Cute python: Update your list of Python readings, part 2nd

Before you start

Since the publication of my recent book Digest nine months ago, there have been some new Python books published, and other books that I didn't have a chance to comment on were sent to my desk. I don't have a chance to comment on all the books I want to comment on, but you can consider buying each of the books discussed in these two sections.

Over the past year, more books will be added to the Python bookshelf. There must be some titles I haven't heard of, but there are some books that seem to be very good. Python's staunch and talented Usenet critic Alex Martelli has expressly agreed to write two separate books for O ' Reilly--a title for Python in a nutshell (see Martelli's voluminous writing style "compress" The compact content should be interesting). Bruce Eckel (His thinking in Java has been very widely accepted) has a tentative plan, he intends to write thinking in Python, Time may be 2002 years. Christopher Jones and Fred Drake are writing another book titled Python & XML for O ' Reilly, a book that looks promising. Also have to mention, I am writing for Addison-wesley Text processing in Python. 2002 seems like a good year for Python.

There's a little recently published Python book I haven't had a chance to see. I don't mean to belittle these books, but I can't recommend anything to you. They are:

Core Python Programming, Wesley J. Chun,prentice Hall (December 2000)

Sams Teach yourself Python in Hours, Ivan Van laningham,sams (May 2000)

Python:developer ' s handbook, Andre dos Santos Lessa, Sams (December 2000)

Anyway, if I omit any books, I apologize to their authors and publishers. Let me know; I will comment on them later.

While books are an excellent way to get started on most topics, including Python, Python itself comes with some very good documentation. Take a look at the Python documentation on python.org (see Resources later in this article) to begin your study. The Python team has written an excellent introductory tutorial on the quality of module indexes, library references, and language references that are better than most programming languages or generally free software. (When I look for something, the difference between "library references" and "language references" is always vague to me; if you have doubts, try both.) ）

Contact some old starting point

Six months ago, I was sure that the Python book that was left at hand for programming was David Beazley's Python essential Reference. Please note that the rest of the books are within a few paces of my chair, without having to leave a place for Beazley's book. The situation has changed a little in recent months--now the book I have on hand is the 2nd edition of Python Essential Reference. The main difference between the two versions is just the story from the Python 1.5.2 to the story of Python 2.1. Organizations and most content remain the same. Obviously, the font size is slightly magnified (and the thickness is increased from 318 to 396 pages), apparently out of response to complaints from some users; Unfortunately, the 2nd edition is printed on a much darker paper-readable (purely physically speaking) slightly down.

Another book mentioned in the previous article, but not commented on, is Fredrik Lundh's Python Standard Library. At that time, only one restricted electronic version was available, but from then on, O ' Reilly published the print edition. Python Standard Library is thin--this book is 281 pages thick, but the number of lines occupied by source code and vertical whitespace exceeds the text description. The sum of all the words is not large.

The Python Standard Library targets a narrow range of goals (readers) and hits the point. The goal is an experienced Python programmer, and he also has a standard module document and/or a thicker book on hand. This book covers almost all of the standard library modules of Python 2.0, but is not intended to capture each of the constants, functions, and classes in each module. Instead, there is an extremely clear text description of each module followed by a selection of typical usage examples.

Many other books I've seen also use a lot of source code examples, but many of them you have to read and meditate for a while to accurately understand what an example is used to illustrate, which part of the topic is being discussed, and why it is a description. In contrast, the source code example in the Python Standard Library is only used when necessary, is clear, has sufficient internal documentation, and hits the point of explanation. Similarly, the text presentation accurately provides a clear introduction-you may be looking for an introduction from a much more experienced programmer next door (if you are lucky enough to have a colleague like that). However, the purpose of this description is not to teach you the basics--they assume you know exactly what to do and just need to improve how to do it.

Warm

Learn to program Using python:a Tutorial for hobbyists, self-starters, and those who Want to Learn the Art of programming Maybe not a book for most readers of this column. As the title promised, Alan Gauld's book is written for programmers who want to be programmers or at least want to know what programmers do. To these readers, Gauld wrote a delightful book. My new recruit to comment on the book by a non programmer confirms that the first few chapters are appropriate for beginners.

The subject area of Gauld is reasonable and maintains a good teaching order. Readers should read each part of the book in turn. This book has a good index, but this kind of books is not suitable for jumping reading. The source code example is great, and they gradually represent the new concept and remain clear and to the point. Although many books are used fairly frequently and distracting for sidebar and text boxes, Gauld has achieved a good balance by using "things to ponder" and "Points to Remember" at the end of each chapter. In a word, it is a rather simple and interesting book that is worth reading.