Comments about oreilly Programming Python, Second Edition:

I was looking for the Python version of the Camel book for Perl, and this book compared horribly. The author attempts a practical approach of advancing on the same tired project again and again, boring me to the point of being unable to keep my eyes open for the next page. Meanwhile, attempting to use it later as a reference of concepts is next to impossible due to the narrative nature of the book.

The Camel book, it wasn't. I was far better off with the free online Python books.

Comments about oreilly Programming Python, Second Edition:

This has to be one of the best Python books around, while it is a good few years old now 99% of the information is still relevant. This book is not for the Python newcommer, it assumes that the read does have some knowledge on Python (take a look at Learning Python if you want to learn Python). There are a huge number of examples and discussion on many aspects of Python, a must have even if the index is bad and it could do with a 3rd revision sometime.

Comments about oreilly Programming Python, Second Edition:

Although this book contains some information which is not found in other Python books, I'm not so happy about the contents. I found very difficult to locate the specific information I needed. Maybe O'reilly should provide a search engine specifically for their published books. (search only within the specified book) Second, the book is a collection of Python programs. I value books which have a strong consistent theme. However, this book might be valuable if a comprehensive search becomes available.

Comments about oreilly Programming Python, Second Edition:

This is a great book to have around, not as a reference but as a routemap for getting around various programming domains "the Python way". The most apt comparison I can think of is with Programming Perl, another great travel guide which is similarly frustrating if what you really want is a) to learn the language from scratch, or b) to look up some particular module or language feature. Programming Python should be seen primarily as an expository text: an extended gloss on the meaning of the word "Pythonic", and a boon and helpmeet to the working programmer who wants to use Python now to do stuff.

Comments about oreilly Programming Python, Second Edition:

This book was a great disappointment to me. My major gripes with the book are:

Very windows centric, spesific platform issues could have been handled isolated in one chapter.

Extremely "wordy" - the page count could have been cut down to the half without reducing actual content. Most of the examples are introduced in an incremental fashion, with several different script version accomplishing approximately the same thing, all printed with source code and full display of user interaction.

The index is close to useless. There is no way to find an example demonstrating a particular Python feature by looking up a keyword in the index.

There is no explanation of Python concepts, only examples, examples, examples and examples ... In my opinion the point of examples is to demonstrate a concept - however in this book the examples seem to be the most important in their own right.

The chapters give only a very vague indication of which python concepts will be covered - or what would you expect to find in the chapters called Larger system examples I and Larger system examples II?.

Maybe the problem for me is that the book was something completely different from what I expected. A more suitable title than "Programming Python" would have been "Python Examples", "Problem solving using Python" or something like that. Instead of bying this book I would recommend "Learning Python" by the same author, which is a really good book.

Comments about oreilly Programming Python, Second Edition:

The text is littered with many great examples ranging from GUI applications to embedding Python in C/C++ apps. In fact, so far it is one of the most authoritative sources on embedding and extending Python I have seen other than the Python source itself.

However, if you are looking for info on the basics of the language (i.e. control structures, syntax, etc.) forget about it. Get "Learning Python" instead, and keep "Programming Python" around for the real world meaty examples "Learning Python" lacks. Simply put don't assume this is the Python version of "Programming Perl", this is more along the lines of an "Advanced Python Programming" and a "Python Cookbook" text wrapped into one.

Comments about oreilly Programming Python, Second Edition:

I really like this book. Let's start with that. Great examples, wonderfully written.

Two comments:

o Don't think of this as a reference and you'll do fine.

o Buy a learning book or whatnot if new to Python.

One BIG gripe:

o The index is really, really bad. Not comprehensive at all.

If not for the grip I would have given this at least 4 stars.