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The Quick Python Book, Third Edition
This third revision of Manning's popular The Quick Python Book offers a clear, crisp updated introduction to the elegant Python programming language and its famously easy-to-read syntax. Written for programmers new to Python, this latest edition includes new exercises throughout. It covers features common to other languages concisely, while introducing Python's comprehensive standard functions library and unique features in detail.
After exploring Python's syntax, control flow, and basic data structures, the book shows how to create and deploy full applications and larger code libraries. It addresses established Python features as well as the advanced object-oriented options available in Python 3. Along the way, you'll survey the current Python development landscape, including Pythonic best practices, data extraction and cleaning, database access, and web frameworks.
400 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2000
54 people are currently reading
338 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
October 23, 2016
This book is best suited to someone with little formal education in computer science. The author often uses colloquial terms and longer expositions rather than formal & precise ones, probably in an attempt to make the book more accessible to programming amateurs. I won't fault that choice, except that it made the book considerably more verbose and less definitive than I'd have preferred. Frankly I've found no intro Python book that fills that bill, so again, so again, no demerits for Harms' book on this point.
As a result, I stopped reading at about the halfway point and switched to the free "Python 3.4 Tutorial" written by Guido von Rossum. At about 102 pages the PDF is considerably more terse than Harms' book, but Rossum's willing use of precise CS terms manages to introduce me (30 years in the business) to yet another programming language as quickly and efficiently as possible.
As a result, I stopped reading at about the halfway point and switched to the free "Python 3.4 Tutorial" written by Guido von Rossum. At about 102 pages the PDF is considerably more terse than Harms' book, but Rossum's willing use of precise CS terms manages to introduce me (30 years in the business) to yet another programming language as quickly and efficiently as possible.
June 12, 2016
After trying different books for python (Think python, Dive into python 3 and Head first python) I've find this one the best both as learning book as well as reference book.
Part 2 is a nicely organized tutorial for the language. It contains most of the essentials and will give you the feel that you can continue learning by your own (or with more specialized books/tutorials).
Part 3 is much less cohesive then part 2. It seems that the chapter about regular expressions could get into part 2 but the rest of the part is too much esoteric and there are some mistakes through all of it (for example, it refers you to the appendix for more information that is not there).
I didn't read part 4 completely. I've only read the information about working with databases in chapter 24 and it is very well written.
For part 2 I will give 5 start without hesitation. But part 3, although less significant, doesn't deserve it.
After all the book is very recommended.
Part 2 is a nicely organized tutorial for the language. It contains most of the essentials and will give you the feel that you can continue learning by your own (or with more specialized books/tutorials).
Part 3 is much less cohesive then part 2. It seems that the chapter about regular expressions could get into part 2 but the rest of the part is too much esoteric and there are some mistakes through all of it (for example, it refers you to the appendix for more information that is not there).
I didn't read part 4 completely. I've only read the information about working with databases in chapter 24 and it is very well written.
For part 2 I will give 5 start without hesitation. But part 3, although less significant, doesn't deserve it.
After all the book is very recommended.
April 1, 2012
I misled myself when buying this book, thinking that I could use it to convince myself that time spent coding Python was worth time away from learning Clojure, Haskell, et al. This book was much more beginner-oriented than I expected, and didn't really provide the evidence I was looking for. A few of the final chapters provided some information about metaclasses, abstract base classes, and special methods that was useful to me. I was disappointed to not find many other details on what makes Python stand out.
Despite my experience with the book, this sort of reading would really be helpful to someone learning their first programming language or returning to programming after some time away.
Despite my experience with the book, this sort of reading would really be helpful to someone learning their first programming language or returning to programming after some time away.
Want to read
May 27, 2018Looked at the sample code that comes with the book and decided not to buy. Check out Learning Python (available free) or Mastering python from Packt publishing which covers both basic language and advanced features respectively and they are better books.
Read
December 31, 2019A must-read for EVERY programmer! Most of the books teach you how to program, or how to use your specific language features, but none of them will TEACH you how to actually write clean and maintainable code. This one does!
January 28, 2020
Quite a decent refresher, but not w/o drawbacks:
On the plus side:
* it's well written, very approachable
* it covers all the syntactic foundations in a simple, tutorialesque way
* it goes quite wide - almost everything is mentioned: including venv, Jupyter, pandaas, SQLAlchemy, ...
And the cons:
* it goes very slowly
* I believe that to set the pitch properly one should start with the ecosystem & its foundation first (I felt odd because the book didn't)
* there'a almost nothing about the Zen of Python & the idiomatic aspects of the language (it's the biggest drawback!)
