A good book is Practical Python by Magnus Lie Hetland.<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 8/17/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Alan Gauld</b> <<a href="mailto:alan.gauld@freenet.co.uk">alan.gauld@freenet.co.uk</a>
> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">> I have very little programming experience, I have decided to learn<br>
> Python..there are tons of material and references on the web-pages,<br>> can<br>> you guys please suggest what is the best way to start or which ONE<br>> book which I should follow to start.<br><br>Despite the fact that my tutor is available in paper form I personally
<br>don't recommend buying a beginners book - -they quickly become<br>redundant so they are poor value. I would advocate working through<br>the web tutorials (mine if you like:-) and then buy a goood reference<br>book (or two). Maybe a general treference like Python in a Nutshell
<br>plus maybe a specialised one in the areas you are interested in<br>(Networks, Databases, Web, GUI, text processing etc)<br><br>But tastes in books is so subjective its hard to give recommendations.<br>I like generalist books like Programming Python, but many people
<br>don't like that one at all. I didn't particularly like Text Processing<br>in<br>Python, even though its the best book in its class - but I just didn't<br>like the style much. But I know others who think its a bit of a
<br>masterpiece...<br><br>A lot will depend on your previoius experience too.<br>For example if you can already program in another language and<br>have a fair grasp of computer science terminology then my book<br>would be a complete waste of time, but if you only have ac minimal
<br>experience and don;t know the CS terms my book would be a good<br>choice (he says immodestly!)<br><br>Best thing if possible is to borrow a copy (from a friend or library)<br>or if there is a web version read a bit there first.
<br><br>HTH,<br><br>Alan Gauld<br>Author of the Learn to Program web site<br><a href="http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld">http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld</a><br><br>_______________________________________________
<br>Tutor maillist - <a href="mailto:Tutor@python.org">Tutor@python.org</a><br><a href="http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor">http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor</a><br></blockquote></div><br>