Treading on Python Volume 1 is a book designed to bring developers and others who are anxious to learn Python up to speed quickly. Not only does it teach the basics of syntax, but it condenses years of experience gained from programming, tutoring and teaching. You will learn warts, gotchas, best practices and hints that have been gleaned through the years in days. You will hit the ground running and running in the right way.
I was initially more interested in the advanced Python (the second in series) booklet by Matt Harrison as I liked the "like workshop but in print" format but decided to read this one first as I'm that kind of guy who would rather go through The Witcher 1&2 first instead of jumping straight to the 3rd. My goodness how I am glad and delighted to have read this! What makes this such a neat little book is *not* that it is a an introduction-to-programming-in-general-type-of-book (like I feel it's marketed as), but is an introduction-to-the-***features***-of-the-Python-programming-language type of book. It's short enough to read through in a few sittings and I felt that no time was wasted for unnecessary stuff. The only caveat is that it's old enough to be like "Here's how stuff works in Python 2.x but for Python 3 it's in the notes", but it's still interesting to know how Python evolved over time and why.
Good overall introduction to Python, however, its coverage is not too deep.
Good overall introduction to Python language, however, its coverage is not deep enough. Examples are consice and to the points, but can be expanded a little too.