Customer Rating: 
Summary: It worked for me
Comment: I think this book would be quite overwhelming to the compelete newbie to programming. It does assume that you have a programming background already, e.g. You will definitely not learn the principles of OO from this book, though you will learn the python constructs to support OO.But if you have the background, I think this book serves its purpose well, I was writing non trivial programs within a few days of picking up this book. It gives a good feel of what can be acheived with Python and a good base before you tackle the more hardcore Programming Python.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: A good overview that can be used to learn Python
Comment: As someone who works with and trains people in many different programming languages and techniques, it is necessary for me to always keep an eye on new things. I had heard a great deal about the Python language and most comments were positive. Therefore, I read this book for the purpose of simply learning what the language had to offer rather than to actually learn how to program in it. I found the material to be well presented and informative, but certainly not for anyone with a limited programming background.
There are many references to what is done in C, which helped me, as I have an extensive background in the language. However, if you do not know C, then they are somewhat helpful filler at best, confusing chaff at the worst. The examples are in almost all cases very short, which makes them toys of limited use, but that is how learning a programming language is best done. It is possible to use this book to learn how to program in Python if you already know how to program in an object-oriented language. There are exercises at the end of each chapter and solutions to all are in an appendix. The exercises are at the level that they should be for beginners and the topics are standard learning material.
Since my goal was to simply learn something about the Python language, I extracted the desired information when I read it. If my goal would have been to learn how to program in Python, I could have also done that if I had read slower and did the exercises. It is a language with many interesting features and since it is also a scripting language, Python could be used for many things. No doubt I will have to learn it in the future and this book is where I will start.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The best introductory book ever written
Comment: For all programming newbies that want to start with a real programming language, Python must their choice and "Learning Python" their first book on programming.It provides a complete, concise introduction to Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) with Python and cleary explains how you can do almost everything with simple scripts! It does not include any kind of reference at all - however this is not a drawback because it's not directly in the book's purpose - after all the standard Python distribution includes all the references you need. So far, the languages mostly tought in schools are LOGO and stone-age distributions of BASIC (such as GWBASIC or QBASIC...). Even if you overlook the fact that they are way outdated, the most oblivious student can understand that even when these languages were created, they were all useless. It's high time for this situation to change - as Python can be the first language a young person can learn and probably the only one it will ever need!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but...
Comment: Can't really describe precisely what's wrong with this book. I've been programming, and picking up languages, for 25 years. This book didn't do anything for me... so I just started writing some code. At some point the light went on and Python was magically easy. Now, as I need to help some other people learn Python I'm looking back through the book and NOW it looks great - covers the key details, describes them well, warns you about pitfalls, etc. In short, everything I'd like to present as a trainer (and I know it grew out of the authors' experiences as trainers). But it didn't work at all for me as a newbie.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Learn Python FAST for experienced programmers
Comment: I find this a great book for experienced programmers who have used other languages to get to know Python's unique features very well. The exercises at the end of each chapter with their abstract approach inculcate the concepts very well in the reader's mind as opposed to a 'learn by implementing "supposedly practical" stuff' approach which i believe only contributes to fluff in a book. This book could be aptly named Learn Python in X days where at the end of X days you would truly have a useful and in-depth knowledge of the language but this is also a testament to Python's simplicity and lack of idiosyncracies.
|
|
