Python in a Nutshell

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…ou at first but wears you down over time. I’ve developed very large systems with Rails and it’s served me well, but it’s also made me very weary. This is the reason both Python in a Nutshell and the Definitive Guide to Django now sit open on my desk. I come seeking clarity, explicitness, and productivity. I’ve shied away from Python for years because of some awful inconsistencies in the language and lack of closures (I <3 closures), but if it keeps things straightforward and clean, I’ll overlook them. I’ll probably always prefer Ruby as a language in general…as a tool with which to perform magical displays of power and light…but I’m very close to giving up on it for day-to-day real work.

…rted to 3.x, start with 2.6. The versions are not different enough for it to be a big problem either way you learn them - but there are more books out for 2.x - like the Python in a Nutshell book, which I find to be the best reference (though not the best book for beginner programmers). Then, you can refer to the "What's New in Version x" entries in the documentation on the Python site to learn the later versions.

I recommend Python in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition by Alex Martelli. It is very concise, without the newbie stuff, and does point out some specifics that might surprise someone coming from Java and other languages. It's a good Python library reference to have on your bookshelf, too. This book covers up to Python 2.5, but you could then read about the changes in Python 2.6/3.0 at: http://www.python.org/doc/

…been mentioned before: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9781565924642/ O'Reilly's Programming Python is not bad, but it's not a great book, either for beginners or journeymen. Python in a Nutshell is more suitable as reference book, although I suppose you could use it to learn Python. For a Python reference book, I found David Beazley's Python Essential Reference to be more informative and better organized: http://www.amazon.com/Python-Essential-Reference-Developers-... As other people have mentioned, Guido's online tutorial is pretty good, and you don't really much else to start programming in Python: http://docs.python.org/tutorial/index.html I'm always puzzled by people recommending Mark Pilgrim's Dive into Python. I don't find it a good choice for Python beginners.

….berkeley.edu/~selfpace/cs9honline/ to good feedback for an introduction to python and programming in general, while myself mostly relying on the books by Alex Martelli (Python in a Nutshell and Python Cookbook)

…a site in Django. Yes, I was one of those bastards that was learning Python AND Django at the same time, but it worked out for me. I read the Python tutorial, and I have Python in a nutshell which I find is a great way to look something up and get a pretty good, detailed explanation on it.

Dive into Python: http://diveintopython.org/ And then I bought Python in a Nutshell, which covers a lot of things in more depth, with decent examples. Recommended.

I used the python tutorial and library reference in addition to "Python in a Nutshell" ( http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596001889/ ) With a healthy amount of coding, I've gotten very comfortable with python, although I still feel like I'm not quite utilizing it idiomatically. As such, I've been going through Programming Python ( http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596009250/ ) - which is very well written, IMO - as well as reading a healthy amount of other people's source code, notably CherryPy ( http://cherrypy.org/ ), since I use it a lot. If you're experienced with other languages, I'd suggest implementing something like a tetris clone as an exercise in learning the language. If you're only experienced with web-dev (as is often the case these days), I'd recommend implementing a few small web-apps with CherryPy - it's the most "pythonic" "we…