Review of the new TK book from Manning?

Alessandro Bottoni Alessandro.Bottoni at think3.com
Mon Feb 21 04:05:42 EST 2000


I received "Python and TKinter programming", by John Grayson, from Manning
publisher a few days ago and I was surprised by the very high quality level
of this book.

It is an exhaustive, well designed and clearly written book. It contains a
lot of well written code (also available in digital format from
www.manning.com. 14Mb of code in zipped format!) and a lot of real world
examples. You can read it sequentially, to make your own idea of TKinter, or
use it as a reference book to keep on your desk. In both cases, you cannot
be disappointed by this book.

The author devotes just the first few pages to Python and starts immediately
to write about TKinter. (Should you need a more exhaustive book on Python,
buy "Learning Python" by Lutz and Ascher, published by O'Reilly.). The first
two or three chapters describe Tkinter and its widget in detail (and pmw
Megawidgets, too). Most likely, you can start coding just after having read
these initial chapters. The following chapters shows you a lot of examples
of real world applications. Grayson starts with quite simple applications,
that just demonstrate the use of specific widgets, and go on with more and
more sophisticated examples that show you how to build up sophisticated,
well-designed, commercial-level applications. Grayson describes in detail
all the required programming techniques: screen layouts, events, binding,
callbacks, composite widgets, canvas, debugging, optimization...everything
(see the ToC at Manning's). From this book you get a real, well-organised
understanding of TKinter and the related programming techniques, not only a
lot of information.

It is clear that the author has a deep knowledge of the matter and a
real-world, vast experience of Tkinter programming. Despite this bent for
technique, Grayson has an extremely clear and well-organised prose. Reading
this book is very easy and it is also a gratifing experience in itself. The
book is well organised and lend itself to many different reading habits. It
does not impose you a specific way to read it.

Have a look at these URLs for other reviews and a description of the book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1884777813/qid%3D951121390/102-767201
7-9413662

http://www.manning.com/Grayson/index.html

The Table of Contents of the book is here:

http://www.manning.com/Grayson/Contents.html

You can download a pair of sample chapters from this URL:

http://www.manning.com/Grayson/Chapters.html

Bye

--------------------------------
Alessandro Bottoni
(Alessandro.Bottoni at Think3.com)
(alessandro.bottoni at libero.it)
Web Programmer
Think3 inc.
(www.think3.com)


> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Timothy Grant [SMTP:tjg at avalongroup.net]
> Sent:	Friday, February 18, 2000 7:54 PM
> To:	Python People
> Subject:	Review of the new TK book from Manning?
> 
> Is there anyone out there who can provide a review of the new Tkinter
> book that was just published by--I believe Manning?
> 
> Thanks.
> -- 
> Stand Fast,
>     tjg.
> 
> Chief Technology Officer              tjg at exceptionalminds.com
> Red Hat Certified Engineer            www.exceptionalminds.com
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