Python: Parts A & B [With CDROM]

An excellent intro to Object oriented programming in general and Python in particular. A real hefty volume. Wish I could afford it.

I am a practicing mechanical engineer who's programming experience is based mainly in Fortran90. I wanted to learn Python as quickly as possible, but in a well structured manner. I tried learing Python from the book 'Learning Python', but became discouraged after a few days when the discussion became disjointed. 'Python How to Program' is an excellent book and reference for Python. It is extremely thorough covering many topics including object-oriented programming (three chapters) and web programming. This book will form the foundation of my Pyhton library. Each Python subject is introduced in a simple manner and then proceeds to a more advanced level. Many examples are presented with thorough discussions in each chapter. Detailed summaries are presented after each chapter. This is an excellent book for self-study. I have recommeded it to many of my engineering colleagues.

I was also a technical reviewer for the book, and really liked it. Even considering the price of the book, I think it's quite valuable, because it explains the basics of so many topics in a manner that makes sense. If you are new to programming and would like to try out different things to see what you might like, such as web programming, XML, designing windows (lowercase 'w') that will work on a variety of platforms, databases, sockets, etc., you may find that this book provides material you would otherwise look through a literal stack of books to find. No programming book is perfect, but I think this one is pretty good.

I provided technical review (I was one of many) for this book, but frankly I didn't enjoy it all that much. It does cover the material well, but the presentation is dry and the print (typeface) is unpleasant in my opinion.As a textbook it would be quite effective; if they would reissue it in a clean, easy-to-read format (like an O'Reilly or New Riders book for instance) I'd rate it higher.

No doubt about it the most well written and comprehensive Python book to date. ThisDeitel team is hard to beat. They display a complete understanding in all their booksand are able to deliver an amazingly strong range and depth for all users. Thisis a fluidly based book for all knowledge levels. The first 6 chapters are perfect forbeginning Pythoners. A really fun part of the book for me, was chapter 24 where youget to create a CD player, Movie player, and a Space-Cruiser game. I was also pleasedthat they included a chapter for web accessibility for Internet users with disabilities.Most web site designers ignore web site accessibility, but in the future they will eventually haveto comply with the WCAG web site guidelines. On a side note, did you know that HTML is dead?The Appendix has 2 chapters on XHTML, the new replacement for HTML. Even though Guido Van Rossum derived the Python name after the popular BBCcomedy show, the Python language really has 2 sides; one of programming fun and theother of programming power. The Deitel team really illustrates Python's power in several areas.They delve fully into: control structures, functions, lists, tuples, dictionaries, CGI, OOP, classes,inheritance, GUI, exceptions, strings, regular expressions, files, XML, XHTML, databases,process management, multithreading, networking, security, data structures, multimedia,voiceXML, WML, and Python server pages. Chapter 23 is a complete onlinebookstore program that is pretty impressive. I'm very excited about this book and the part that Python will play in the future ofprogramming and the Internet. I really see a promising future for Python in e-commerce.I can tell you that from 5 years of hardcore web development, Python's big advantage over Perlis that its more suited to OOP based CGI programs than Perl. I used Perl for 2 years for nothing butweb CGI and now I find myself using Python more and more. I'm not knocking Perl, I still use it, and it certainly holds it's own areas, but when it comes to CGI and OOP applications development, Python is fast, efficient and very tough to beat.The CD that comes with the book has the following programs: Alice 99 Interactive 3D,Python 2.2, Apache Web Server 1.3.22, Webware 0.6, Pixo Microbrowser 2.1, IBM WebSphereVoice Server SDK 2.0 for Win 2k, web site links mentioned in the book and the code examplesfrom the book. No matter what your skill level in Python, this book will aid you in your web development quest and you won't be sorry for the purchase. Be a part of the Internet's new development future. Be a Pythoner.