No comments about Python Programming in Context.

1 comments about Starting Out with Python (Starting Out With...).

1. This book can be summarized as a late objects, no graphics, approach to teaching the fundamentals of programming. The focus of this book is on text-only programs that develop a functional programming style.
   
   If you have any Gaddis Java book, you will notice the similarities to this book. There are numerous programming exercises and algorithm challenges for each chapter, which is one of the book's strengths.
   
   The fact that this book feels like a re-writing of the author's Java books, however, is also a weakness. Many of Python's strongest and most unique features are simply not covered here. You will not find much information on the robust Python library, nor any mention of semi-advanced topics like list comprehensions. Even the simple-to-use, but effective, Pickle and cPickle modules are left out.
   
   At times I felt like Gaddis was trying to make Python act like Java. Some concepts core to Java, like private attributes, are covered here. The details, however, are absent, leading the student to believe that a double underscore attribute is truly private (not merely "mangled"). This may seem like nit-picking, but that's my point. If you are looking for a book to learn the Python language, skip this one and go with Mark Lutz' Learning Python (Help for Programmers), which will teach you a lot more about the particular strengths of the Python language.
   
   If, however, you are looking for a textbook for a beginning programming class, you could do much worse than this. The numerous exercises are helpful to a teacher and the writing is very clear. There are also topics covered here that should be covered in an intro class that are not covered in many of the books aimed only at learning Python.
   
   I am a big fan of Gaddis' Starting Out with Java: Early Objects (3rd Edition) book, which I think is one of the best Java texts available. Too bad this book wasn't more...um...Pythonic.

5 comments about Python 2.1 Bible.

1. Without a doubt the best and most helpful python book that I've read to date.



2. With a background of C/C++ and Java, I was dropped in the Python deep-end by a client who had a systems monitoring tool written in Python that needed urgent enhancements made. I ordered the Python 2.1 Bible and the client provided Programming Python 2nd edition (pub. O'Reilly). The O'Reilly book looked at first sight more useful, but I choked on it as it assumed prior knowledge of Python. The Python 2.1 Bible, on the other hand, assumed no prior knowledge of Python and within 3 days (whilst waiting for a Linux box to arrive !) I had written a number of powerful disk utilities, socket-based clients and servers, small GUI-based programs etc that ran on my Windows-based PC and which should run on Linux too (still waiting for the box !!). For me it was an excellent introduction to Python. After reading the Python 2.1 Bible I felt able to read Programming Python. Still waiting for the Linux box though so still haven't written the "urgent" enhancements...

   The only negatives I would have for Python 2.1 Bible are:
   (1) that it assumed C/C++ knowledge (which was fine for me but might not be for other people)
   (2) a (very) few areas could have done with a bit more explanation, raising questions that experienced OO people would want answered




3. I am a fan of this book!
   
   First and foremost, all the information I needed to write Python programs was there and it was easy to find. This means the book is well organized and the index is great. Don't forget to check out the book's website too.
   
   Secondly, the book covers topics no other book that I know touches. Read the TOC of Parts IV and V by clicking the book cover picture at the top of this page and you will agree.
   
   Thirdly, the authors have a concise style, which you will learn to appreciate after reading chatty Pythonist folks like Lutz. Bruek and Tanner tell you just what you need to know and they use only as many words as needed for this purpose.
   
   Finally, I like the fonts used in this book. They are special, even the one used for Python scripts, and they set the apparence of this book apart from your typical computer language book.
   
   The coverage of the OOP could indeed be expanded, and, most importantly, the book needs a new edition to cover the latest Python version (2.4 as I write this). I would buy a copy of the second edition on the spot.



4. The documentation that comes with Python is woefully inadequate (pitifully lacking in examples, links and clearer writing), which means that any Python user will need to buy some extra documentation such as this wonderful book.
   Although this book needs to be updated now since the current version of Python is 2.5, it's still an extremely useful book with instantly useful examples. If they came out with a second edition I would snap it up.
   The writing style may not be a paragon of elegance but it is straight to the point. I would also recommend "Python in a Nutshell" as an extra reference.



