[Tutor] Books

[Alan Gauld]

> While we are on the topic of books, what book would you recommend for
> the experienced C++/C# programmer looking to pick up Python?
> looking to use Python for general scripting tasks as I'm finding that
> batch files just aren't flexible or powerful enough on WinXP...

For your particular interest I'd recommend using the official tutorial plus
this list to learn the language and buy

Python Programming on Win32 by Mark Hammond (O'Reilly)

as a reference book.

It is essential reading for the serious XP Python programmer because
many of the native Python stuff is very Unix biased. Hammond shows
how to avoid the pitfalls and adapt to Win32 environments.

The book is a little old now (Python 1.5.2) but the vast bulk of it is still
absolutely relevant, being based largely on the win32 extensions written
by Hammond and found in the winall python package(or included by
default in the ActiveState download). Its not all win32 specific, it 
includes
coverage of Tkinter etc too. Still a new version would be welcome!

Alan G
Author of the learn to program web tutor
http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld