Customer Reviews

Python

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

" Visual Quickstart Guide Python" is the title of the book, not "Python for the WWW, etc" as this site calls it. In fact, there is nothing in it about the WWW. I am not a professional programmer, so this is one of several titles that I purchased to learn the language, and am I glad I did.I am also sorry that it was not my first book, because it would have saved me money and time to get to speed with learning Python. It's the clearest, most attractive( and illustrated, too)and well written book that I've seen so far. Every topic is presented with a sense of order and clarity . For example, when I glanced at the table of contents, I found chapter 10 was dedicated entirely to "Files", some 40 pages covering everything from "opening a file" to "Saving Objects As Files". And when I opened the book to the "Opening a file" page, the first sentence,"Python file operations are done by using file objects rather than file names", told me how intelligently and yet gently the author introduces the student to new and important concepts of the Python language. The page includes "Tips" and a complete code example, neatly separated from the book text, for the student to enter in the computer. I did not have to chase the examples through the text as in some other books. As the author cautions, this book is not intended to be exaustive, especially for advanced programming topics. The 400 pages, however, are a delight to read and use as you learn Python. I've set aside all the other books for now. Thank you Mr. Fehily.

Amazon doesn't allow us to rate the quality of an author's work separately from the publisher's presentation. That's unfortunate, because as an introductory guide to Python this is quite a good work.

Unfortunately, as of 3/07, it's also being published by Peachpit Press as an "on-demand reprint". There is nothing in the Amazon product description to tell you about this change, and indeed I'm not sure Amazon has any way of knowing about it. If you bought this book in a bookstore you'd see the "on-demand reprint" icon on the front cover, but Peachpit Press should have changed the description on Amazon. This reflects poorly on Peachpit, a company I've previously had respect for.

Peachpit's "on-demand reprint" technology is crude. The book resembled the sort of high-quality bound photocopies I used to see sold for $1-$2 in "third world" bookstores twenty years ago. It is entirely gray scale (black and white?) with blurry screen shots and irregular contrast.

The effect is quite annoying. It doesn't make the book worthless by any means, but it hurts. The cover price is $22, $14 is probably a fair sale price IF you know that you're getting an "on-demand reprint". If you can get a used copy you might do better, but of course you might end up with a used "on-demand reprint".

Of course, if you read this you now know what you're getting, and you can make an informed decision without any surprises. Which is as it should be.

Incredibly well written and insightful. This book was *exactly* what I needed to learn python quickly. Instead of filling the book with useless examples that no one would ever use in `real' life, Mr. Fehily has refreshingly provided just the right amount of code and commentary that got me up to speed with the language so that I could focus on using python in my own development.

Mr. Fehily has found just the right balance between a tutorial style teaching book and a well-organized reference book. Not only was it great while I was learning the language, but now it's the first place that I look when I run into trouble.

While not for first time programmers, this is definitely the book to buy if you need (or want) to learn python.

Previous reviewers have noted that this book is lucid and well organized. True, but what really sets it apart are the numerous and clever examples (along with resulting output) that accompany each topic. The examples progress from simple to challenging and I found myself covering the answers and mentally figuring each result as I worked my way down each page. I found this "piecemeal" approach a much more effective (and entertaining) way of learning the mechanics of a programming language than traditional (and often impractical) line-by-line expositions of page-long programs.

I usually avoid "visual" computer books because they often have too many screen shots and little information. However, this book is different. I picked it up in a bookstore and found that it looked reasonable, so I bought it. I was right.

So don't expect lots of screen shots or other visual aids. The book shows mainly very short code snippets in a Python command shell interpreter. Only where required (for example modules) complete scripts are given. But it works well, giving you just enough code to solve your problem.

It is a very useful, nearly complete introduction and reference to core Python, including the installation. For special purpose libraries (Tkinter, other GUIs, regular expressions, integrating C/C++, number crunching, communication, Web) short hints are given where to look or you have to look yourself.

One extremely important issue covered in this book is how to make deep copies of nested lists, which is hard to find in some other Python books.

It covers Python up to 2.1, some features of 2.2 are mentioned.

The book has a good value for the price.

For an amateur programmer with some experience in other languages this is an excellent first book on python. I have to admit I like to read a fair amount about the programming language before I actually sit down and write some code and I read about half the book in a weekend (while interacting with my two kids ages 1.5 and 3 years). I liked the way the book was organized, the numerous examples on each section ranging from simple to difficult, and the various tips. In a week's time I went from not knowing anything about python to writing real life utility modules to process lists and communicate with other programs. The only criticism I have is the attempt to force this book into a visual quick start format. There is nothing "visual" about this book. The so called "visual" portions are code examples arranged as "figures". Also this book does not cover GUIs, and other useful python libraries such as NumPy, although it does tell you how to get the information from websites. I cannot disagree with the reviewer who stated that this book does not give any more information than that available online. I am not sure if that is true because I have only briefly scanned the online documentation. For someone like me who prefers to read books on paper, this is well worth the price.

Summary

Python 2.1 is used in this book.

A "cookbook" style reference of Python's core syntax and core APIs. Beginner and intermediate Python programmers will find this book a great reference to get up to speed with the Python language.

This book does not teach general programming skills or how to use Python to solve common programming problems. It just provides the core Python framework for a programmer to build on.

Details

This book covers all the basics that a programmer needs to learn about any new language, such as I/O, file handling, functions, strings and flow control statements.

It also covers features that Python handles uniquely, such as lists and tuples, dictionaries, modules and classes.

These topics are presented in a "cookbook how-to" fashion. It's a fantastic way to quickly find out how to do some common programming techniques or the syntax of a Python statement.

Screen dumps provide visual feedback on how commands should work. Occasionally there are tips about special considerations for a particular command.

I use this book as a handy hard copy reference or "dictionary" of Python's syntax and core APIs to help me transition over from other languages that I use to Python in a quick and easy manner.

When we start a new project at work, my manager usually just buys a bunch of the relevant O'Reilly books and hands them out to the team. For a recent web project (with Zope), he bought this book instead because O'Reilly's _Learning Python_ is so outdated. I was surprised to like it because Peachpit mostly publishes books for learning Excel or Photoshop or HTML and isn't known for programming books. The author must have put one over on Peachpit because this book has a lot of advanced stuff (and clearly written). For example, to be a Python expert you need to know namespaces backwards and forwards -- they're as important in Python as pointers are in C. The explanation of namespaces in the Python documentation is pretty obscure and scattered throughout a few manuals, but in this book all you need to read are three consecutive sections (Understanding Namespaces, Understanding Scoping Rules, and Nesting Functions) to understand the concept well enough to start coding. There are lots of clever code snippets too. I definitely recommend buying this book!

I purchased and read several Python books. Python Visual Quickstart Guide made for somewhat dry reading first time through. But when I sat down to write my first Python program, I soon found that this was the book I wanted open in front of me all the time. The book covers all the basics. Between the table of contents, the index, and the way the book is organized, finding what you need is almost always easy -- more so than any of the other books that I bought.

This review paraphrases and expands on a review I posted on Slashdot.

As a small and simple tutorial guide I've enjoyed this book.

Most of the examples are for the command line. This will encourage you to experiment and play. Creative play is where good programmers come from. It's not going to teach you how to write a big app or become a graphics wizard. It's certainly not suitable as your only reference book. It will give you an excellent introduction to the language in simple prose. It's small, lightweight, inexpensive and brief. It'll get you started, and you'll occasionally go back to it when you want a simple understandable explanation of a concept. I've bought some other tomes that weigh 10 times as much, cost 3 times more and came with a CD, that aren't as useful. I like it and still refer back to it on occasion, maybe it'll help you. I suspect it would be ideal for anyone who has trouble with english; since almost every mini-lesson takes about 1 page and carries a very brief commentary, very little translation would be needed compared to most books.

I work in IT where the constant attitude that "O'Reilly books are always good, that's always what you should get" is starting to put a sour taste in my mouth. This book is an excellent example of an alternative to the exhaustive but exhausting O'Reilly style. Experienced working programmers may find it moves too slowly for them but for beginning to intermediate readers this book is a pleasure.