No comments about Python Programming in Context.

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.

No comments about Computer Science: The Python Programming Language.

3 comments about Programming With Python.

1. OK, I just bought this book today and haven't even finished the whole thing, but based on what I've seen I may not (I actually wish I could return except I've opened the software). From what I've seen though:

   A lot of code is HIGHLY inefficient....I've written code that does the same thing with a third the number of lines. A lot of the code is just not well thought out or thorough. For instance he provides code for converting Roman numerals back to numbers, but it doesn't check for invalid characters. Additionally it doesn't check to make sure the characters are in the proper sequence -- what it does roughly, is if it finds an "I" it builds a math expression "+1", then "+5" for "V" "+10" for "X" and so forth. But what this would allow is an invalid roman numeral, "IL", to be turned into the number 51.

   The author does point out that he didn't necessarily write all the code, but for crying out loud he should have checked it better. And there are other types of errors, such a multiple statements on the same line, without the necessary seperator. The only reason I give it two stars is that I've gotten some inspiration for new (to me) ideas from it, but I can actually get that from just about any computer book.

   PS The code on the CD-ROM seems to be in UNIX format requiring unzipping using tar.




2. This book seems designed for programmers who have more money than time. It's presented in a quick, here's some code, you figure it out fashion. It reminds me of a college student's attempt to finish a term paper by spending the weekend surfing the net, doing a lot of cut & paste, and throwing in a comment here and there to hold it together by . Not very professional or satisfying.

   Perhaps if this book had come out 3 years ago it could have filled some programmers need for a quick, high level overview of Python. Today however, most of what is in this book is available for free on the net and there are far better Python books to spend your money on.

   If you're looking for a good introduction to Python, look somewhere else. I recommend "Learning Python (Help for Programmers)" or, if you comfortable with the basics and prefer to learn by studying other peoples code, try "Python Annotated Archives" (which, unlike this book, really is annotated).




3. This book fails miserably. I was quite surprise how a professional writer put so little effort into this book; the end result is more of an beginning outline than a completed book: no overview, lack of focus, no apparent structure. The authors claim you can learn Python by reading over their 40 annotated scripts. First, the scripts are not fully explained; often no more than a few paragraphs. Second, the book does not document how any of the examples relate to the Python syntax. The documentation provided with the Python source code is better than this fruitless effort.

3 comments about Perl to Python Migration.

1. I'm an avid Perl programmer who's wanted to do more with Python, but never seem to have the time to actually _do_ something in Python because I run out of time and end up doing it in Perl. This book has helped me get over that hurdle by providing a useful cross reference, so if you want to do X in Perl (with a perl code example that looks very typical), do Y in Python (with a plausible code fragment).

   I would have rated this book 5 stars, as it very clearly achieves its stated goal. Unfortunately it is absolutely riddled with minor typo's. Perhaps that will be fixed in a future edition, but for now it makes life a bit more difficult since you have to pay very close attention to what is in the book vs. what you might already know and correct the book where it is wrong.




2. If you happen to be a Perl Hacker who wants to get into Python, this book is just what you're looking for. It's written from the perspective of a Perl programmer who has made the switch to Python. It introduces Python while explaining the relevant differences to Perl as it goes. There are also lots of code snippets showing Perl code along with its Python equivalents.

   This book does have some problems however. It has more typos in it than any other programming book I've ever read. That applies to both the text itself as well as some of the code samples. There are also some places in which it explains things assuming knowledge of something else that isn't described until further on in.

   That said, I still found the book useful, and for me it was probably worth the purchase price. I would just recommend that readers be very wary of the typos as you go along.




3. This book is a reasonable cross-reference, but it can't be trusted at all, for the simple fact that it has so many typos, spelling mistakes, and code samples with errors in that it's a dangerous book to give to a python learner. Bad show.

1 comments about Python Tutorial (Open Source Library).

1. I read this book after having read about 160 pages of the O'Reilly "Learning Python". I found Guido van Rossum's introduction to be very well-written. His examples showed some interesting things that "Learning Python" hadn't, such as the pickle library, and he included a clear but brief treatment of Python exception handling. Possibly not the best for a complete beginner, but if you've seen a little Python before, it does a wonderful job. Be aware that this text is available as part of the standard Python documentation, but having the hard copy is friendlier to the eyes and part of the profit goes back to open source.

No comments about Python: Interaktiver Einstieg in die Programmierung (Xpert.press).