Book Recomendations

[Ira Solomon]

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

Thanks

Ira

[Ryan M.]

Re: Book Recomendations

On Mar 1, 7:56 pm, Ira Solomon <isolo...@solom onltd.comwrote:

I am an experienced programmer (40 years).  I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality.  I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.
>
Thanks
>
Ira

I would recommend checking out the official Python tutorial -
http://docs.python.org/tut/ - it has some valuable information, and is
always kept up to date.

I'm haven't looked at any Python books (yet), so I can't provide any
recommendations there.

HTH.

[Tro]

Re: Book Recomendations

On Saturday 01 March 2008, Ira Solomon wrote:

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

The official tutorial is required reading. After that, Dive Into Python
(http://diveintopython.org/).

Cheers,
Tro

[Jeff Schwab]

Re: Book Recomendations

Ira Solomon wrote:

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

Python In A Nutshell:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pythonian2/

Here's a previous discussion of books for newbies, but I gave my
recommendations for other experienced programmers; be forwarned that I'm
not quite as experienced as you appear to be. :)

http://www.nabble.com/newbie-in-python-td15608979.html#nabble.star15617714-1

[subeen]

Re: Book Recomendations

On Mar 2, 6:56 am, Ira Solomon <isolo...@solom onltd.comwrote:

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.
>
Thanks
>
Ira

I have found that 'Dive into Python' is a good book for people who
have experience with other languages. It's available free here:

http://www.diveintopython.org/

regards,
Subeen

http://love-python.blogspot.com/

[Paddy]

Re: Book Recomendations

On Mar 2, 12:56 am, Ira Solomon <isolo...@solom onltd.comwrote:

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.
>
Thanks
>
Ira

Hi Ira,
Get Python installed on your machine - I would suggest the latest 2.5
release then either start up idle (or pythonwin if you have that on
windows), or just type python at a command line prompt to get you to
pythons shell.

The Python shell together with the official tutorial is a great way to
learn Python.

If you start to flag, then their are a few videos of pre-teen kids
learning Python here:

http://showmedo.com/videos/python?topic=beginner_programming

If they can learn it .... ;-)

Welcome to Python, have fun!

- Paddy.

[js]

Re: Book Recomendations

I wonder why nobody mension Python Cookbook yet.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pythoncook2/
Web version: http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/

and Python Standard Library
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pythonsl/

http://effbot.org/zone/librarybook-index.htm

On Sun, Mar 2, 2008 at 4:09 PM, Paddy <paddy3118@goog lemail.comwrote :

On Mar 2, 12:56 am, Ira Solomon <isolo...@solom onltd.comwrote:

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.
>
Thanks
>
Ira

>
Hi Ira,
Get Python installed on your machine - I would suggest the latest 2.5
release then either start up idle (or pythonwin if you have that on
windows), or just type python at a command line prompt to get you to
pythons shell.
>
The Python shell together with the official tutorial is a great way to
learn Python.
>
If you start to flag, then their are a few videos of pre-teen kids
learning Python here:

http://showmedo.com/videos/python?topic=beginner_programming

If they can learn it .... ;-)
>
Welcome to Python, have fun!
>
- Paddy.
>
>
--

http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list

>

[David Cook]

Re: Book Recomendations

On 2008-03-02, Jeff Schwab <jeff@schwabcen ter.comwrote:

Python In A Nutshell:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pythonian2/

Another vote for the Nutshell book, which I find a very useful and practical
book.

I never found the "Dive in" book useful.

Dave Cook

[Tommy Nordgren]

Re: Book Recomendations


On 2 mar 2008, at 01.56, Ira Solomon wrote:

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.
>
Thanks
>
Ira
--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list

I would recommend "Programmin g Python", by Mark Lutz, from O'Reillys
------------------------------------------------------
"Home is not where you are born, but where your heart finds peace" -
Tommy Nordgren, "The dying old crone"
tommy.nordgren@ comhem.se

[Ken Dere]

Re: Book Recomendations

Ira Solomon wrote:

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.
>
Thanks
>
Ira

I started off with Fortran 6X so I have been in the business about as long.
Do just about everything now in Python.

I liked Learning Python


Ken D.

[rockingred]

Re: Book Recomendations

The "Python Forum" has a good set of selections in their "General
Forum" section:

http://python-forum.org/pythonforum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&sid=9b04b79b60f9afb56e4237856910d354&start=20

[apatheticagnostic]

Re: Book Recomendations

On Mar 2, 6:16 am, David Cook <davec...@nowhe re.netwrote:

On 2008-03-02, Jeff Schwab <j...@schwabcen ter.comwrote:
>

Python In A Nutshell:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pythonian2/

>
Another vote for the Nutshell book, which I find a very useful and practical
book.
>
I never found the "Dive in" book useful.
>
Dave Cook

Here's another vote for Python in a Nutshell. If you have a lot of
experience with other languages, it should be all you need to get up
to speed with python quickly.