[Chicago] I don't get the web, was Re: py for TurboGears

[Mark Ramm]

> Any book recommendations for getting started with Web programming?  Python
> preferred obviously, but not strictly required.  Full disclosure tho: I
> despise PHP & don't have a very high opinion of J2EE or whatever the
> Java-monster-du-jour is.

I like Steve Holden's Python Web Programming, which goes into detail
about socket programming, the HTTP protocol, etc.   Sometimes it's a
bit heavy on background, but it's well written, and easy to follow.
It's a bit dated now, but it's a very good general book on web
programming in python.   Lots of interesting background here, and
you'll learn a lot.   But if you actually build websites the way Steve
does in this book you're probably a bit nutto.  Nowdays there's lots
of good stuff from TurboGears, to Django, to Paste and Twisted that
make writing various "web applications" easier.

In that vein, I'll also recommend two other much newer books.  The
Django book which is being serialized to the looks good (what I've had
time to read of it at least...).   And then finally, there's Rapid Web
Application Development with TurboGears.   Not much XSLT, or deep
python magic there, but it does show how to build web applications
quickly and easily with the help of a few well chosen python
libraries.

--Mark Ramm