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.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 142 Ratings

Good reference, not good for learning - 2009-08-24
Reviewer Rating:
If you are not a programmer by trade and are looking to learn python, wait to buy this book. It certainly provides thorough information, but it is really, really dry. Personally, I prefer a book that teaches you through exercises and examples where one lesson builds on the concepts of the last. This book does that, but to a boring degree.

I read through 80% of the book and didn't feel like I learned python because I hadn't put it into practice. I later bought the "Python Programming for the absolute beginner" book by Michael Dawson. This book gets right to the point and lets you learn by doing.

Good book - 2009-10-02
Reviewer Rating:
It's a great book. I did buy a slightly outdated version, which was why it was under $6 (including shipping), but the basics are there.

Beginner programmers: This book is perfect. Though it doesn't have all the humor of a "For Dummies" book, it's not dry reading (IMHO).

Expert programmers: Don't buy this book for yourself; it's a little long-winded. You'll learn the language, but you'll also spend too much time reading about the concepts of programming...

nice starters overview - 2009-09-01
Reviewer Rating:
This book gives a good fundamental introduction to the programming language. It is easy to read and gives clear examples.

Excellent Book - 2009-08-20
Reviewer Rating:
This book could not have better introduced Python in a clear and easy to understand manner. True, it is not exactly an interesting read, but as you plow through, you learn more than you thought possible. I have read several books on programming languages, and even the series that try to add humor and spice to the content do not teach as well as this book. I just oredered the "sequel" of sorts, Programming Python. I look forward to another great lesson in this fabulous language.

Wonderful Manual - 2009-07-13
Reviewer Rating:
This book is a wonderful introduction and reference manual to Python 2.5+. Starting with no understanding of the language itself, in eight hours of reading (over half the book) I managed to learn everything I needed to know to create a useful application to monitor my corporation's client networks. Two days after that, I wrote a GUI for the same program. Since then, the entire Operations department has been using my program to monitor our networks.
The book gives you the basics up front and gives the harder things (object-oriented programing, exception handling, etc.) near the back of the book. In the first 400 pages, I found everthing I needed to make my program work as expected. While this book is great for learning and reference, it is best paired with the [...] website, which gives all the possible methods of the standard library. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a basic programming knowledge and a desire to learn the language.

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