Praise for Core Python Programming

"The long-awaited second edition of Wesley Chun's Core Python Programming proves to be well worth the wait—its deep and broad coverage and useful exercises will help readers learn and practice good Python."

—Alex Martelli, author of Python in a Nutshell and editor of Python Cookbook

"There has been lot of good buzz around Wesley Chun's Core Python Programming. It turns out that all the buzz is well earned. I think this is the best book currently available for learning Python. I would recommend Chun's book over Learning Python (O'Reilly), Programming Python (O'Reilly), or The Quick Python Book (Manning)."

—David Mertz, Ph.D., IBM DeveloperWorks®

"I have been doing a lot of research [on] Python for the past year and have seen a number of positive reviews of your book. The sentiment expressed confirms the opinion that Core Python Programming is now considered the standard introductory text."

—Richard Ozaki, Lockheed Martin

"Finally, a book good enough to be both a textbook and a reference on the Python language now exists."

—Michael Baxter, Linux Journal

"Very well written. It is the clearest, friendliest book I have come across yet for explaining Python, and putting it in a wider context. It does not presume a large amount of other experience. It does go into some important Python topics carefully and in depth. Unlike too many beginner books, it never condescends or tortures the reader with childish hide-and-seek prose games. [It] sticks to gaining a solid grasp of Python syntax and structure."

—http://python.org bookstore Web site

"[If ] I could only own one Python book, it would be Core Python Programming by Wesley Chun. This book manages to cover more topics in more depth than Learning Python but includes it all in one book that also more than adequately covers the core language. [If] you are in the market for just one book about Python, I recommend this book. You will enjoy reading it, including its wry programmer's wit. More importantly, you will learn Python. Even more importantly, you will find it invaluable in helping you in your day-to-day Python programming life. Well done, Mr. Chun!"

—Ron Stephens, Python Learning Foundation

"I think the best language for beginners is Python, without a doubt. My favorite book is Core Python Programming."

—s003apr, MP3Car.com Forums

"Personally, I really like Python. It's simple to learn, completely intuitive, amazingly flexible, and pretty darned fast. Python has only just started to claim mindshare in the Windows world, but look for it to start gaining lots of support as people discover it. To learn Python, I'd start with Core Python Programming by Wesley Chun."

—Bill Boswell, MCSE, Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine Online

"If you learn well from books, I suggest Core Python Programming. It is by far the best I've found. I'm a Python newbie as well and in three months time I've been able to implement Python in projects at work (automating MSOffice, SQL DB stuff, etc.)."

—ptonman, Dev Shed Forums

"Python is simply a beautiful language. It's easy to learn, it's cross-platform, and it works. It has achieved many of the technical goals that Java strives for. A one-sentence description of Python would be: 'All other languages appear to have evolved over time--but Python was designed.' And it was designed well. Unfortunately, there aren't a large number of books for Python. The best one I've run across so far is Core Python Programming."

—Chris Timmons, C. R. Timmons Consulting

"If you like the Prentice Hall Core series, another good full-blown treatment to consider would be Core Python Programming. It addresses in elaborate concrete detail many practical topics that get little, if any, coverage in other books."

—Mitchell L Model, MLM Consulting

"Core Python Programming is an amazingly easy read! The liberal use of examples helps clarify some of the more subtle points of the language. And the comparisons to languages with which I'm already familiar (C/C++/Java) get you programming in record speed."

—Michael Santos, Ph.D., Green Hills Software

The Complete Developer's Guide to Python

• New to Python? The definitive guide to Python development for experienced programmers

• Covers core language features thoroughly, including those found in the latest Python releases—learn more than just the syntax!

• Learn advanced topics such as regular expressions, networking, multithreading, GUI, Web/CGI, and Python extensions

• Includes brand-new material on databases, Internet clients, Java/Jython, and Microsoft Office, plus Python 2.6 and 3

• Presents hundreds of code snippets, interactive examples, and practical exercises to strengthen your Python skills

Python is an agile, robust, expressive, fully object-oriented, extensible, and scalable programming language. It combines the power of compiled languages with the simplicity and rapid development of scripting languages. In Core Python Programming, Second Edition, leading Python developer and trainer Wesley Chun helps you learn Python quickly and comprehensively so that you can immediately succeed with any Python project.

Using practical code examples, Chun introduces all the fundamentals of Python programming: syntax, objects and memory management, data types, operators, files and I/O, functions, generators, error handling and exceptions, loops, iterators, functional programming, object-oriented programming and more. After you learn the core fundamentals of Python, he shows you what you can do with your new skills, delving into advanced topics, such as regular expressions, networking programming with sockets, multithreading, GUI development, Web/CGI programming and extending Python in C.

