| Overview
Portable, powerful, and a breeze to use, Python is ideal for both
standalone programs and scripting applications. With this hands-on
book, you can master the fundamentals of the core Python language
quickly and efficiently, whether you're new to programming or just
new to Python. Once you finish, you will know enough about the
language to use it in any application domain you choose.
Learning Python is based on material from author Mark
Lutz's popular training courses, which he's taught over the past
decade. Each chapter is a self-contained lesson that helps you
thoroughly understand a key component of Python before you
continue. Along with plenty of annotated examples, illustrations,
and chapter summaries, every chapter also contains Brain
Builder, a unique section with practical exercises and review
quizzes that let you practice new skills and test your
understanding as you go.
This book covers:
Types and Operations -- Python's major built-in object types in
depth: numbers, lists, dictionaries, and more
Statements and Syntax -- the code you type to create and
process objects in Python, along with Python's general syntax
model
Functions -- Python's basic procedural tool for structuring and
reusing code
Modules -- packages of statements, functions, and other tools
organized into larger components
Classes and OOP -- Python's optional object-oriented
programming tool for structuring code for customization and
reuse
Exceptions and Tools -- exception handling model and
statements, plus a look at development tools for writing larger
programs
Learning Python gives you a deep and complete
understanding of the language that will help you comprehend any
application-level examples of Python that you later encounter. If
you're ready to discover what Google and YouTube see in Python,
this book is the best way to get started.
Editorial ReviewsProduct DescriptionPortable, powerful, and a breeze to use, Python is ideal for both standalone programs and scripting applications. With this hands-on book, you can master the fundamentals of the core Python language quickly and efficiently, whether you're new to programming or just new to Python. Once you finish, you will know enough about the language to use it in any application domain you choose. Learning Python is based on material from author Mark Lutz's popular training courses, which he's taught over the past decade. Each chapter is a self-contained lesson that helps you thoroughly understand a key component of Python before you continue. Along with plenty of annotated examples, illustrations, and chapter summaries, every chapter also contains Brain Builder, a unique section with practical exercises and review quizzes that let you practice new skills and test your understanding as you go. This book covers: Types and Operations -- Python's major built-in object types in depth: numbers, lists, dictionaries, and more Statements and Syntax -- the code you type to create and process objects in Python, along with Python's general syntax model Functions -- Python's basic procedural tool for structuring and reusing code Modules -- packages of statements, functions, and other tools organized into larger components Classes and OOP -- Python's optional object-oriented programming tool for structuring code for customization and reuse Exceptions and Tools -- exception handling model and statements, plus a look at development tools for writing larger programs. Learning Python gives you a deep and complete understanding of the language that will help you comprehend any application-level examples of Python that you later encounter. If you're ready to discover what Google and YouTube see in Python, this book is the best way to get started. | Amazon.com ReviewThe authors of Learning Python show you enough essentials of the Python scripting language to enable you to begin solving problems right away, then reveal more powerful aspects of the language one at a time. This approach is sure to appeal to programmers and system administrators who have urgent problems and a preference for learning by semi-guided experimentation. First off, Learning Python shows the relationships among Python scripts and their interpreter (in a mostly platform-neutral way). Then, the authors address the mechanics of the language itself, providing illustrations of how Python conceives of numbers, strings, and other objects as well as the operators you use to work with them. Dictionaries, lists, tuples, and other data structures specific to Python receive plenty of attention including complete examples. Authors Mark Lutz and David Ascher build on that fundamental information in their discussions of functions and modules, which evolve into coverage of namespaces, classes, and the object-oriented aspects of Python programming. There's also information on creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for Python applications with Tkinter. In addition to its careful expository prose, Learning Python includes exercises that both test your Python skills and help reveal more elusive truths about the language. |
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Reader Reviews From Amazon (Ranked by 'Helpfulness') Average Customer Rating: based on 137 reviews. Good if you read the whole thing., 2009-06-20 Reviewer rating: I'm an experienced C++ programmer, wanting to learn python. The very bottom-up organization of the book makes it hard to be productive without reading the entire book. I just finished it, and I think it presented a very clear, logical description of the language. However, if you only read the first half, you don't know "beginning python". Rather, you know half of the language, and can't do anything useful. This is entirely the wrong book to read if you need to write some useful python code tomorrow.
It was a little wordy and repetitive in places, but goes into enough depth to give a good understanding of the language. | Good book for starting python, 2009-06-15 Reviewer rating: This book has about 30 short chapters that focus on introducing a small piece. The author does not assume much experience, and tries to provide a clear explanation of each topic. The book is divided to 7 parts that cover a certain aspect, such as classes or modules.
The examples are mostly small, and very often for the interactive shell rather than as stand alone programs. The author states that this book was written as a learning tool, rather than as a guide to producing real life programs. For that, he guides readers to his follow up book, programming python (which I have not read).
One shortfall was the confinement of exercises to the end of parts (which often have 5 or so chapters) rather than at the end of each chapter. This approach might be alright considering the level of material covered, but I think it would be helpful to have more exercises.
In general, I think this is a good starting point to python, but probably needs to be followed by other books for actual production. | Excellent primer on Python, 2009-05-07 Reviewer rating: Compared to other Python guides I have used this one is the best. As always, O'Reilly has produced a great guide that can be approached either as a starting manual or an in-depth technical manual and reference. Although my time devoted to it has been limited everything it has taught so far has 'sunk in' far more than some of the other guides and on-line tutorials. Overall, I definitely recommend this guide for either software developers who want a platform for creating powerful applications (hopefully free software under the GPL!) or quick scripting in GNU/Linux environments. | A wonderful book if your target is to learn Python, 2009-05-01 Reviewer rating: Learning Python, 3rd Edition
I did not know anything about Python. I was just looking for a good book about this language in order to help my daughter at her University. The book not only help her as help me too. Since I began to read this book I could not stop reading. Reading it I could understand how powerful is the Python. | Good introduction to Python, to get you started, 2009-03-20 Reviewer rating:
This is one of the best introductory book I ever read on Python. This is a well-designed, well-written and concise book.
It gives you all the knowledge that you need to write system administration utilities, Internet-related programs and other small applications.
I will recommend this book to beginners to expert level. |
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