|
|
|
Python @ Web Programming
Programming Shed : Programmer Store & Resources |
|
|
|
|
|
Python Index - Python Book :
Sams Teach Yourself Python in 24 Hours (Teach Yourself -- 24 Hours)
by Ivan Van Laningham Paperback: 510 pages Dimensions (in inches): 1.09 x 9.08 x 7.36 Publisher: Sams ISBN: 0672317354; 1st edition (May 15, 2000) In the crowded field of scripting languages, Python has found a niche as the best tool for learning object-oriented design principles. Several elegantly produced books in the past few years, notably David M. Beazley's thorough Python Essential Reference and John E. Grayson's durable Python and Tkinter Programming, have established a foundation of documentation that makes Python a buildable platform for rapid prototyping, as well as good programming practice. The appearance in April 2000 of a Sams Teach Yourself Python in 24 Hours is evidence of mainstream support. Author Ivan van Laningham has the happy task of teaching an eminently teachable language, and his passion for Python is evident throughout. The 24-chapter recipe is arbitrary, but the book has a well-chosen tripartite subdivision into sections on basic operation, object-oriented design, and GUIs, each of which fulfills its mission. Each "hour" chapter ends with a summary, a Q&A period, a quiz with answers, and, for the ambitious, exercises. The first hour asks the essential question, "Why Python?" The answer is a collection of flattering adjectives--flexible, extensible, embeddable, elegant, clear, simple--but the author fails to provide a comparison of Python with Tcl, Java, and Perl. Python has a competitive advantage, as found in Part II on object-oriented design basics and strategies. While other languages use o-o principles, none has subsumed it into the mind of the language as much as Python. Van Laningham's book is illustrated with visually uninteresting black-and-white screen dumps from his Windows Python shell. An early lesson on adding '1' to the decimal representation of a googol (10^100) reveals that Python can print the answer in decimal notation. (Try it with Perl to see what happens.) The modular nature of Python is introduced transparently by incorporating the trigonometric math library. Teach Yourself Python in 24 Hours is weakest in its editing. Mistakes in cross-referencing are distracting, and Van Laningham's loose, informal English often obfuscates his points. Code snippets in the early chapters grow into major listings by the middle, and proper annotation begins to slacken. A 950-line listing in chapter 16--which is downloadable from the inscrutable www.pauahtun.org--has few annotations. May future editions be shorter, sharper, and cleaner, but just as passionate. --Peter Leopold From Book News, Inc.: Presents 24 lessons of one hour or less for creating programs with Python, a cross-platform, object-oriented programming language. Covers basic elements of Python, the object model used in Python, and the graphical user interface many people use with Python, with a dash of humor and the flavor of Zen. Includes chapter questions and answers, quizes, and exercises. The author is a senior software engineer in the private sector. Book Description: Sams Teach Yourself Python in 24 Hours presents 24 hands-on, one-hour lessons that guide you through all the steps needed to learn the Python programming language. The lessons begin with basic Python syntax and language features, and move up through object oriented design and programming. The book ends with a series of chapters covering GUI programming (using Tkinter), Python as a system administration tool, and Python as a programming language for CGI applications. Book Info: Designed to help create own programs using Python, a cross-platform, object-oriented programming language. About the Author: Ivan Van Laningham is a senior software engineer for Callware Technologies, Inc. where he provides Web server and Unix assistance and consultation as well as working on GUI design and programming using various languages, including Python. He was a presenter at the Seventh International Python Conference and at the O'Reilly Python Conference. Customer Reviews Reviewer: Matt This book looked good when I started reading it, and even though I read through the whole thing and learned a few concepts about OO and Python it is definetly not a beginner's book. Hard to follow and the examples are basically all about mayan calendrical calculations. One thing i will say for this book is that the chapters on Tcl/Tk were quite good. Reviewer: Jason Oppel from Pfafftown, NC USA Before this book I struggled to understand Python with books like "Learning Python" with little success and a great deal of frustration. Now I'm hacking through Python code easily thanks to this book. The author's style is very informal and easy to understand. From time to time things get a bit murky but after rereading a time or two always became clear to me. I found Chapt 1 to be a bit light on content and probably could've been culled and merged with Chapt 2 but this is really quibbling. The examples are tiny, hard-to-read screenshots and are slightly bothersome. Despite all these minor complaints this book is *by far* your best bet to learn Python if you've never programmed before. Summary: A very good introduction to Python for the budding programmer. Reviewer: A reader from bayard, iowa USA the worst python book i have ever read. the teaching style is so scatterbrained that it useless to a beginner. the code snippets are worthless because he uses elements in the code,that have not been fully explained yet,stating that "we will discuss that in chapter whatever" then expects you to build on code you don't fully understand. this book reads like it was slapped together in a long weekend. my copy is already in the dumpster. Reviewer: Wayne Vovil from Forrestfield, WA Australia This book is OK. The author gets lost in his pastimes, such as Mayan culture. I didn't mind this though because I was entertained by his tangents. There is a better one, namely Learning Python (Lutz). |
|
|
|
© 2005-2006, Programming Shed
|
