Customer Reviews

Core Python Programming (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

For the last few months I was developing in Perl. But I found myself very frustrated with the syntax, and the Perl books on the market did a so-so job on explaining how everything worked.

And then I came across this book. I had read a review about in the Linux Journal. In 2 days I "inhaled" 200+ pages of this book, about 7 chapters. To begin with, this book is easy to understand, has numerous examples to go long with the text, and does an excellent job in progessing through Python.

The first 400 pages cover syntax, style, functions, classes, modules, etc. If you've ever programmed in another language (C, C++, Java, Perl), Mr. Chun compares Python to each of them in simularities and differences. You should be pick up on these quite easily. The last part of the book in more advanced topics, which I found quite enjoyable.

I don't program in Perl anymore. After reading this book, I wonder why I didn't look at Python first. Aside from a book on Tkinter, this is the only book that I keep on my desk. It's great for teaching and learning, but makes a great reference book also.

Definitely worth 5 stars. The book clearly explains its purpose, and the author makes his methodologies known in the beginning as to how he will approach teaching the language. His explanations are clear and concise, and it does not contradict the DOCS available on the Python web site. He's both humorous and informative, with a relaxed style of writing.

The code in itself is neatly organized, clearly explained, and overall, it works. He does cover a lot of Python basics, the majority of the book are Python basics. He also covers advanced topics such as network programming, extending Python through C/C++ modules, and multithreading. All of which are important, being able to write distributed applications, writing responsive programs, and being able to extend the language are all equally important. Python's power is clearly explained and logically thought-out in this book. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn Python but are new to programming.

As a side note, I would also take extra time and check out the DOCS themselves. The author is good, but by no means perfect, supplement the book with the DOCS, it'll help you out a lot more. I have plans on writing more complicated web services using Python, and this book will remain beside me as both a reference and a guide when I'm lost.

The author's writing style is very similar to Bruce Eckel's. Both authors present somewhat abstract concepts in a clear and concise way that makes reading their material enjoyable. I highly recommend this book for any novice programmer wanting to learn Python. Chun does a good job explaining OOP concepts, so if you only have experience with a procedural language (C, Pascal, etc.)don't worry. If you are a programming expert, purist, guru, or OOP king you may find this book a bit long and shallow.:)

If you do not know python or have only immediate knowledge then get this book. it explains all the python concepts in a clear and easy to follow way. I think it is much better than "Learning Python" from Oreilly or the ugly "Python in 24 hours". If you want to learn python, you should consider buying this book. Besides Addison-Wesleys Book "Programming Ruby - A pragmatic programmers guide", this is one of the best introductions to a language I have come across.

This book is an excellent read for someone new to python but with some other programming knowledge. This was my first exposure to Python (coming from Perl) and I found this book very helpful. The author explains things very thoroughly and intuitively. He writes a lot of prose and not just all code examples, but good explanations also. I found myself reading this most times without a computer in front of me. So by the time I actually sat down and dug into the syntax, I was already very familiar with the basic concepts of the language. It touches on most subjects I was looking for.

It may not be for the extreme beginner or as the end-all reference for gurus, but for us in between its just whats needed.

this is easily one of the better programming books I've read.

I have read the first 100 pages of the book. The author assumes that you know something about programming, so it is not for absolute beginners. As long as you know the basics of progamming you should be fine. The book is divided into 2 sections: Core Python and advanced topics( regular expressions, network programming, Web programming, and threads, etc). He starts off with a crash course in python covering all major topics of python. Then he covers the topics in detail. I have read other python books before and this one is by far the best. The author is a very good writer. He writes in a very clear and logical manner. The topics are covered thorougly. I haven't seen many errors in the text, so that's good.

I have been programming in Python for a couple of years. "Core" has been on my bookshelf, but I didn't consult it much until I wanted to learn CGI ("Web") programming, and thought I would see what I could find in it.

It was a revelation! The explanations of basic concepts are very clear, yet short and to the point, and cover all of the basic information. As one example, the explanation of client-server architecture in the chapter on network programming really gives you the basic concepts. I am extremely impressed.

So I think this book would be a very good choice for someone in the beginner to intermediate range. In my case, I'm in the intermediate category for some topics, but for some topics I am a complete beginner. So this book was just what I needed.

The explanations are so clear and well-written that it is easy to give "Core" 5 stars. I suggest that you ignore the reviews that complain about the big type. The big type makes the book a pleasure to read: as one reviewer said, you can just sit down and read this book, even if you're not in front of your computer. The only disadvantage to the big type is that it might give a prospective buyer the impression that this book is not as solid as it really is.

As an intermediate programmer(mainly familiar with adapting scripting languages like bash and perl to perform basic - and much more complex - tasks on my computer ranging from sys admin stuff to creating my own database systems - foolishly), finding Core Python was a revelation for me, and is absolutely THE book I'd recommend to anyone who wants to learn the language. I've read 1000's of pages of Python texts, and paid hundreds of dollars, and wasted months and months doing so. Core Python would have saved me these grotesque expenditures, and only bothered writing this in the hopes of sparing other intermediate and beginning programmers from my fate. Here's the deal:

My background:
20 years in computing, 7 in linux, *no* background in object-oriented programming, know *very* *basic* Java, once wrote a small program in C++ by following instructions in high school (to whit: NONE), bunch of web-design, and have comprehensive and extensive understanding (both practical and theoretical) of MIDI/music technology in general, with which I have been working for the past 14ish years (including writing my own parsing programs and building front-ends for numerous practical applications), almost a year of building my own database programs from scratch (to read: bash... from nothing). So, I'm totally no one I'd brag about (not a code jedi or anything), but I do know how to program, and know how to learn a new language... and, if you're at all like me, then you will love Core Python. But, I'm getting sidetracked. I think it's always important to know WHY someone wanted to learn a language before reading their review of a survey course in the language so...

Why I wanted to learn python:
I had gotten back into programming (and had returned to Linux after a long hiatus) after discovering how far ye olde OS had come in regards to music/audio programming. I was now able to leverage the scripting power of Bash to accomplish things that, years before, would have been unheard of. This made the scripting world of old new again, and I was addicted to programming all over again. Then, I wanted to port some of my more complicated database programs to other systems and really learn a full-fledged oop language at the same time. I had heard great things about Python, so that's where I went. I decided to learn Python...

The horrible world of useless and expensive python books:
And I ran into a brick wall of horrible books that were as expensive as they were useless. I was no stranger to new languages, and yet I COULD NOT FIND A BOOK that could walk me through Python in any logical, reliable, or efficacious way. I've read all four of the major texts on the subject, and have found them all to be terrible at actually teaching the language (and each has generally failed me in it's own specific way... with the exception of the Lutz O'Reilly "Learning Python Book," which is such a quagmire that's it's difficult to decide if it's simply an incomprehensibly ludicrous exercise in absurdism or the worst attempt at creating a survey of any language I have ever read). These books were so disappointing... I was focused, ready, had a lot of previous programming experience, the willingness for rigorous study, and the understanding of the process of learning a new language, yet I could not find a book that was at all adequate. UNtil I read about Core Python on some obscure university thread... the thread had been replied to by Mr Chun, and his explanation of the problem was so elegant, and with a demeanor so (unfortunately) lacking in most current python circles, that I had to give python one more try... If only I had started with Core Python, I wouldn';t have wasted hundreds of dollars (and, worse, FAR TOO MANY HOURS) with books written to ride the Python craze. CORE PYTHON is the only book I've found that approaches the language in a comprehensive fashion, with limited wind, outlining the essential functions for programming, organized in such a way that it can get anyone with experience in a different language up and running *VERY* fast (a kind of choose-your-own-adventure structure to programming that isn't bewildering or obtrusive). Likewise, it doubles as an excellent reference. The best part, though, is that it provides excellent sample code, and operates with the underlying assumption that you expect to learn by coding yourself (hence the excellent excercises at the end of each chapter; something that very few of the major python books I've read have bothered with at all, and, of the few which have, haven't been done well).

In short, this is one of the best books to introduce you to (as the title says) Core Python. If you want to learn to code in Python, regardless of previous (or lack of previous) progamming experience, there is no other text that truly teaches through an incremental process and then expects you to code at the conclusion of the sections. I could rrant and rave about how great I think it is, but let me simply say that, when the edition covering 3.1 comes out, I can't wait to buy and devour it (and keep it as my new standard reference for the syntax of the new version of the language).

The only other book that comes close to Core Python is "Beginning Python" but that doesn't take quite the serious and comprehensive and details oriented approach as CP.

5 stars.

This may be a good book for beginners. For experienced programmers who just want to know what's new and unique of Python, it's hard to find what you need fast. I found Dive into Python is better for me.

This was my first Python book and I was learning Python for the first time after spending years in Java . I must say this was a great book for someone trying to correlate concepts with another programming language . It bring out the powerful concepts on Python very well especially the string/list functionality. I also liked its treatment of Object Oriented Functionality as well as the description of Python's functional features. The language is lucid and the author gets straight down to an example without beating around the bush. I am giving it 4 stars only because I didn't find its treatment of Regular Expressions as extensive as I hoped and I had to refer to other books/online to get more examples .