Introducing Python: Modern Computing in Simple Packages

With the exception of K&R, It’s very rare to see “Learn Language X” books in people’s list of best/favorite programming books of all time. Bill Lubanovic’s “Introducing Python” has immediately vaulted into my top tier of programming books--and I’ve read too many to count and don’t give out this distinction easily. Being the geek that I am, I analyzed about 30 Python books through Amazon before deciding this book was the best match for where I was at. Looking at each book’s table of contents will tell you a lot. As a long time Ruby developer making the switch to Python, I noticed that almost all Python books were targeting either (1) new programmers (2) experienced Pythonistas or (3) folks who wanted to focus on only a particular aspect of the language, such as Data Science. I also wanted a book that was well reviewed and up-to-date (at least at the time of my December 2017 purchase). Not only was this book the right choice, it was such a good technical text in general that I had to write a review about it. Here are some of the characteristics I found worthy of note: 1.) The book length is just right. Not too long and not too short. About 350 pages if you don’t count the appendices. Also a steal at under $20 at the time of this writing. 2.) It starts from the very basics of Python but gets into some deep(ish) territory without either (1) making the assumption that you have instantly become an expert at some point in the middle of the book (too many technical texts fail here) or (2) going into rabbit holes that won’t be relevant for the type of Python developer that would be reading this book 3.) The humor is perfect. It is not forced at all, not overdone and appears in just the right places. 4.) Covers some interesting areas that most intro language books don’t touch upon: web programming, concurrency, networking (sockets!), why queueing systems are all the rage these days, NoSQL, and a full chapter of miscellany about being a Pythonista which covers things like IDEs, testing, debugging, timing code, conferences, websites of interest, linting, etc. 5.) There are no code samples where the author is overcomplicating things unnecessarily. This is a failure of many technicals authors. Lubanovic makes most code snippets as simple as possible to demonstrate the concept he is teaching. And to be fair, my minor quibbles: 1.) Redis gets quite a bit of coverage (relatively) 2.) The section on decorators was the only section in the book where I read it and I couldn’t wrap my head around how it was working given the examples. Could just be me though. 3.) I would have liked to see a little more coverage of unit testing (e.g. pytest?) Highly recommended. If you’re a somewhat experienced engineer looking to get up to speed on Python, look no further.

I'd agree with the comments made by others. It's really an excellent introduction to the language, done in a very modern way, which is to recognize that most coding is now done by gluing together modules. Because this book takes that approach, and uses the modules as a foil for teaching you how to code in a Pythonic way, you really learn two things at once. If you have any coding experience, and want to get up and running quickly, this is a great book, and even a good reference for later projects as they arise. And yes, "Learning Python" is really awful (both on its own terms, and in comparison to this). This is a MUCH better place to start. (What happened there anyway O'Reilly, I mean Learning Perl is THE book. BACKGROUND: I'm an experienced coder, having learned C and C++ years ago, giving them up when I learned Perl, and figured I'd never parse a file byte-by-byte ever again. I learned Ruby more recently, but got into some heavy math/statistics/image analysis, and saw that Python had the best supported science/math libraries by far. So I had to learn it. In spite of the fact that I think regular expressions are far harder in Python then they need to be, I see the advantages that other list. But most of all, most of all, it's about the available modules. CPAN is what made Perl unbeatable back in the day, and Python is the modern-day heir to that legacy. This book does a good job recognizing that and making you fluent in the language and it's highest profile modules at the same time. Highly recommended. (And no, you can't borrow my copy).

This book is probably best for someone who has either programmed in other languages or has previously read a beginner book on python. This was my third on python and I found that it filled out the prior gaps in my knowledge while reinforcing the basics. The pacing appears designed for serious learners who will either understand the material the first time around or take the time to search for more extensive answers online. The pacing and conciseness of the book may be excessive for true beginners. This book could also be fairly useful as a reference because most of the chapters can stand on their own, although I found it best to work through in the order presented. The problems provide effective drills without being excessively difficult. The author was good at explaining the contexts in which certain aspects of the language may be useful. He was also better than most technical authors about not assuming, by mistake or otherwise, a prior understanding of details or terms of art.

An excellent book for beginners. I've read other intro books, but the opening chapters of this book gave me the most comprehensive review of Python syntax, methods and structures, delivered with wit. Examples range from simple to quite complex. For me, an old Fortran programmer, the material on object-oriented programming needs to be simplified and expanded (probably not a problem for those with C experience). That said, the topics covered would also be very useful to a more advanced programmer. I recommend the book to readers who might want an overview of the many capabilities of Python and those who want to get up to speed quickly. Python is free and there is a lot of support on the web but unfortunately, there is no free compiler, so programs cannot be shared unless the second party also installs Python. For example, I wanted to do some analyses on data downloaded from Excel as .CSV files. The programs I wrote were used only by me on a single computer. Lubanovic's book was very helpful as a reference.

Fabulous! As a newbie, I liked the flow of the subjects, the details, insight and humour. Easy to comprehend and full of 'ah-huh' moments. Compared to other books that are usually way to dry, this was great. Highly recommended!!