* many topics is are barely mentioned, so the reader just knows they are present but doesn't even see the purpose/advantage (e.g. Jupyter - it'd be hard to grasp the advantage w/o external knowledge - IMHO)
It's not a bad book, but I have a strong feeling that there are better starters/refreshers for Python around ...
On the plus side:
* it's well written, very approachable
* it covers all the syntactic foundations in a simple, tutorialesque way
* it goes quite wide - almost everything is mentioned: including venv, Jupyter, pandaas, SQLAlchemy, ...
And the cons:
* it goes very slowly
* I believe that to set the pitch properly one should start with the ecosystem & its foundation first (I felt odd because the book didn't)
* there'a almost nothing about the Zen of Python & the idiomatic aspects of the language (it's the biggest drawback!)
* many topics is are barely mentioned, so the reader just knows they are present but doesn't even see the purpose/advantage (e.g. Jupyter - it'd be hard to grasp the advantage w/o external knowledge - IMHO)
It's not a bad book, but I have a strong feeling that there are better starters/refreshers for Python around ...
December 28, 2017
Tiresome to read, too wordy. Quick is the entirely wrong word to use for a book that is targeted towards new programmers.
January 31, 2023
The Module Maiden
A comprehensive guide to the Python programming language, perfect for beginners and those looking to expand their knowledge. This book offers a well-rounded, in-depth introduction to the Python language and its applications, making it an excellent choice for those looking to start programming in Python.
The book presents the material in a clear and concise manner, making it easy for beginners to understand. It covers a wide range of topics, from basic concepts to more advanced topics, including object-oriented programming, error handling, file manipulation, and more.
One of the key strengths of The Quick Python Book is its ability to cover a lot of ground in a relatively short amount of time. The author presents the information in an organized, step-by-step manner, making it easy to follow along and learn the material. The book also includes numerous examples and exercises, providing readers with practical experience and a solid foundation in Python programming.
The book is also ideal for those looking to expand their knowledge of Python beyond the basics. The author includes coverage of more advanced topics, such as working with databases, creating graphical user interfaces, and using the Python Standard Library.
It is a good resource for anyone looking to learn Python programming, from complete beginners to those looking to expand their knowledge. The author's clear and concise writing style, combined with the depth of material covered, makes this book a must-read for anyone interested in Python programming.
4.3/5
A comprehensive guide to the Python programming language, perfect for beginners and those looking to expand their knowledge. This book offers a well-rounded, in-depth introduction to the Python language and its applications, making it an excellent choice for those looking to start programming in Python.
The book presents the material in a clear and concise manner, making it easy for beginners to understand. It covers a wide range of topics, from basic concepts to more advanced topics, including object-oriented programming, error handling, file manipulation, and more.
One of the key strengths of The Quick Python Book is its ability to cover a lot of ground in a relatively short amount of time. The author presents the information in an organized, step-by-step manner, making it easy to follow along and learn the material. The book also includes numerous examples and exercises, providing readers with practical experience and a solid foundation in Python programming.
The book is also ideal for those looking to expand their knowledge of Python beyond the basics. The author includes coverage of more advanced topics, such as working with databases, creating graphical user interfaces, and using the Python Standard Library.
It is a good resource for anyone looking to learn Python programming, from complete beginners to those looking to expand their knowledge. The author's clear and concise writing style, combined with the depth of material covered, makes this book a must-read for anyone interested in Python programming.
4.3/5
April 29, 2025
This book is excellent for anyone who wants to pick up Python quickly. It is well-written, and easy to understand. I like the author's concise writing style, it keeps things snappy. The AI exercises are fun to do and interesting.
I have read many a programming book, and I have to say this is one of my favorites.
I have read many a programming book, and I have to say this is one of my favorites.
August 16, 2019
Easy introduction to Python.
January 9, 2020
Just nice introduction to python
Currently reading
December 17, 2022My very famous book
December 1, 2014
Two things of note for this review: first, I used this book for a class, and secondly I went into this with some very minimal familiarity with Java, C++ and C#.
First off, I'm not sure if it's possible to discuss this book without discussing the Python language itself, so here it is: for the first few chapters of the book found myself exclaiming two or three times per chapter, "What sorcery is this?", followed by something along the lines of "so if the code weighs as much as a duck... it's a witch!" (because I had to get in a Monty Python reference somewhere). The reason for this being that, as you may have heard since you're reading a review for this book, Python has some very simple ways of doing things when compared to other languages, and there are a lot of interesting and easy ways to manipulate your code.
