Asp Forum - Book Recomendations

Ira Solomon

3/2/2008 12:57:00 AM

I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
Too many.
I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
cream of the crop.
I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

Thanks

Ira

15 Answers

mentaltruckdriver

3/2/2008 1:46:00 AM

On Mar 1, 7:56 pm, Ira Solomon <isolo...@solomonltd.com> wrote:
> I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
> heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
> few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
> I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
> Too many.
> I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
> cream of the crop.
> I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
> quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.
>
> Thanks
>
> Ira

I would recommend checking out the official Python tutorial -
http://docs.pytho... - it has some valuable information, and is
always kept up to date.

I'm haven't looked at any Python books (yet), so I can't provide any
recommendations there.

HTH.

Tro

3/2/2008 1:48:00 AM

On Saturday 01 March 2008, Ira Solomon wrote:
> I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
> heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
> few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
> I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
> Too many.
> I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
> cream of the crop.
> I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
> quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

The official tutorial is required reading. After that, Dive Into Python
(http://diveintop...).

Cheers,
Tro

Micah Cowan

3/2/2008 2:32:00 AM

Ira Solomon <isolomon@solomonltd.com> writes:

> I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
> heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
> few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
> I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
> Too many.
> I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
> cream of the crop.
> I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
> quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

I have found the official documentation available at python.org
(including both the tutorial and references) to be very
high-quality.

--
Micah J. Cowan
Programmer, musician, typesetting enthusiast, gamer...
http://micah.c...

Jeff Schwab

3/2/2008 4:34:00 AM

Ira Solomon wrote:
> I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
> heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
> few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
> I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
> Too many.
> I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
> cream of the crop.
> I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
> quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.

Python In A Nutshell:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/p...

Here's a previous discussion of books for newbies, but I gave my
recommendations for other experienced programmers; be forwarned that I'm
not quite as experienced as you appear to be. :)
http://www.nabble.com/newbie-in-python-td15608979.html#nabble.star...

subeen

3/2/2008 5:38:00 AM

On Mar 2, 6:56 am, Ira Solomon <isolo...@solomonltd.com> wrote:
> I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
> heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
> few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
> I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
> Too many.
> I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
> cream of the crop.
> I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
> quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.
>
> Thanks
>
> Ira

I have found that 'Dive into Python' is a good book for people who
have experience with other languages. It's available free here:
http://www.diveintop...

regards,
Subeen
http://love-python.blo...

Paddy

3/2/2008 7:10:00 AM

On Mar 2, 12:56 am, Ira Solomon <isolo...@solomonltd.com> wrote:
> I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
> heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
> few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
> I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
> Too many.
> I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
> cream of the crop.
> I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
> quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.
>
> Thanks
>
> Ira

Hi Ira,
Get Python installed on your machine - I would suggest the latest 2.5
release then either start up idle (or pythonwin if you have that on
windows), or just type python at a command line prompt to get you to
pythons shell.

The Python shell together with the official tutorial is a great way to
learn Python.

If you start to flag, then their are a few videos of pre-teen kids
learning Python here:
http://showmedo.com/videos/python?topic=beginner_p...
If they can learn it .... ;-)

Welcome to Python, have fun!

- Paddy.

js

3/2/2008 7:17:00 AM

I wonder why nobody mension Python Cookbook yet.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/py...
Web version: http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbo...

and Python Standard Library
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog...
http://effbot.org/zone/librarybook...

On Sun, Mar 2, 2008 at 4:09 PM, Paddy <paddy3118@googlemail.com> wrote:
> On Mar 2, 12:56 am, Ira Solomon <isolo...@solomonltd.com> wrote:
> > I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
> > heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
> > few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
> > I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
> > Too many.
> > I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
> > cream of the crop.
> > I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
> > quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Ira
>
> Hi Ira,
> Get Python installed on your machine - I would suggest the latest 2.5
> release then either start up idle (or pythonwin if you have that on
> windows), or just type python at a command line prompt to get you to
> pythons shell.
>
> The Python shell together with the official tutorial is a great way to
> learn Python.
>
> If you start to flag, then their are a few videos of pre-teen kids
> learning Python here:
> http://showmedo.com/videos/python?topic=beginner_p...
> If they can learn it .... ;-)
>
> Welcome to Python, have fun!
>
> - Paddy.
>
>
> --
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/p...
>

Dave Cook

3/2/2008 11:17:00 AM

On 2008-03-02, Jeff Schwab <jeff@schwabcenter.com> wrote:

> Python In A Nutshell:
> http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/p...

Another vote for the Nutshell book, which I find a very useful and practical
book.

I never found the "Dive in" book useful.

Dave Cook

Tommy Nordgren

3/2/2008 2:13:00 PM

On 2 mar 2008, at 01.56, Ira Solomon wrote:

> I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
> heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
> few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
> I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
> Too many.
> I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
> cream of the crop.
> I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
> quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.
>
> Thanks
>
> Ira
> --
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/p...
I would recommend "Programming Python", by Mark Lutz, from O'Reillys
------------------------------------------------------
"Home is not where you are born, but where your heart finds peace" -
Tommy Nordgren, "The dying old crone"
tommy.nordgren@comhem.se

Ken Dere

3/2/2008 3:27:00 PM

Ira Solomon wrote:

> I am an experienced programmer (40 years). I've done Algol (if you've
> heard of that you must be old too), PL/1, VB,VBA, a little C, and a
> few other odd languages (e.g. Taskmate).
> I'm interested in learning Python and have downloaded a slew of books.
> Too many.
> I'd like a recommendation as to which books are considered to be the
> cream of the crop.
> I know there are tutorials on the web, but, again, I don't know the
> quality. I would appreciate recommendations on those as well.
>
> Thanks
>
> Ira

I started off with Fortran 6X so I have been in the business about as long.
Do just about everything now in Python.

I liked Learning Python

Ken D.

comp.lang.python

Book Recomendations