O'Reilly Python Books

carroll at tjc.com carroll at tjc.com
Tue Apr 15 17:52:39 EDT 2003


On Tue, 15 Apr 2003 15:37:39 -0400 (EDT), wilfred_s at webtv.net (W S)
wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I find the material, as presented, in the book Programming Python
>frustrating and extremely difficult to understand.
>
>Are the nutshell and cookbook O'Reilly Python books easier to read?

I really dislike the "Programming Python" book.[1]  After playing
around unstructuredly with Python for a few days.  I bought it and the
New Riders "Python Essential Reference."  I found the PET valuable
(although it's a reference, not a tutorial), and didn't find
"Programming Python" worthwhile at all.

"Learning Python," (which is co-authored by author of "Programming
Python,") on the other hand, is, in my opinion, excellent.

My recommendation is to start with two books, one as a tutorial, and
one as a reference.  I think "Learning Python" is outstanding as a
tutorial.  Since you have that already, I'd work through that.  I
don't offhand know the contents of the other two books you have ("Core
Python" and "Python Bible"), although I've browsed them in bookstores.
>From memory, I think they would suffice for good references.  The
Nutshell also would.   For me, it's the Python Essential Reference.

When you're comfortable with basic Python, maybe you want further
books that better explain a particular area that you find of interest
(say, XML or Tkinter for those features, or the Cookbook for general
advanced topics).

I've been playing with Python for a few months now (which you can take
either as a warning that I might not know what I'm talking about, or
as data that I'm close to the same audience as you are), and just
ordered the Nutshell and Cookbook a couple days ago.

[1] My major objection to Programming Python is that 1) part of it's
too advanced to be a good tutorial; 2) it's not properly organized to
be a good reference; and 3) too many sections of it depend on having
read all the prior sections, which is somewhat acceptable for a
tutorial, but really falls short for a book where you're going to skip
around -- the examples aren't very self-contained.  It seems you have
to feign interest in the packer application that is introduced at the
beginning of the book, and follow through how it's developed, or else
you won't understand what the book is talking about when it starts
talking about adding menus.  Too much of a time investment reading all
that unnecessary information, just to follow parts of the example that
have nothing to do with menus.  It seems the whole book operates more
as a case study, requiring an inordinate amount of time to learn the
case (which I don't care about) in order to learn about the features
tried to be explained.

In fairness, here's a review that just *loves* "Programming Python,"
calling it "a work of art": http://www.awaretek.com/programpython.html
So opinions can vary.  But when I gave my views of "Programming
Python" on the Python Tutor list, I got a lot of "Me, too" posts.  I
suspect that, to someone familiar with Python, it looks like it would
be a useful book to a novice; the actual novices seem to disagree,
though.

(The "case study" issue I describe above, which I consider a "bug,"
the above review considers to be a feature: "Many of the example
scripts and programs build on one another from chapter to chapter,
which helps to give the book a narrative flavor and hold the reader's
attention."  I would say "many of the example scripts and programs
build on one another from chapter to chapter, making it difficult to
isolate and understand a feature being introduced, without going back
and reading or rereading prior material in which the reader has no
interest.")

I was really expecting "Programming Python" to be to Python what
"Programming Perl" is to Perl: a pretty good reference, with lots of
(independent!) examples and occasional descents into tutorial mode.






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