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Programming Python: Powerful Object-Oriented Programming
Completely revised and improved, the second edition of Programming Python is an excellent compendium of material geared toward the more knowledgeable Python developer. It includes dozens of reusable scripts for common scripting tasks, and is one of the best available sources of information for this popular object-oriented scripting language.
In over 1,200 pages of material, this book offers an extremely comprehensive guide to Python development. Though his book is densely packed with information, Mark Lutz is a lively and witty writer whose focus is on getting things done using the natural strengths of the Python language. To that end, after an introduction and history of the language, the book shows how to use Python for performing automated tasks with files and directories (for example, for doing backups both locally and on Web servers). Not only will this book teach you more about Python, but it will also give you a library of code that you can use as is or adapt for your own projects.
The text covers every conceivable facet of Python and the language's support for networking, files and directories, task management, and even persistence (through its support for shelves). Complete Python programs show how to create e-mail clients, do reporting, and create Web applications (for an online errata database). Chapters on doing graphics programming in Python, as well as coverage of both built-in and custom data structures, are especially good. Because Python is often used for automating installations (in some Linux distributions, for instance), readers will appreciate the sample code and tips for using Python to create bulletproof installs.
Later sections show how get Python to work with C, Java (through JPython), and other languages. The book concludes with useful reference sections summarizing key aspects of Python, like its revision history, relationship to C++, and other material. There aren't many titles on Python, and fans of this up-and-coming language are lucky to have such a solid tutorial and guide available in Programming Python. Perfect for those with just a little previous exposure to the language, it's all you need to master Python in-depth and tap its considerable power for virtually any software project. --Richard Dragan
Topics covered:
Introduction to Python Basic system scripts with Python (including file and directory tools) Working with processes and threads Pipes and signals Sample scripts for system and Web utilities (including backing up files, program launching, replicating and managing directories) Graphical user interface design in Python (including the Tkinter module) Widgets and basic components Layout options Event handling GUI examples (including a working text editor, image viewer, and clock) Network scripting (sockets, FTP, and e-mail clients) Server-side scripting Sample server scripts for an online errata database Python on the Internet (including Zope, JPython, and XML tools) Databases and persistence in Python (including pickled objects and shelf files) Custom and built-in data structures in Python Text and string handling C integration with Python (including the SWIG module) Embedding Python calls within C Hints for using Python in real projects Reference to recent changes to Python Python vs. C++ quick-start guide2591 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1996
210 people are currently reading
1354 people want to read
About the author
Mark Lutz
20 books59 followersMark Lutz is the world leader in Python training, the author of Python's earliest and best-selling texts, and a pioneering figure in the Python community.
Mark is the author of the popular O'Reilly books Programming Python, Python Pocket Reference, and Learning Python, all currently in 4th Editions. He has been using and promoting Python since 1992, started writing Python books in 1995, and began teaching Python classes in 1997. As of mid 2010, Mark has instructed some 250 Python training sessions, taught some 4,000 students, and written Python books which have sold roughly a quarter of a million copies and been translated to over a dozen languages.
Together, his Python efforts since 1992 have helped to establish it as one of the most widely-used programming languages in the world today. In addition, Mark holds BS and MS degrees in computer science from the University of Wisconsin where he explored implementations of the Prolog language, and over the last 25 years has worked as a professional software developer on compilers, programming tools, scripting applications, and assorted client/server systems.
Mark maintains an additional book support site on the web at www.rmi.net/~lutz.
Mark is the author of the popular O'Reilly books Programming Python, Python Pocket Reference, and Learning Python, all currently in 4th Editions. He has been using and promoting Python since 1992, started writing Python books in 1995, and began teaching Python classes in 1997. As of mid 2010, Mark has instructed some 250 Python training sessions, taught some 4,000 students, and written Python books which have sold roughly a quarter of a million copies and been translated to over a dozen languages.
Together, his Python efforts since 1992 have helped to establish it as one of the most widely-used programming languages in the world today. In addition, Mark holds BS and MS degrees in computer science from the University of Wisconsin where he explored implementations of the Prolog language, and over the last 25 years has worked as a professional software developer on compilers, programming tools, scripting applications, and assorted client/server systems.
