Programming Python focuses on advanced uses of the Python programming/scripting language, which has evolved from an emerging language of interest primarily to pioneers, to a widely accepted tool that traditional programmers use for real day-to-day development tasks. With Python, you can do almost anything you can do with C++; but Python is an interpreted language designed for rapid application development and deployment. Among other things, Python supports object-oriented programming; a remarkably simple, readable, and maintainable syntax; integration with C components; and a vast collection of pre-coded interfaces and utilities. As Python has grown to embrace developers on a number of different platforms (Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac), companies have taken notice and are adopting Python for their products. It has shown up animating the latest Star Wars movie, serving up maps and directories on the Internet, guiding users through Linux installations, testing chips and boards, managing Internet discussion forums, scripting online games, and even scripting wireless products. Programming Python is the most comprehensive resource for advanced Python programmers available today. Reviewed and endorsed by Python creator Guido van Rossum, who also provides the foreword, this book zeroes in on real-world Python applications. It's been updated for Python 2.0 and covers Internet scripting, systems programming, Tkinter GUIs, C integration domains, and new Python tools and applications. Among them: IDLE, JYthon, Active Scripting and COM extensions, Zope, PSP server pages, restricted execution mode, the HTMLgen and SWIG code generators, thread support, CGI and Internet protocol modules. Such applications are the heart and soul of this second edition. Veteran O'Reilly author Mark Lutz has included a platform-neutral CD-ROM with book examples and various Python-related packages, including the full Python 2.0 source code distribution.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 13 Ratings

pretty bad book - 2009-12-16
Reviewer Rating:
I'm new to python, not to programming. My programming skill level is beginner, I understand and use classes.

Anyway, I was very disappointed that this book did not come with a CD or at least a free copy online. They give you a 45(if my memory serves me right) day trial with Safari Books.

As other reviewers mentioned, it doesn't have a good index and it doesn't come with a CD, so it's hard to find info.

Also, the examples are horrible. I'm only on chapter 3 and most of the examples are going over my hand. The author will start out with a simple subject like StringIO and then dump it into a code that contains other info not yet covered. After having people explain to me what it does, both them and I fail to see the point of his example. It has no practical use.

He also keeps jumping from command line input code to IDE code.

So far, this book has been pretty boring, very unpractical and most of all hard to understand. I would definitely not recommend this book to beginners.

rather terrible. - 2010-02-05
Reviewer Rating:
I don't think I've come across a bigger deterrent to learning more about python than this book (although "learning python" runs a close second) . It's very heavy on minutiae, and myopic when it comes to larger design issues. I've had mostly great luck with the O'reilly books, but really felt let down by the Python series. Wish I had an alternate recommendation on hand, but I've just started looking elsewhere.

A total nightmare. - 2010-02-05
Reviewer Rating:
I bought this book assuming that it would be a good guide for python programming.

But I was wrong...

Right from the initial chapters, the author shows code that was not explained. And this trend just goes throughout this book.

A total disaster.

I really got discouraged and assumed that I wasn't up to it...

But then, I found an on-line tutorial [...] that gave me all I needed for python programming.
Hallelujah!

Python is an easy language to learn.

But not with this crazy book.

Bottom line, this book is totally useless for people who want to get a jump start. I mark it as a single star because it is totally irrelevant plus it knocks down a lot of trees (2 inches thick).

There's Better - 2009-12-09
Reviewer Rating:
This book is thicker than it is tall, is comprised of a quarter-acre of rain forest in paper, and is classified as a weapon in some states.
Not because it's some perfect codex of all Python knowledge, rather, it is an pointless accumulation of writing piled up for a decade. It repeats the same information not just in different chapters, but frequently in the same paragraph, just explaining something by saying the same thing over and over with different words five or six times in a row. It's poorly organized and painful to read.... which is tragic because Python is such a fun and easy language to learn.

Huge book - 2009-08-06
Reviewer Rating:
This book is one of the biggest books I own. It's amazing that the author was able to fit actual Python code on almost every page. I used to own the first version and I have to say it's definitely gotten better.

Browse Similar Topics

Top Level Categories:
Programming

Sub-Categories:
Programming > Python