan). I really, really like "Python Essential Reference", but > it's -- well, more of a reference than an intro. So, an introductory text > that actually assumes some previous programming experience (as opposed to > "Learning Python" which must be the most slowly-paced programming book > ever) would be terrific.
> Thanks for your suggestions!
> -Ken
I liked "Beginning Python" by Hetland. There's also "Python Power!" by Telles, which I think was pretty good. Note that there's not much out for the 3.0 version yet other than the official docs. You'll probably have to wait until next year before much is really written/published about that.