Mark maintains an additional book support site on the web at www.rmi.net/~lutz.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
January 17, 2011
I've been using Python since I was a graduate student. While I have known of earlier versions of this tome it had never occurred to me to go through this. Because my focus in computer programming is not in the systems administration or IT related skills like most of O'Reilly Press customers seem to be. My interest is in scientific programming and data analysis. Now that I have had some time and occasion to use this, I find that the content is indeed weighted at an audience whose function is computer programming (as opposed to using computers for something else), but what this book really provides is an education on how to accomplish tasks in idiomatic Python, not just a programming how-to book.
Programming Python (PP4E) goal is NOT to teach programming in the Python language (that task was for another book by Lutz, Learning Python). The stated goal was to teach practical use of Python, and that necessarily means using the standard libraries. But even at 1600+ pages you can't do everything. So this book focuses on (IT) systems administration, GUI development and web programming using Python 3.x (not covering Python 2.x). None of these are what I do. But, there are some tasks that are covered that can be very useful, so in reviewing this book I focused on Graphic User Interface (GUI) and text processing.
What I found as I worked through these sections was that PP4E was not a reference as it lacks systematic coverage of topics. And it is not just a tutorial, although it definitely follows a crawl, walk, run sequence as it covers the topics. What it does do well is cover how to think and how to make design decisions. So for the GUI section it focuses on tkinter, and it does cover various widgets, window managers, etc., where it shows its colors is when it discusses how the parts work and how you make choices between alternatives (e.g. window managers). There are some warts with its focus on Python 3. There are several chapters in the GUI section that require the Python Imaging Library (PIL). But based on the PIL web page, PIL is not ported to Python 3.x. So it probably means that Lutz used a pre-release port without telling us.
Similarly, regular expressions is something I've never quite gotten. And I would not be able to master use of the re module here, since it lacks a usual lists of functions with examples that a reference or a tutorial would have. But what it does do is to cover how regular expressions fit along with other string operations, when and why to use match, search, find, findall, compile. When to compile and how to think through building a regular expression sequence. You would not learn how to use regular expressions here (I would never be able to develop the examples from what is in the book), but you will learn how to think through them, and bring that when you go back to a real reference or instructional book.
One aspect that is very annoying is the examples quickly become more complex than the material that leads up to it. So instead of crawl, walk, run; it takes on the feel of crawl - sprint, with a basic introduction then quickly moving into a complex and mature code. Some of this is a result of a goal of trying to be deep in everything. So be warned.
I received a free electronic copy of Programming Python from O'Reilly Press as part of their blogger review program.
Programming Python (PP4E) goal is NOT to teach programming in the Python language (that task was for another book by Lutz, Learning Python). The stated goal was to teach practical use of Python, and that necessarily means using the standard libraries. But even at 1600+ pages you can't do everything. So this book focuses on (IT) systems administration, GUI development and web programming using Python 3.x (not covering Python 2.x). None of these are what I do. But, there are some tasks that are covered that can be very useful, so in reviewing this book I focused on Graphic User Interface (GUI) and text processing.
What I found as I worked through these sections was that PP4E was not a reference as it lacks systematic coverage of topics. And it is not just a tutorial, although it definitely follows a crawl, walk, run sequence as it covers the topics. What it does do well is cover how to think and how to make design decisions. So for the GUI section it focuses on tkinter, and it does cover various widgets, window managers, etc., where it shows its colors is when it discusses how the parts work and how you make choices between alternatives (e.g. window managers). There are some warts with its focus on Python 3. There are several chapters in the GUI section that require the Python Imaging Library (PIL). But based on the PIL web page, PIL is not ported to Python 3.x. So it probably means that Lutz used a pre-release port without telling us.
Similarly, regular expressions is something I've never quite gotten. And I would not be able to master use of the re module here, since it lacks a usual lists of functions with examples that a reference or a tutorial would have. But what it does do is to cover how regular expressions fit along with other string operations, when and why to use match, search, find, findall, compile. When to compile and how to think through building a regular expression sequence. You would not learn how to use regular expressions here (I would never be able to develop the examples from what is in the book), but you will learn how to think through them, and bring that when you go back to a real reference or instructional book.
One aspect that is very annoying is the examples quickly become more complex than the material that leads up to it. So instead of crawl, walk, run; it takes on the feel of crawl - sprint, with a basic introduction then quickly moving into a complex and mature code. Some of this is a result of a goal of trying to be deep in everything. So be warned.
I received a free electronic copy of Programming Python from O'Reilly Press as part of their blogger review program.
October 6, 2011
This book sits on the shelf next to my desk at the office. The answer to just about any python question resides within, along with many code examples on the cd. A must have for anyone who programs in python.
