[oclug] Books for learning python

[Dan York]

At last night's meeting, someone mentioned wanting to learn a 
programming language and that they were considering perl. Several
people suggested that if you have never worked with *any*
programming (or scripting) language, you should start with python
first, as it is much easier to learn than perl or C (in large 
part because there are fewer ways to do things so you don't get
quite as lost in the options).  

I agree with these comments and recently have spent some more
time working with python, and would recommend two books:

For a complete newbie who hasn't worked with any programming
language, I was quite please with SAMS "Teach Yourself 
Python in 24 Hours" by Ivan Van Laningham, ISBN 0-672-31735-4,
list price $37.96CAN.  The author's writing style is a bit 
chatty at times, but overall I found it a good intro [1].  It
does cover basic python, object-oriented programming and then
GUI programming with Tkinter. This last part was quite fun for
me (I extended one of the examples into a fun little app that
provides a scale for converting Celsius into Fahrenheit,
something my brain still needs me to do.)  There is a web site
for the book which includes a helpful errata page:

 http://www.pauahtun.org/TYPython/

The second book is one I found quite useful for someone coming
over to python from other programming languages. It is 
"The Quick Python Book" by Daryl Harms and Kenneth McDonald,
published by Manning, ISBN 1-884777-74-0, list $57.95CAN.  It assumes 
you already know programming concepts, constructs, etc. from other
languages and focuses on giving you the basics you need to 
transition to python.  It covers a wide range of features 
and gets into some fairly advanced topics.  The Tkinter section
here is very short (but Manning also covers a large book 
specifically on python and Tkinter), but it does get into 
a whole host of advanced things that the SAMS book doesn't,
including interacting with C & C++.
It, too, has a web site at:

  http://www.manning.com/Harms/

The second printing, which I got, corrected most of the errors.
One nice thing is that the authors are giving 20% of their royalties
to support the Python Software Activity.

I bought them both over at Bruce's store (Computer Books For Less)
over on O'Connor street (between Slater and Laurier) a couple of
weeks ago. (Where OCLUGgers get a 35% discount off the list price.)

Those are my comments,
Dan

[1] Please keep in mind that when I am recommending this as
a "good intro" book, my perspective may be a bit warped.
I've been programming in various languages for 20+
years and been using python for about 2 years. So your
mileage may vary...

-- 
Dan York, Director of Training        dyork at e-smith.com
Ph: +1-613-751-4401  Mobile: +1-613-263-4312 Fax: +1-613-564-7739 
e-smith, inc. 150 Metcalfe St., Suite 1500, Ottawa,ON K2P 1P1 Canada
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