Expert Python Programming shows how Python development should be done with best practices and expert design tips. This book is for Python developers who are already building applications, but want to build better ones by applying best practices and new development techniques to their projects. The reader is expected to have a sound background in Python programming.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 15 Ratings

Overly-ambitious book - 2009-06-02
Reviewer Rating:
I am a long-time python programmer that comes to the language from the sciences. The Python universe has expanded greatly since I purchased my First-Edition-copy of Programming Python. All of the new functional and meta-programing features have changed the way people approach Python and (in my opinion) greatly complicated the language. After nearly a decade of development, it is still a nightmare distributing and supporting Python programs to non-programmers (particularly on Windows) especially if the program makes heavy use of non-standard libraries. I feel that Python, like Java, suffers greatly for not being able to build native installers out-of-the box. At any rate, Python is changing faster than I can digest on my own. I was hoping that Expert Python Programing would be a sequel-of-sorts to Lutz's Programming Python (now in its Third Edition, a great book). Something similar to Bloch's Effective Java (2nd Edition) (Java Series). At least, I hoped it would give me some tools for managing the complexity. I think it fails on both counts.

My chief complaint is that the book tries to cover dozens of topics (literally) in only a few paragraphs each. Often, you get a quick sentence or two introducing a topic, a short code snippet that tries to illustrate the point and then a reference to the project web site or a general Wikapedia entry expanding on the topic (imagine that, RTFM in a book!). Ziade is no Kernighan and Richie where each small code example practically exudes elegance and style, nor is he Josh Boch where a few thoughtful paragraphs of explanation (by a true expert) go a long way towards illuminating arcane but critical details of the language and its use. Instead, I got the feeling I was looking over the shoulder of a young, hotshot programer during a coffee break as he demonstrates his latest hack.

It is impossible to do justice to Python's advanced features in the short chapters here. Much less trying to introduce an entire software stack for code management, testing, and distribution. Instead of enriching my understanding of Python, I often set down the book more confused and frustrated than before. Is it really this convoluted? The book feels like reading a Wiki. There is no depth, no context, it is just a 340-page list of what should be in a book (probably several books) about expert programing in Python. But isn't yet.

Python as it's really used - 2009-02-27
Reviewer Rating:
How is Python used in real, large-scale projects? How do huge projects with hundreds of committers use distutils, doctests, buildbots and buildout to coordinate high-quality, agile development? This book shows how it's done. As pointed out in another review, it's the "missing manual" -- not for short snippets of cookbook code, but for real development practices.

Packt is a quick-work press, and they obviously didn't provide the kind of polished editing and presentation that some presses provide. But, in my opinion, they made up for it by bringing a book by a real expert to press while the practices discussed are still current. And, while my editor's eye occasionally stumbled on bits of awkward English, Tarek's good sense and generous intellect come through, and more than make up for it.

Great Book for Non Python Experts - 2009-02-05
Reviewer Rating:
I recently completed reading of the Packt Publishing book Expert Pyton Programming by Tarek ZiadGÇÜ. Overall, as a Python developer, however not quite an expert yet (but working on it), I did find that the book was not quite on the "Expert" level as much of the topics I know as being an intermediate Python programmer.

Expert Python Programming is a useful guide that takes you from the installing Python and setting up your environment all the way through documentation and Test-Driven Development. As I read through the book, as I elluded to earlier, the book isnt so much of an "Expert" book as it is a Python user guide. The book takes you through the Python basics, offers some "intermediate" items, and concludes with "some" expert techniques.

I didnt feel that the book had an overall "flow" to it. The chapters themselves were great from an information standpoint, however, if you didnt follow the chapters in order, you will still come to the same conclusion. For this reason, I consider this book as more of a guide (a book to grab as a reference to a technique).

With all of that being said, I really enjoyed the book. The book gives a "high level" overview of several advanced Python modules such as itertools and offered several techniques different from the way that I have been currently applying functions, etc. Being an intermediate Python developer, the book seemed more for someone with my skillset than an expert.

PROS

* Chapters on good programming practices such as documentation, version control, and testing
* Excellent review on managing your code with Mercurial
* Excellent review on Test-Driven Programming
* Great as a Python users guide
* Gets right to the point on the topics

CONS

* Not exactly an "Expert" programming book

OVERALL

Overall, I feel that this was a great book that I would go back to as a reference. However, I am still on the lookout for an "Expert" level book!

disappointed - 2009-08-25
Reviewer Rating:
I agree with one of the previous reader's comment that, the author tries to cover too many things in a hurry, and lacks the ability to convey things in a clear and concise manner. End result: I lost my interests on chapter 2.

Like a blog about the past few years' Python trends - 2009-08-10
Reviewer Rating:
This book is tantalyzing --- like pressing your nose against the window of a fine pastry shop.

I found this book useful primarily as a list of suggestions or tricks --- "X is good, here is why, now go find out about it". A good example is the treatment of list comprehensions: we're shown an example of what one looks like, but there's no description of the syntax, and one is left to guess at the (relatively clear) semantics from context. The same is true of generators and iterators.

This is good, because it breezily introduces the topic and gives you a sense of why you want to understand it. It's frustrating, because it means you have to go somewhere else to get that understanding. Bereft of the internet over the weekend, I found myself going through the book, jotting down page numbers and the names of concepts, with the intention of looking up the concept in the index of The Python Reference Manual, or simply googling the terms.

Overall, I'm basically satisfied with the book --- the superficial way in which many things are treated leaves room to mention many things. The Internet is a wonderful resource for in-depth learning, but it's hard to know where to start. Starting with this book isn't a bad first step.

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