Now, as for the book itself, I found it ultimately to be a good primer and reference. It's not a very large book, but it's pretty dense with information. It has examples for using whatever the subsection is describing, but the examples are very simplistic and if you are using this for a class, which will require more complex uses of the code, you will still find yourself looking up the Python documentation or Stack Overflow.
Because the information is so dense and the examples are simplistic, I would not recommend this book to anyone who is a complete day-one novice to programming - you will be much better off going into this with some knowledge of the bare basics, such as what variables, strings, and arrays are.
If you buy this book, of note there is an errata you can find here, and I briefly ran into an issue with an assignment related to chapter 10.4.1 (p121) regarding the myModules.pth - the book doesn't mention this, but your program will also need
import site
site.addsitedir('myModule')
I was using Python 3.4
First off, I'm not sure if it's possible to discuss this book without discussing the Python language itself, so here it is: for the first few chapters of the book found myself exclaiming two or three times per chapter, "What sorcery is this?", followed by something along the lines of "so if the code weighs as much as a duck... it's a witch!" (because I had to get in a Monty Python reference somewhere). The reason for this being that, as you may have heard since you're reading a review for this book, Python has some very simple ways of doing things when compared to other languages, and there are a lot of interesting and easy ways to manipulate your code.
Now, as for the book itself, I found it ultimately to be a good primer and reference. It's not a very large book, but it's pretty dense with information. It has examples for using whatever the subsection is describing, but the examples are very simplistic and if you are using this for a class, which will require more complex uses of the code, you will still find yourself looking up the Python documentation or Stack Overflow.
Because the information is so dense and the examples are simplistic, I would not recommend this book to anyone who is a complete day-one novice to programming - you will be much better off going into this with some knowledge of the bare basics, such as what variables, strings, and arrays are.
If you buy this book, of note there is an errata you can find here, and I briefly ran into an issue with an assignment related to chapter 10.4.1 (p121) regarding the myModules.pth - the book doesn't mention this, but your program will also need
import site
site.addsitedir('myModule')
I was using Python 3.4
February 12, 2017
This is how I learned Python, and it's the book I recommend for people starting with the language. Made for Python 3, it has a concise summary of the main language features, plus advanced chapters that survey many of the topics serious programmers will want to know: regular expressions, making modules, testing.
The only downside is that the book is getting a bit old, so although it's based on Python 3, it could stand an update.
The only downside is that the book is getting a bit old, so although it's based on Python 3, it could stand an update.
January 27, 2020
The Quick Python Book was too quick for me as an entry to the Python programming language. The book covers a lot of topics and has all the basic parts of the language in it. What I missed was the big picture and an answer on the question “Why should I use Python?”. After reading the book I know many methods of the string class but I have no clue about what Python is great for. Adding a chapter on bigger things you can do where Python shows all its power would have been a great help to decide if I should spend more time with this language or not.
October 27, 2019
I finally finished this and must say, the first 2 parts were really good, the second part a bit too shallow but overall an excellent read. I read the book together with the udemy course and this was the right combination. I was planning to give it a 5 but after reading the full book changed it to 4 because of the last part being a bit shallow. Although finding out about pandas was really excellent and was exactly the package I needed.
December 9, 2012
Maybe beginners with no programming background or have little experience can appreciate this, but if you are familiar with other programming language and paradigm, understood the syntax and know few differences in coding from my experience this book brought me nowhere. Too bulky, I recommend Python Pocket Reference and Head First Python, both by O'Reilly.
August 3, 2008
This was a well-written introduction to Python programming when it was released. It had little competition at the time and stood out among the pack. Now it's vastly outdated (8 years old) and in desperate need of an update. The text does not wear well with age.
November 17, 2014
This book skips all the basic "this is a variable", "this is a loop" stuff that usually takes up a good chunk of full reference books and instead focuses on the language itself, which is great for someone who has other languages under their belt.
August 14, 2013
It was aight.
January 18, 2016
A very good introductory book on Python. I wish the authors dwelled on Python 3 design more.
May 8, 2015
This book offers a great introduction to the language. Could it have gone into more detail? Certainly. However, as an introductory book, I consider that it does a fantastic job.
December 20, 2015
concise, effective and efficient, this book builds up a solid Python 3 foundation for you.
January 24, 2016
technology
February 2, 2017
Good introduction to Python.
February 3, 2015
A good first book on Python, with clear descriptions and a logical structure.
December 24, 2014
Got me going really fast, no fluff. Great quickstart for experienced programmer.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews