some random reflections of a "Python newbie": (1) books, and free sites

[Dan Schmidt]

My two cents on Python books:

I'm not sure I would use as strong language as Preston, but I also
didn't find Programming Python to be a very good introduction to the
language.  There's plenty of good material in there, but the order of
presentation isn't good for a learner.  I remember getting to a big
discussion of the subtleties of the three namespaces very early on,
and thinking, "Geez, and I thought Python was supposed to be easy!"

I don't feel too bad for picking on Mark Lutz for Programming Python,
because his other book (cowritten with David Ascher), Learning Python,
is excellent.  It's everything that an intro book should be.

I skimmed through The Quick Python Book when a version was on the web
and it looked very good.  I especially liked the fact that it has
overview chapters on various advanced topics, such as COM and
embedding/extending.

Python Essential Reference is totally fine.  Good organization and
index.  Not much more to say about that.

I have to admit to being a little disappointed by the eff-bot book; I
was expecting more extensive scripts that were solutions to more
interesting problems, instead of tiny demos of each module.  But there
is some good information there, especially at the beginning.

I am looking forward to taking a look at Python Annotated Archives.

-- 
Dan Schmidt | http://www.dfan.org