Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional (Books for Professionals by Professionals) Paperback – 2 Jun. 2010

I am a programmer that code in several languages such as FORTRAN,C and C++. I build scientific Windows app's and recently I became interested in python. I will not shift to python but this language has some interesting features. When we build a package using Linux scripting autotools with python the result is very enthusiastic.I read some comments saying that this book is quite disappointing because it doesn't cover python 3 at all. Well, if anyone who reads this books matches that opinion the reader should come back and read again. The difference between python 3 and 2.x are not important to learn python and the appendix covers what everyone needs to use to python 3. So, in the end, I should say that this book is very good and it only doesn't cover mixing language with 'C'.

Wrox books never fail to deliver excellence - this is no exception.

good book

Just the right mix of clarity and depth.

I've read a great many introductory language books in my time, and this is far, far and away the best. Really the best computer book I've ever read - full details with walk-throughs on all the most common pitfalls, nice examples carefully built up through the course of the book. Rarely do such proficient exponents of a language show such empathy for their readership. There are chapters on every aspect of this great language - I bought this to help with writing GIMP plug-ins, and I'm hooked. I very much doubt anypne would need a second Python book after this, and for such a powerful language, that's quite something.

Sorry, but for beginners, this book is absolute pants. It comes with minimal source code, and it seems to be written for people with experience in Python Programming. I did find one use for it though, it made a great doorstop.

very good product this

A previous reviewer gave this book a very high rating: I cannot do that. Whilst I am not a complete beginner to programming, I found the book to be more demanding than I wanted. I have struggled painfully about halfway through it. I am making some progress but I intend to try "The Dummies Guide.."

The book content is good and very helpful for the beginners, but the book which I received is not the original book print. The print quality and paper quality is not at all good. Its like normal paper. There is no hologram on the book. Looks they have sent a locally printed book. I got cheated and I don't know how amazon is saying 100% original products. This is cheating and @amazon has to look into this issue.

Das Buch ist einfach genial. Ich kann nur die Begeisterung der anderen Rezensionen bestätigen. Ich fasse kurz zusammen, was ich am Buch besonders gut finde:- der Author ist kompetent und schreibt in einer einfachen aber prägnanten Weise, so dass das Buch gut verständlich ist.- das Lesen ist auf Grund einer klaren Strukturierung angenehm, einzelne Themen sind schnell wiederzufinden.- das Buch stammt ursprünglich aus der Zeit vor Python 3, daher werden die Syntaxregel von Python 2 zugrunde gelegt. Nichtdestotrotz sind die Unterschiede zu Python 3 syntaktisch erklärt, dazu wird meistend auch der Hintergrund der Veränderung erklärt - also man kann getrost das Buch auch für Anwendungen und Programmierung in Python 3 verwenden.- der Inhalt ist umfangreich, trotzdem sind die Themen durch zahlreiche Beispiele gut zu verdauen. Mit den ersten 10-12 Kapiteln kann man Vieles erreichen (das ist mein Fall, ich nutze Python nicht für Webprogrammierung oder mit Database, sondern für Ingenieursrechnungen).- Die letzten 10 Kapiteln konzentrieren sich auf (mehr oder weniger) komplexere Projekte - für Interessierte sicherlich eine gute Lektüre.- Besonders interessant: die Ausnahmebehandlung (exception handling) ist sehr gut beschrieben, genauso wie ihr Einsatz zum Testen von Skripten.- Ein Minuspunkt: zur Programmierung von GUIs ist wenig drinnen. Man sollte dazu zusätzliche Literatur verwenden.Zur Programmierungssprache selbst: ich bin kein Profiprogrammierer, habe aber schon einige Erfahrung mit anderen (vor allem old-style) Sprachen. Ich bin von Python richtig begeistert. Die Lesbarkeit der Skripte und die Möglichkeit, mit wenigen Zeilen viel zu erreichen, ist einfach nicht zu toppen. Zwei Tops dieser Sprache (unter Anderen) aus meiner Sicht: funktionale Programmierung und Generatoren. Vielleicht nicht auf Anhieb zu verinnerlichen, aber wenn man die beiden darauf hat, kann wirklich was Schönes rauskommen.

Vermutlich vermischt sich die Begeisterung für Python mit der Begeisterung für dieses Buch. Jedenfalls bin ich voll und ganz zufrieden. Der Schreibstil ist sehr angenehm, die Mischung aus Grundlagen-Einführung und Vertiefung-von-Details ist ebenfalls gut gelungen und die Qualität der Informationen ist durch die Bank sehr hoch! Dadurch ist dieses Buch für mich eines der besten Fachbücher die ich je erworben habe und es hat sogar geschafft meine Rezensionsträgheit zu durchbrechen. Wenn das keine Kaufempfehlung ist!

Un point de vue personnel est déjà que lorsque l'on achète un livre ... on devrai nous offrir une version html du livre!A Personnal point of view at first is that when we by the paper edition ... they should offer the html version of the book!Second point le livre à une bonne approche général, mais il manque, un lien vers un dépôt des codes d'example.Second point this book have a good general approach, but it's missing a link to the repository of all source code.Conclusion: Un bon bouquin pour bien débuter et aller plus loin ... espéront que l'auteur offrira une version électronique et un accès aux codes dans sa prochaine édition :-)Conclusion: A good book to start the way and goes a bit more far ... wish that the author will offer the html version and a free access to the source code repository in the next edition :-)

best book for python.

Got me started, and found very quickly I was able to start doing more useful things on my own, while still going back as a reference. It is a beginner book definitely, but a solid one.

One of the best programming books I have ever read...If you want to learn Python buy it! Lots of useful examples too.

I just started going through the pages and so far the book seems appropriate for newbies.

Good for beginners!

This book is packed with info but it leads you nowhere. Many things are just thrown out there and there are few examples. The are almost no examples for those working in scientific or financial fields. I think there are way better books on Python out there - save your money.

I consider myself an advanced beginner when it comes to Python with nearly a years worth of experience, just to let you know where I'm coming from. The chapters on classes are pure gold to me. He really helps you to understand them if you work through them. He has an easy to follow writing style. I've only browsed the later chapters and they look more difficult but again, some of the middle chapters alone are worth the 5 star rating.

This is a strange book. While it says that it is for beginners, it often makes large jumps with no explanation. (For example, it barely talks about code blocks before using them). On the other hand, there are some areas (like "not") which it belabors.It is badly in need of a proofreader. In addition to spelling errors, it does not always get the case of letters right -- and Python is case sensitive.It does have some exercises, which I consider crucial for any learn to program book.For a beginner, I would recommend "Head First Python", and for someone who knows how to program, I would recommend "Programming in Python 3" by Summerfield. I don't see who this book is aimed at.

Fantastic material, helpful explanations, but I am still struggling when it comes to putting all the pieces together. The more complex parts of Python are just glossed over. Writing a program from these explanations is like putting together a puzzle without a complete picture. I am not a novice but am trying to learn Python.

This is just not a good book to learn Python. It's full of errors, has faulty code, and even for a 'beginning' book is incomplete in its presentation of beginner's level material of the Python language. I bought it to supplement the required textbook for Python class, I wish I hadn't have wasted my money on it. To qualify my statement I've programmed in several languages to know a good or bad book when I see it. I've programmed in C, C++, Visual Basic 6, Java, Perl, PHP, and ColdFusion, and I own at least one book on each of those languages. For most of those languages I own at least two books if not more, and spread across all of those languages some of those books are Wrox books. If you're completely new to programming then I suggest you shop around for another beginner's book and skip this one. If you've had exposure to other languages and know the fundamentals like loops, arrays, functions, conditional statements, and maybe (but not required) a thing or two about classes then I would suggest Beginning Python by Magnus Lie Hetland. And just to be clear that book is a beginner's book on learning Python only if you already know the fundamentals of computer programming. It is not a first time ever computer programmer's book. So though I also have issues with Hetland's book it's still pretty good although the material is dense, can take some time to absorb, and there aren't any exercises to test your knowledge. But all things considered for someone that has prior programming experience Hetland's book is much better than Payne's. Getting back to Payne, my number one gripe out of the several I have is chapter 5 and his presentation of functions. If I didn't already know what a function was and how they should be used then I would have never fully comprehended that material. Payne's presentation was just absolutely awful. He uses a convoluted example of making an omelet and returning the ingredients for the type of omelet you want to make. I think a far more meaningful example would have been something like writing functions to gather names, job titles, departments, and phone numbers for a phone directory and then returning the information in a neatly formatted directory. I have more gripes about this book but I'll stop with what I just wrote because a lot of those concerns are covered in some of the other poor reviews. The only redeeming quality of this book is that Payne included exercises at the end of each chapter. If you have the skills then in a meaningful way you can vastly expand on the examples presented and even make up your own which is what I did with Hetland's book.

This book is great for beginners to get them to a point where they will be comfortable learning advanced topics found in later books. I would recommend reading Python 3 Object Oriented Programming after this book to have a really through understanding of python. This book can have you ready to write your own applications, but the hardest part will be knowing how to apply what you learn in this book. The best way to see how to apply the different ways to apply the knowledge is to read the source code of an open source project, ideally one that relates to your area of interest. The book I linked above is also very good at describing how to apply the techniques taught, but requires prior knowledge of the python language. Python 3 Object Oriented Programming