August 3, 2007
What a disappointment. A very long, tedious and random collection of python programming examples with no rhyme or reason whatsoever. I think they were trying out a new idea for an authoritative language book which didn't end up panning out at all. A big pile of wasted paper.
January 24, 2020
I'm recently at the beginning of chapter 11 now. It took me about 3 weeks long to read.
The first time I'm reading the first chapter of this book, I felt perplexed by it's overwhelming amount of code. Then, I peeked at the end of the book to realized that it has 1556 pages long. As I read the book page by page, I felt a bit uncertain and decided to skip to chapter 2. Chapter 2 mainly talks about os and sys module in python, the modules that form the core of much of Python's system. I learned a lot from here, and get exited by the detailed explanation.
In chapter 3, I just get known about pipe, command line, and standard streams in comprehensible way. I get a grasp regarding sys.argv, sys.stdout, sys.stdin, etc. Every substance has it own code example to get more precise understanding.
Same concept apply on Chapter 4 and 5 with different topic obviously. But in chapter 6, I concluded that some of the examples isn't interesting. I just picked 3 projects (web-redirect, file-size-detector, and file-split-join), which I think is catch my attention.
As I began my journey in chapter 7, I get a clear description about how .pack() function is work and it helped my widget placement constrain in tkinter. In the next two chapter, it just introduce the basic widgets usage, but its worth reading.
And here began the chapter 10, I learned more about how to code GUI in different ways. The thread and streams method are interesting to read.
My conclusion is, this book isn't that bad. It may a bit verbose (even I think the same). But it give you more detailed explanation about some particular subjects. This book chapters are connected with one another. You will find it hard to skip one chapter to be able to follow along the book, but the author has code repository stored in his website. The author is know what he's doing, it's okay if this book bored you by its long page bible, you can leave it anyway.
Overall this is a good book, well written and structured. It's answer what, how and why question (you may have a hard time figured out how the code is working, thought). This book implicitly will teach you how to write readable code, which is an important skill for programmers to learn. If you have a spirit to complete this book, you must be persist and patient. You will get bored or unmotivated in the middle of road (I felt that too), but the tread off is fundamental knowledge about specific subjects (assuming that the other people may not read all the chapters).
The first time I'm reading the first chapter of this book, I felt perplexed by it's overwhelming amount of code. Then, I peeked at the end of the book to realized that it has 1556 pages long. As I read the book page by page, I felt a bit uncertain and decided to skip to chapter 2. Chapter 2 mainly talks about os and sys module in python, the modules that form the core of much of Python's system. I learned a lot from here, and get exited by the detailed explanation.
In chapter 3, I just get known about pipe, command line, and standard streams in comprehensible way. I get a grasp regarding sys.argv, sys.stdout, sys.stdin, etc. Every substance has it own code example to get more precise understanding.
Same concept apply on Chapter 4 and 5 with different topic obviously. But in chapter 6, I concluded that some of the examples isn't interesting. I just picked 3 projects (web-redirect, file-size-detector, and file-split-join), which I think is catch my attention.
As I began my journey in chapter 7, I get a clear description about how .pack() function is work and it helped my widget placement constrain in tkinter. In the next two chapter, it just introduce the basic widgets usage, but its worth reading.
And here began the chapter 10, I learned more about how to code GUI in different ways. The thread and streams method are interesting to read.
My conclusion is, this book isn't that bad. It may a bit verbose (even I think the same). But it give you more detailed explanation about some particular subjects. This book chapters are connected with one another. You will find it hard to skip one chapter to be able to follow along the book, but the author has code repository stored in his website. The author is know what he's doing, it's okay if this book bored you by its long page bible, you can leave it anyway.
Overall this is a good book, well written and structured. It's answer what, how and why question (you may have a hard time figured out how the code is working, thought). This book implicitly will teach you how to write readable code, which is an important skill for programmers to learn. If you have a spirit to complete this book, you must be persist and patient. You will get bored or unmotivated in the middle of road (I felt that too), but the tread off is fundamental knowledge about specific subjects (assuming that the other people may not read all the chapters).
October 27, 2021
It has become legacy code; most of the projects within it test one's patience! Nonetheless, as usual Mark Lutz does a decent job at teaching via this text. (That same sage tutoring style is extended to this book.)