There are two reasons why I have given 5 stars here. First is for this fantastic book, and second is for Amazon. First off, The book..This might sound over-the-top but, this book is the reason why I want to learn Python 3. Tried playing with Python 2, but discovered that most of the modules/packages I wanted are now ported to Python 3. While on a look out for a good book, a Quora answer lead me to "Introducing Python" and I am so glad it did. I have done some Perl Scripting in the past and am therefore aware of basic building blocks and was looking out for exactly this kind of a book. This book is written in such a lucid manner and concepts are so clearly explained, it's a sheer joy to read. There are tons of Python books out there...most of them are for absolute newbies, and the rest assume that you are as fluent in Python as your native language, but this one is different. Chapter by Chapter, the author explains concepts in a way that is neither too slow nor to fast paced. I've read quite a few books, but rarely do you come across such a gem. Why am I learning Python? Simple, because I want to enjoy this book. I mean it. Now for Amazon's amazing customer care service.....I had tried to buy this book online a few days ago. Something went wrong and though the money got deducted from my bank account, I got a message stating that the book order has failed. I called up Amazon support and was truly amazed at their swift action. The best part was, the customer care exec clearly stated without wasting any time that this had happened beause of a technical glitch. He further offered the option to immediately cancel the order or I could wait for 30 minutes and see what happens. As promised he called me sharp 30 minutes later and told me that its better to cancel the order and re order it later. I did the same. I had clubbed a gift coupon along while booking the order, and the amount too was refunded back in my account. Very Happy Amazon customer here.

Il y a selon moi plusieurs profils pour l'étudiant type désireux d'apprendre Python. 1 / L'hobbyiste qui souhaite apprendre un langage au plus simple et lui permettra ensuite, avec les nombreux modules de python, de pousser dans son domaine (jeux vidéos, modélisme, sciences). Je rajouterai à cette catégorie les enfants, dont les parents programmeurs choisissent généralement le python comme moyen d'initiation amusant à leur univers. ( Il y a d'ailleurs quelque part sur amazon.com un livre pour celà en particulier, ou les enfants/jeunes adolescents font leur mini jeu pas à pas en apprenant au passage les bases du python, mais je m'égare.) 2 / L'étudiant de formation scientifique non informatique / le scientifique qui n'a aucun intérêt à plonger dans des languages compliqués et doit apprendre le python car c'est "le langage aux nombreux modules à applications scientifiques déjà prêts et à la communauté solide associée" 3/ L'étudiant en informatique / l'informaticien qui apprend soit le python parce que c'est un langage de script solide qui peut servir de complément à d'autres langages plus bas niveaux. à qui ce livre s'adresse t'il ? "introducing python" laisse à supposer un accès débutant, avec une base "tronc commun" qui devrait vous offrir de quoi poursuivre dans votre spécialisation ou passion. Les hobbyistes auront du mal à décrypter le contenu pour aller au plus simple, car l'auteur a opté pour l'approche "parler d'absolument tous les aspects du langage, mais condenser dans peu de lignes à chaque fois". L'auteur essaye d'apprendre des aspects assez sombre du langage sans le côté et jargon technique. En tant que de formation informatique, je comprends ce que dis l'auteur : je l'avais déjà appris ailleurs. si vous avez appris un autre langage objet bas niveau, imaginez : L'auteur passe une à deux pages sur l'héritage, puis une ou deux pages sur le polymorhpisme, et pour finir une seule page sur la surcharge des opérateurs, ou le nom que ça porte en python(ou qu'il lui donne) : "the magic methods". Celà vous donne une idée du contenu du livre : il y a tout, mais c'est très fortement comprimé, quand ce qu'espère quelqu'un qui recherche une introduction, serait probablement moins de concept, et plus de temps à expliquer chaque chose, de manière à terminer sur une impression de "bases mais acquises et claires". Ici, le non - de spécialité en informatique se demandera très régulièrement ou utiliser des concepts pareils. Nous sommes donc très loin d'une introduction en douceur. En essence, c'est un livre de python, qui pourrait laisser à penser qu'il est destiné à toutes les catégories d'utilisateurs du langage, mais qui au fond ne sera à peine digeste qu'à ceux de branche informatique. Ce qui est bien dommage, car c'est l'avantage de python : être si simple et clair qu'il peut être facilement appris par des non informaticiens, sans douleur et même avec plaisir. Il y a de nombreuses ressources pour apprendre python, et je dirais que celle ci a été maladroitement écrite pour "tous publics", mais pour beaucoup ça risque de ne pas passer voire de dégoûter du langage (ce qui serait une erreur : Python est un moyen d'initiation fantastique et un moyen accessible et rapible pour tester et prototyper de nouveaux concepts) Ceux de formation informatique le digèront, mais devront faire avec les crampes d'estomacs de la "digestion", exemple : "de quoi parle t'il ? On dirait qu'il parle des surcharges d'opérateurs, sauf qu'il appelle ça -magic methods-. Ok, je sais ce que sais, je l'ai déjà vu dans tel autre langage(s) objet. explication du concept en évitant au maximum le jargon informatique, puis exemple de quelques lignes... et voilà, vous êtes lâché dans la nature à surcharger des opérateurs tout seul. >>>> et ce sera le même cycle sur de nombreux concepts.

LLego en tiempo y forma, en excelentes condiciones. A pesar de que es introducción al lenguaje python, el libro abarca un gran contenido, por lo cual, lo reocmiendo ampliamente.

I'm an experienced programmer learning Python. This is a reasonably succinct presentation of what you need to know to begin a first significant Python project. It goes at the right pace for someone with prior programming experience in another language, maybe a bit fast if Python is your first language. It isn't afraid to express opinions and preferences and the evident experience and knowledge of the author means those opinions carry weight. Recommended.