5. The book does cover a lot of ground regarding Python and tool kits that are available.
   
   I found it a bit too advanced for someone just getting into the language, however if you already have some familiarity with the language it would help you expand your knowledge beyond the basics obtained with the initial download.
   
   It just covered to much ground to do the job completely and although I know it will become helpful in the future it was the wrong place for me to start.

5 comments about Python and Tkinter Programming.

1. It is a great book for doing the most simple of
   GUI tasks and for a reference once you have been using
   Tkinter for an extended period of time. The book leaves out
   key definitions when they are most needed, isn't organized
   well and generally falls short when you really start getting
   interested. Don't get this book if you are trying translate
   other GUI skills to Tkinter. It is good for learning the
   absolute basics and as a reference.



2. I have programmed several commercial Macintosh and Windows applications and I have become fairly proficient with Python, so I figured that writing GUIs with Tkinter would be pretty straightforward and Grayson's book looked like a great place to start.

   Not so. While it's fine to have lots of code samples, what would have been even better was much more nitty-gritty discussion of Tk itself. Tk is very clever and powerful, but it is not straightforward. This is even more true of Megawidgets, upon which Pmw is based, and which is widely used in Grayson's examples.

   The appendices at the end are great if you know exactly what you are looking up but frustrating if you don't have a good overview of how Tk works. I recommend Effective Tcl/Tk Programming by Harrison and McLennan to fill in some of the many gaps in Grayson.




3. I find that the author is out of touch with how to present material. He's already tackling a 'calculator' application by page 22. Quite a jump! He should have consulted with someone more experienced in material presentation for someone learning and/or trying to tie concepts together.By starting with basics in the early going, it would have made understanding a little easier in the more complex examples.



4. Tkinter gets a too-brief treatment in Grayson's rush to get on to the subject of Pmw, the Python megawidget library, which seems to be the real subject of the book. If you're not going to work in Pmw, most of this book is useless.

   The basics of Tk are poorly presented, apparently on the assumption that the reader is already familiar with Tk. The first appendix is devoted to the mapping between Tk and Tkinter, a typical "nugget" being the revelation that the Tk construct "-label string" maps onto the Tkinter construct "label=string", which conveys no useful information in the absence of a complete Tk reference.

   Appendix B, a Tkinter reference, has often left me frustrated. It begins with the understandable space-saving device of a list of "Options shared by most widgets," but then continues with "Options shared by many widgets" (why separate?) and "Common widget methods," whose connection with the rest of the appendix is obscure. Studying a widget's entry in Appendix B seldom produces a confident grasp of how to use that widget.

   The book is mostly tutorial in form, suited for leisurely reading but frustrating as a reference.




5. It's a decent book for the experienced python programmer. Definitely not for the beginner. Try working with the "Python Programming" by Lutz before you tackle this book. The examples work for a system with python installed. The book does not cover the subject of standalone applications adequately even though there is supposedly a chapter.
   
   The book has what would be an excellent reference on Python/Tkinter and Python/Pmw objects and interfaces but numerous typos and deletions make it awkward to use. I have seen books rushed especially one of mine which was in rough form without being spellchecked! I took the flak for what was an editorial snafu. The same may have occurred here with the reference sections.

3 comments about Web Standards Programmer's Reference : HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Perl, Python, and PHP.

1. How the Web has grown! In doing so, and aiding its growth, has been the use and development of several languages. Naturally, Schafer starts with the language that birthed the Web - HTML. Actually this needs its dual ("twin") on a server, http. But Schafer discusses http in a later chapter devoted to CGI.
   
   Hopefully, you should be able to appreciate that HTML is simple. In fact, of all that the book discusses, HTML is the simplest language. Several initial chapters walk you through HTML. It must be stressed that mastery of HTML is needed to make sense of the rest of the book.
   
   The later languages either extend the scope of an HTML file, or they generate the file, roughly speaking. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) lets you easily factor out common definitions that are used across multiple web pages, where you can imagine that each web page corresponds to a file storing it. Schafer explains how to use CSS to simplify management of a set of HTML files. A centralised way to set common fonts and the like. More robust.
   
   But HTML is a declarative language. Good, because laymen can more easily understand and write such languages. It's easier to say what should be done, than how to do it. But for the times when you need more expressive power on the browser, Schafer offers JavaScript. A procedural language that actually has nothing to do with Java. [The coincidence in names was a marketing ploy.]
   
   Schafer does not ignore the server. CGI is given, as the first generation attempt at server side code. Its limitations spawned the use of Perl, PHP and Python for easier parsing of user input and generation of new dynamic pages.
   
   Each of these languages (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Perl, PHP and Python) is often the subject of its own book. No surprise then that Schafer explaining all 6 gave us a book of this length!



2. This is a good book to refresh yourself on the syntax of each language, but don't try to learn web standards from this book! It spends about 10 pages in the HTML language section talking about how wonderful tables are when used to control the layout of your entire site. Anyone with any experience in HTML knows that this is a very bad idea. The Perl section had a few things wrong in the code as well. Overall, I was not impressed with this book. I probably could have gotten better tutorials for free on the internet.



3. This is a great reference book for beginners... I myself am a seasoned systems analyst and already had books that covered most of the basic topics discussed in this book. There were no real world examples and nothing about the pitfalls of using web standards before they are even supported by popular browsers. Like I said at first, it is a really great reference book; and if you need one to get started, this is it! You will still need a book dealing with the methodology variations in coding.

1 comments about Python Library Reference (Open Source Library).

1. This library reference is very extended, up-to-date and cover every aspects of Python's modules ( string, regular expressions, ...). The division in themes ( Maths, Internet, ...) and in order of usefulness makes it easy to learn and get important information. The index and the table of contents make it very easy to find the appropriate method to perform a particular task. In addition, the style is concise and the presentation clear.

   Nevertheless, this is only a reference : The examples are rare and insufficient to learn efficiently the language, unless you need'nt examples to learn all about a new language.

   Therefore, this book should be used as a reminder or a quick finder, i.e. a reference book.

1 comments about Python: The Complete Reference.

1. As the title implies, this book is just a reference (covering
   up to python version 2.0.) The text is understable and
   provides a central repository of the same material
   you can get from the official documentation in the web
   (python.org) The first 140 pages are a tutorial covering
   the essencials of the language with several samples (these
   are too trivial in my opinion) following with about 240 pages
   describing the Python module library (again, the examples
   are trivial.) There are also some chapters related with
   the "internals" of Python, but no one is really "deep".
   Resuming, sadly I think this book (as many in these times)
   can be easily substituted with the web with little effort.

5 comments about Learn to Program Using Python: A Tutorial for Hobbyists, Self-Starters, and All Who Want to Learn the Art of Computer Programming (Programming Languages).

1. I'm biased, I wrote it! But Amazon[.com] keep asking me to review it so here I go... It does have exercises, albeit hidden in the text rather than listed at the end of each chapter. That's because it was never intended to be a classtoom text but for enthusiastic amateurs. The best way to learn is type in the examples, then modify them. There are, sadly, a lot of minor typos, fixes are posted on the web site.
   Enjoy.



2. I am a graduate student with over 10 programming languages in my toolbox. Python is by far the easiest to learn, easiest to debug and work with. My gratitude goes out to the developers of this powerful language.

   This is an extremely well written with very concise explanations and a great amount of humor added in (look at the Spam class in chapter 6!).

   This could be the start of a new British Invasion, except this time with the Knights who say "NI".

   Beginning programmers and experienced developers will frequently reference this book.




3. In some ways this book seems like it's in search of an identity. It's obviously intended for the novice, and its short chapters and general topics reflect that, but many things are left unexplained or explained poorly, such as the chapter on object-oriented programming. This book definitely fills a niche for introductory python books for an audience with no programming experience, and my frequent frustration has not necessarily outweighed the value of the short chapters on diverse topics. Part of the problem may be that Amazon sold me a copy of the 1st edition rather than the 2nd. I'm going to finish the book soon and print out the Python tutorial to see if that can answer some unanswered questions.



4. As a slightly experienced C programmer and a somewhat experienced Python programmer, I found this book useful. It described Python's features and at the same time put them in the larger context of what modern computer languages do. Like several other reviewers, however, I think the level of this book would be far too intimidating for someone learning to program for the first time. Also, for me the final section of the book ("Case Studies") delved too deeply into object-oriented and GUI issues not directly relevant to my work, and I put the book aside at that point. Bottom line: a nice recap but not really for the novice.



5. So, I got a ton out of this book, as the last real programming I did was back in about 1992, in Pascal. Lots and lots have changed, and Python's a real easy transition to a modern language.
   
   One thing that could be improved about the book would be to make it IDE-specific, and teach how to use Eclipse or X-Code to develop a complete application, instead of focusing on the scripting.
   
   But that's minor - the book is a great (re-)introduction to getting a computer to do what you want it to do.

2 comments about Object-Oriented Programming in Python.

1. There are only some problems have the answer (less than 5% of the total). This was not a problem because David Letscher, one of the author, was my professor, since he rarely used problem from the book for the tests and the final.
   
   There is also a small problem with the graphic library, cs1graphics.py which people need to use for some covered topics, is not completed.
   
   However, Of all learning Python books I've read, this book is the best. It covers basic to advanced topics in a very well-organized way with clear explanations.



2. The title is a little misleading unless you take it as a literal python statement. It is true that there is object-oriented programming IN python. It is also true that this book discusses object-oriented programming IN python. But the book does little to discuss object-oriented programming WITH python. The book provides an intro to the common python elements, which the authors do provide a nice object-oriented emphasis. After that the book turns into a project-type book. Project learning (i.e. learning by example) can be a very useful approach to teaching, but in the case of this book, it seems like the emphasis is on the projects and not the more relevant concepts that form the basis of the projects. The book then comes across as a rather narrow and boring approach to learning an implementation of python. As a note, I also find it irritating when authors present oo design and graphics with a 'simplified graphics package', typically of the authors own design. I did not find one mention of TKinter in the book or index. Instead, you are given 'getting started with graphics', using the author's cs1graphics module. It either appears that the authors are deliberately shying away from real-word graphics packages because of their own limitations or that they are suggesting that their students are limited in their ability to tackle what they eventually may need to work with. Ultimately, I think the authors do a disservice in this method of presentation, where you start with a canvas, add a brand new circle (the sun) and continue adding basic shapes until you end up with a scene that vaguely resembles a composite of a tree, house, sun, and car (rectangle with two circles). If the authors extended their initial discussion of oo design and focused on it as it directly applied to python then they might have a book worth half the price they are charging, which in its current state, in my opinion, is worth about 1/10 the price.

2 comments about Guide to Programming with Python (Book & CD Rom).

1. Most programming books seem pretty drab, in that they teach by laying out the fundamentals, and rely on the reader to see how everything fits together. This book is nice because it takes the approach of starting with a practical need (in this case, game programming), and showing how to evolve toward an understanding of a programming language (in this case, Python) through the development of small games. Time will tell how well this method works in the big scheme of things, but I found it to be a nice alternative introduction to programming. It also has review questions and projects and the end of the chapters to further enhance the teaching value of the book. All in all, a decent little book.



2. While I won't deny this is the best book out there to teach someone Python, it is pretty much Word for Word the same book as Python for the Absolute Beginner (which is by the same author). This version is packaged as an academic book, and costs 4 times as much!
   I love the author for this book, but the publisher should be shot.
   Go pick up the absolute beginner version and saves yourself $60.
   
   If it hadn't been the same book, I would happily given it 5 stars.