October 29, 2019
Another vintage book read, and more place in my cupboard ;). This book was written in 2001, the time where Python 2 was still a new thing, and I finished it about 2 months before Python 2 is actually begin deprecated. (Somebody even bother to translate it in Dutch, in 2001, ... 1100 pages, including the comments in the code listings)
The good news is that quite some content is still relevant (go Tk toolkit), some of the 'older' more low level stuff is actually quite interesting. But it's good to see that in more recent editions of the book less attention is given to the Tk toolkit and CGI scripting.
The good news is that quite some content is still relevant (go Tk toolkit), some of the 'older' more low level stuff is actually quite interesting. But it's good to see that in more recent editions of the book less attention is given to the Tk toolkit and CGI scripting.
September 12, 2018
This is an intermediate-level book on using the Python standard library. It is not a book on the Python language. For that see “Learning Python” by the same author.
Topics include system programming, files and directories, interprocess communication, threading and multiprocessing, internet programming, databases, web programming and data structures. It even covers integration with C/C++.
There is a huge section on GUI programming with TK and lots of examples in other sections use a GUI. I’m not sure how many people find that interesting. I skipped most of that part.
Topics include system programming, files and directories, interprocess communication, threading and multiprocessing, internet programming, databases, web programming and data structures. It even covers integration with C/C++.
There is a huge section on GUI programming with TK and lots of examples in other sections use a GUI. I’m not sure how many people find that interesting. I skipped most of that part.
June 30, 2017
I have to admit, I skimmed most of the GUI sections, as they just don't really apply to me (if I need an interface, it's going to be web-based).
Not as helpful as I anticipated, but it did provide a bit of inspiration. I think it was more useful when I first started reading it a year and a half ago, but concurrent experience on the job outpaced the book. It was just a point of pride to get through the whole enormous thing, and I did eventually do that.
Not as helpful as I anticipated, but it did provide a bit of inspiration. I think it was more useful when I first started reading it a year and a half ago, but concurrent experience on the job outpaced the book. It was just a point of pride to get through the whole enormous thing, and I did eventually do that.
March 8, 2019
This was the first "textbook" I had for Python, and I did not find it very helpful. The topics covered in different chapters seemed disjointed. They may be more use as tips or introductions to unfamiliar topics. I did not get a comprehensive guide to either foundation Python skills or its specialist applications.
February 13, 2019
The book is really tailroed toward databases and guis. Didn't learn much about what I think people really use python for which is for prototyping sysadmin type tools/automation/reporting in an IT environment.
February 29, 2024
Was eye-opening practical examples of real coding needs for IPC, ... Not necessarily the greatest read, and the size was always daunting. But still remains a goto for lower-level IPC issues to look for if I really need to hook into Unix/Linux/Posix interfaces and system calls.
October 1, 2017
Just as clear in the writing as Learning Python. Not everything in Programming Python is applicable to everyone (as, almost in the latter), but a very nice selection of tasks and situations.
May 26, 2018
Too many very long, very complete examples. But explained advanced python well.
June 24, 2020
A great resource, but severely outdated.
November 18, 2016
This book is not the best in python. Like with Mark Lutz's Learning Python book, this book is also too much long with the same repeating and not very interesting code example. The author too much talk the same trivial thing.
Though I found this book useful when you want to master your skills on some concrete python topic.
Though I found this book useful when you want to master your skills on some concrete python topic.
October 8, 2014
This is a fairly good introduction to the Python programming language. Its organization, however, makes it hard to use when you just want to refresh your memory about a particular detail you have forgotten.
June 13, 2007
>>> I CAN HAS SYS
>>> IS 'BONK' IN SYS.ARGV?
I SAW UR 'BONK'
>>> AWSOMTHX()
KTHXBYE
>>> IS 'BONK' IN SYS.ARGV?
I SAW UR 'BONK'
>>> AWSOMTHX()
KTHXBYE
Read
January 10, 2010Python (en fran
April 1, 2011
Must Read book specially for System Administrators using Python scripts
I learned a lot from this book
I learned a lot from this book
August 14, 2012
Its not bad but it isn't great either. Most of these books spend way too much time on trival things.
Read
January 28, 2013jiop
August 5, 2013
This would be the best reference book for anytime to understand the concepts with examples. explain in clear manner
February 19, 2015
One of the best books I've read on Python.
Read
January 1, 2017dd
June 5, 2023
In this era of online learning, it's hard for a book to compete. If you're looking to learn Python from a book this is an okay one to use.
May 3, 2010
I feel like this is a printed copy of the man pages.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews