Now, if you *have* coded before, and want to learn Python, then this book should be in your cart. I was suprised how proficient I had become in python after one day with it--already writing functions! It's been a week, now, and I just can't stop.

BTW, there is something in the book that may confuse you. If you don't understand why this book mentions, of all things, spam, dead parrots and lumberjacks, you probably also don't know much about "Monty Python's flying circus"--from which, as I hope you have guessed, Python got its name. I chuckled as I read (and typed)

lumberjack="okay"

...and I still think its funny. 'Ni!'

I found the writing excessively dry, the index substandard, the and the language very very opaque. The organization is also pretty haphazard. Quite often concepts are introduced briefly and off-handedly, but then dropped as "not quite ready" to be discussed, with no further reference given.

Most of the examples used to demonstrate basics are either trivial or very abstract. A set of well-thought-out, useful examples are missing from this book, and if they had been included, would have gone a long way towards showing a beginner how to use this language.

Generally, not up to O'Reilly standards.

A succinct, yet thorough treatment of the Python programming language is presented in some 350-plus written pages that are well organized and facilitate the development of Python programs in a "Read and Code as You Go" fashion.

After spot reading the Chapters on "Getting Started", "Types And

Operators", "Basic Statements", "Functions", "Modules" and "Common Tasks In Python", I was coding and running my first text file I/O Python programs within the first half of a day. The authors concise presentation of the concepts definitely facilitated the "learning curve", which so often is an obstacle when learning a new programming language. The material was also indexed very well with clear index descriptions to easily determine what the topic was and where to find it.

What I found to be the strongest point of the book were the "Gotchas" sections, in which the authors discussed topics such as Python Language Constructs, Program Class Usage and Coding Practices to be aware of. I found the "Common Coding Gotchas" section at the end of Chapter 3 of great benefit in coding and debugging my first self-authored Python programs (As I learned, Python is definitely a language where you want to indent consistently, avoid the mixing of blank spaces with tabs and not forget the use of colons to denote decision logic). The application of these concepts alone were a great asset in reducing the "Learning Curve" for me.

The program examples provided reinforced the clear, concise concepts presented by the authors. The programs that I studied were suited to running in both a Linux environment (using Linux Python Version 1.5.2 for SuSE(tm) Linux 7.0 and Red Hat(tm) Linux 6.1) and MS Windows(tm) NT/98 (using Active State's Active Python(tm) Version 2.1).

Exercises presented at the end of the chapter were effective at reinforcing the programming concepts presented. With some supplemental tutorial material for non-programmers, this book could be used as an educational text for a Python programming class, particularly one geared for programmers with scripting language experience.

The authors did a good job of covering a number of topics important to application programmers. Object-oriented Constructs, Manipulation of String Objects, Operating System Module Use, GUI Programming Component Frameworks and Applications such as Tkinter and JPython are discussed to provide the reader a good exposure to the extent of the Python language implementation and its strenght as a robust, object-oriented scripting language.

The book is definitely an invaluable resource for providing the essential material necessary to construct your first Python programs, especially if you've had prior programming experience with other scripting languages, such as REXX, Javascript or Perl.

Definitely one of the best O'Reilly publications I've read to date. Kudos to Mr. Lutz and Mr. Ascher for their contribution to making the experience of "Learning Python" a fun and productive pursuit. Five Stars!

However, it is a book about learning the Python language itself. If you do not know anything at all about programming, consider *Learn to Program Using Python* by Alan Gauld.