Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:  
Summary: Out of date now
Comment: Python has come a long way. This book does not instruct you on any of the newest features or capabilities.
If it was to be updated and written in a simpler to follow style...I would recommend it. Until then, I highly suggest you find another beginner book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great
Comment: I am new to Python and really, really like this book. I have read it cover to cover twice. It is obviously biased in favour of Python, but goes out of its way to explain the "gotchas" and things that are not intuitive. All in all, a WAY above average computer book!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Definitely not a reference book
Comment: This book isn't horrible, but it meanders all over the place. It often confuses the issue by using several concepts in one example. There are too many instances where a technique is shown but then explained several chapters later. Sometimes this is necessary in language books, but this book abuses the idea.
I usually judge a technical book by how well it can be used as a reference after you're finished reading it. This book is so scattered in organization that it really lacks any kind of usefulness. It promotes itself as a possible first book for programming in general, but there's no way a beginner would be able to follow the concepts in the way they're presented here.
On top of that, the writing style is choppy and often rambling.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Kill your curiosity with this one
Comment: very bad book... do not use this book if youre starting programming or python. the first chapter itself will put you off completely. try instead beginning python by Magnus Lie Hetland. its simple practical and downright fun.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This should be your first Python book!
Comment: This is simply a stellar introduction to the Python language, for both newcomers to programming and those who are already proficient in another language. I know there are several choices for 'beginning' type Python books, and you may be tempted to choose a different one because it is newer than this one, but please understand that you lose nothing by reading this book instead. It covers Python 2.3 (which is just short of the current 2.4), and there are only a couple of items not referred to (e.g. decorators and decimals). But you can easily read up on the latest features online. The benefits of this book far outweigh the fact that it was published a few years ago!
Here is the true advantage of Learning Python: the authors describe the language in complete detail from the ground up. They begin with how to use the interactive interpreter and IDLE, and then move on to built-in data types. Every single thing that could be considered a 'component' of the Python language gets its own chapter (numbers, strings, lists, etc.), and the larger components (functions, modules, classes, etc.) each get their own Part (which is further divided into chapters). In other words, they take plenty of time to describe everything you need to know about everything in the language. You won't finish learning the core language until well into the 400-range of pages.
Another intro Python book that I just began reading has already covered numbers, arithmetic operators, functions, modules, and a few other things, all by page 20! I won't name the book yet, because I'm not fairly deep enough in it yet. But this is certainly not good for a newcomer.
Don't even wonder about other books! Learning Python covers every aspect of the language in great detail, yet at the same time remains intelligent (e.g. it does not explain to you what variables in general are (hopefully you have a basic understanding of programming already), but it explains in great detail what variables *in Python* are). After you read this book, you will have an amazing foundation in Python.
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