Google and YouTube use Python because it's highly adaptable, easy to maintain, and allows for rapid development. If you want to write high-quality, efficient code that's easily integrated with other languages and tools, this hands-on book will help you be productive with Python quickly -- whether you're new to programming or just new to Python. It's an easy-to-follow self-paced tutorial, based on author and Python expert Mark Lutz's popular training course. Each chapter contains a stand-alone lesson on a key component of the language, and includes a unique Test Your Knowledge section with practical exercises and quizzes, so you can practice new skills and test your understanding as you go. You'll find lots of annotated examples and illustrations to help you get started with Python 3.0.

• Learn about Python's major built-in object types, such as numbers, lists, and dictionaries

• Create and process objects using Python statements, and learn Python's general syntax model

• Structure and reuse code using functions, Python's basic procedural tool

• Learn about Python modules: packages of statements, functions, and other tools, organized into larger components

• Discover Python's object-oriented programming tool for structuring code

• Learn about the exception-handling model, and development tools for writing larger programs

• Explore advanced Python tools including decorators, descriptors, metaclasses, and Unicode processing

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 I did buy a slightly outdated version, which was why it was under $6 (including shipping), but the basics are there.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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