[Tutor] An interesting situation befalls me

[Alan Gauld]

"Steven D'Aprano" <steve at pearwood.info> wrote

>> And you can swim into it at diveintopython:
>>    http://diveintopython.org/toc/index.html
> Here's a counter-opinion:
> 
> Dive Into Python must die!
> http://oppugn.us/posts/1272050135.html

Hmmm, it sounds a bit like complaints from someone 
who has never written a book themselves! While some of 
the complaints are valid others simply reflect the time 
and place. I believe Mr Pilgrim has taken the conscious 
decision to have the web site mirror his book, so changing 
it would leave them out of synch. Similarly, I assume the book 
was a one-off project and he has no desire to revisit it. 
(Or maybe his publisher has no desire, it's not all in the 
author's control!)

I took the alternative view that the book was a snapshot 
of my web site and the web site continues to evolve while 
the book is frozen in 1999. But both approaches are valid 
and Pilgrim's book still has much to teach, although it's 
definitely not for beginners and it's not one of my personal 
favourites. But if the style fits the reader I certainly wouldn't 
discourage its use.

My own book took just short of 2 years to put together 
(and it already existed as a web site so I had the basic 
structure and words in place), updating a book is a 
significant commitment. Even updating my web site 
to Python v3 has taken me about 18 months so far and 
I'm only 70% through it... If you are not a full time author 
and it's not a primary revenue source it takes more than 
a change in technology to motivate a rewrite! 

> And a few more suggestions:
> http://inventwithpython.com
> 
> Learn Python the Hard Way:
> http://learnpythonthehardway.com/index

These were both new ones to me, thanks for sharing!

-- 
Alan Gauld
Author of the Learn to Program web site
http://www.alan-g.me.uk/