Learning Python (Help for Programmers) [Paperback]

Mark Lutz (Author), David Ascher (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1565924649 | ISBN-13: 978-1565924642 | Publication Date: April 14, 1999 | Edition: 1st ed

Learning Python is an introduction to the increasingly popular Python programming language. Python is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented scripting language. Python is growing in popularity because:

• It is available on all important platforms: Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows 98, Linux, all major UNIX platforms, MacOS, and even the BeOS.
• It is open-source software, copyrighted but freely available for use, even in commercial applications.
• Its clean object-oriented interface makes it a valuable prototyping tool for C++ programmers.
• It works well with all popular windowing toolkits, including MFC, Tk, Mac, X11, and Motif. Learning Python is written by Mark Lutz, author of Programming Python and Python Pocket Reference; and David Ascher, a vision scientist and Python user. This book starts with a thorough introduction to the elements of Python: types, operators, statements, classes, functions, modules, and exceptions. By reading the first part of the book, the reader will be able to understand and construct programs in the Python language. In the second part of the book, the authors present more advanced information, demonstrating how Python performs common tasks and presenting real applications and the libraries available for those applications. All the examples use the Python interpreter, so the reader can type them in and get instant feedback. Each chapter ends with a series of exercises. Solutions to the exercises are in an appendix.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The 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.

Review

"...is an excellent introductory text for those who really want to know the language inside out. Backed up with code examples from other works or on the Web, it does provide a great foundation for future Python work." Linux Users, Issue 21

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1st ed edition (April 14, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565924649
• ISBN-13: 978-1565924642
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,063,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

119 of 133 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to Python, February 24, 2000

By 

Alessandro Bottoni - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learning Python (Help for Programmers) (Paperback)

Together with "Perl: the programmer's companion", by Nigel Chapman, this is one of the best introductory book I ever read. If you already know "Programming Python", the previous book of Mark Lutz on Python, and are concerned about the possibility that this book was just another messy collection of concepts and tips, relax: this is a completely different object. "learning Python" is a well-designed, well-written and concise book. It gives you all you need to write system administration utilities, Internet-related programs and other small applications. (Should you need a book on TKinter, the standard GUI module of Python, buy "Python and TKinter programming", by John Grayson, Manning publisher).

Consider to buy this book because:

- It is clear and well written. No struggles to understand the basic concepts and having the first programs running.

- It is well-designed and well-structured. You can find the info you need in a snap.

- You get a real understanding of Python, not only a description of its nice features.

- It is concise. In a day or two you will be coding in Python.

- It is a very good guide to keep on your desk. It is the missing part of the online documentation.

- In describes how to perform the most common task with Python. You will not have to reinvent any wheel.

- It describes a few important modules of Python: JPython, TKinter and COM. You can get a feeling of what you can do with Python (but, to go further, you will have to read the online documentation and perform a few experiments by yourself).

Python is a very smart language and deserved a better book than "Programming Python". This is that book.

42 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars extremely disappointed, January 17, 2003

By 

mikshir (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Learning Python (Help for Programmers) (Paperback)

I bought this book because I originally bought the author's Programming Python book mistakenly thinking it would be similar to the Programming Perl book (which is a stellar book, where as the Python equivalent is more like a cookbook). It was immediately obvious that I was NOT going to learn Python from that book so I bought this one. Again, a mistake. It may be a fair overview of Python but it did not give me the tools I needed to be productive right away; and if it did have the information that I was looking for it was not obvious. Simple things like writing to standard error, file tests, executing separate programs and saving the output, parsing text, even how to force a script to bloody exit... basically common things people expect from a scripting language right away were given either little, weak, or *NO* obvious treatment. The appendix is no help either, I could not find most of these simple operations listed there under the usual key words. I'm sorry to say but this is the worst O'Reilly book I've come accross and (together with Programming Python) is a black mark on the series.

40 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fair introduction to Python for an experienced programmer, October 4, 1999

By 

Maksim Khrapov <[e-mail]> (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learning Python (Help for Programmers) (Paperback)

First off I would like to make a distinction between the Python programming language and this particular introduction to it. Python is a great language and you will enjoy programming in it. This is probably the source of excitement in reviews on this page. Because the book, unfortunately, has a number of flaws.

The tradition of O'Reilly Perl books has been not only to teach you the syntax of Perl, but also to introduce programming techniques and ideas how to make best use of the language features. This Python book scores zero on these points. It focuses on syntax exclusively and this makes it unsuitable for an absolute beginner. The examples are unimaginative. The authors show you how to write correct code for using "dictionaries", but not how to USE "dictionaries". A Perl book author would throw in a program that uses a "hash" to search for duplicate data entries (as they did).

Besides, the flow of the book is uneven. Functions and classes are discussed at length, but built-in data types and exceptions are looked at only briefly. All this is really unfortunate because there are not very many Python books on the market and it is a very good language.

Overall, I think, this book is best for experienced programmers who already know their CS, have to get up to speed with Python very quickly, have $30 to waste, and really love to own O'Reilly books. The rest might be better off by printing out the Python tutorial.