This edition reflects major enhancements in the Python 2.x series, including 2.6 and tips for migrating to 3. It contains new chapters on database and Internet client programming, plus coverage of many new topics, including new-style classes, Java and Jython, Microsoft Office (Win32 COM Client) programming, and much more.

• Learn professional Python style, best practices, and good programming habits

• Gain a deep understanding of Python's objects and memory model as well as its OOP features, including those found in Python's new-style classes

• Build more effective Web, CGI, Internet, and network and other client/server applications

• Learn how to develop your own GUI applications using Tkinter and other toolkits available for Python

• Improve the performance of your Python applications by writing extensions in C and other languages, or enhance I/O-bound applications by using multithreading

• Learn about Python's database API and how to use a variety of database systems with Python, including MySQL, Postgres, and SQLite

• Features appendices on Python 2.6 & 3, including tips on migrating to the next generation! 

Core Python Programming delivers

• Systematic, expert coverage of Python's core features

• Powerful insights for developing complex applications

• Easy-to-use tables and charts detailing Python modules, operators, functions, and methods

• Dozens of professional-quality code examples, from quick snippets to full-fledged applications

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 36 Ratings

disappointed: bad production - 2008-06-12
Reviewer Rating:
I got this book because of its many positive reviews, but I'm not happy with it.

I'm a professional programmer. C++ is my main language, but I know C, Java, Perl, Smalltalk. I have used Python a fair amount in the past; I wanted to go through a Python book because I'm starting a new project in Python and the language has changed since I last used it.

My main criticism of this book (2nd edition, 3rd printing) is its sloppy production. It is loaded with typos, broken code, and other errors. I'm surprised that most other reviewers didn't comment on this fact. The author knows about many of these errors and has corrections posted on the web, where he airily excuses the book's errors as being "due to lack of time or priority during the highly-compressed editing phase." If he or the publisher really cared, many of these errors would have been corrected by the third printing. (Many would not require resetting even a full line of type.)

As other reviewers have said, Chun's writing is rather disorganized and conversational. That's not to my taste, but evidently it suits lots of people. For the length of the book, the depth is not great.

Some reviewers say that this is the best book they have seen for beginning programmers. Maybe they are not familiar with Kernighan and Ritchie's classic, _The C Programming Language_. That book, in my opinion, is the standard of excellence.

Overall I prefer Beazley's _Python Essential Reference_ 3rd edition to Chun's book. The Reference is terse and maybe not suitable for a novice, but it is thorough, accurate, well organized, and carefully produced. Chun does provide exercises after each chapter; that is the book's main positive feature, in my opinion.

So-so - 2008-12-05
Reviewer Rating:
This was recommended in a review on Slashdot, but I'm a little disappointed. Sometimes Chun just gives code with no explanation, and other times he glosses over examples of how to use things in favor of prose. I've also found some typos, perhaps the most amusing of which is his repeatedly calling Python creator Guido van Rossum "van Rossum Guido" in one part of the book.

I haven't read any other Python books, but even if this one really is a best-of-breed, IMHO it is just so-so.

Hence, I decided after about 400 pages to read other things instead. I got what I wanted out of it and have it for reference in the future. Besides, my retention of programming languages apart from practice is low, and at the mo, I don't have need or opportunity to exercise more language features than I've used up to now.

Easy to read and understand, great for learning Python quickly - 2008-03-27
Reviewer Rating:
I recently changed my job. My new company uses Python as the main technology. Before starting this job, I didn't know Python at all. The project I worked on was on a tight schedule. Fortunately I got this book and I can immediately starting writing code in Python on the first day. The book is written in a very easy to read and understandable way. It covers almost everything you need to know about Python. The "Core Tip", "Core Note" and "Core Style" sections are especially useful and helpful. They are not just for the Python beginner to develop good coding skills and habits. They are also very valuable advice for the people who already know Python. If you want to learn Python quickly or if you want to expand your Python knowledge, this is a book for you.

Avoid this textbook pretender--ANNOYED - 2009-07-07
Reviewer Rating:
I purchased this book from a bricks and morter bookstore and after spending a frustrating week with it realized the the annoying habit of the author presenting a snippet of code and then coping-out when it came to adding anything that would make it possible to invoke the snippet (read, to make it ACTUALLY useful). He would announce that HE LEFT THAT EXERCISE FOR THE READER.
Really?
Either he has delusions of someone using this book as textbook (not a chance) or he is just too lazy.
I RETURNED THE BOOK, and by the way, I NEVER WRITE REVIEWS. That's how annoyed I was with this book.

Excellent - 2009-05-13
Reviewer Rating:
This is by far the best of the five Python books I have, and one of the best general programming books I've read. The book covers every aspect of Python, from basic syntax to regular expressions, object-oriented programming, database manipulation, GUI development, and Jython. The numerous examples are compact and emphasize the topic being presented. And Wesley Chun explains the philosophy behind Python and how to make programs more "Pythonesque."

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