Core Python Programming

by Wesley J. Chun

Praise for Core Python Programming "The long-awaited second edition of Wesley Chun's Core Python Programming proves to be well worth the wait—its deep and broad coverage and useful exercises will help readers learn and practice good Python." —Alex Martelli, author of Python in a Nutshell and editor of Python Cookbook "There has been lot of good buzz around Wesley Chun's Core Python Programming . It turns out that all the buzz is well earned. I think this is the best book currently available for learning Python. I would recommend Chun's book over Learning Python (O'Reilly), Programming Python (O'Reilly), or The Quick Python Book (Manning)." —David Mertz, Ph.D., IBM DeveloperWorks® "I have been doing a lot of research [on] Python for the past year and have seen a number of positive reviews of your book. The sentiment expressed confirms the opinion that Core Python Programming is now considered the standard introductory text." —Richard Ozaki, Lockheed Martin "Finally, a book good enough to be both a textbook and a reference on the Python language now exists." —Michael Baxter, Linux Journal "Very well written. It is the clearest, friendliest book I have come across yet for explaining Python, and putting it in a wider context. It does not presume a large amount of other experience. It does go into some important Python topics carefully and in depth. Unlike too many beginner books, it never condescends or tortures the reader with childish hide-and-seek prose games. [It] sticks to gaining a solid grasp of Python syntax and structure." — bookstore Web site "[If ] I could only own one Python book, it would be Core Python Programming by Wesley Chun. This book manages to cover more topics in more depth than Learning Python but includes it all in one book that also more than adequately covers the core language. [If] you are in the market for just one book about Python, I recommend this book. You will enjoy reading it, including its wry programmer's wit. More importantly, you will learn Python. Even more importantly, you will find it invaluable in helping you in your day-to-day Python programming life. Well done, Mr. Chun!" —Ron Stephens, Python Learning Foundation "I think the best language for beginners is Python, without a doubt. My favorite book is Core Python Programming ." —s003apr, MP3Car.com Forums "Personally, I really like Python. It's simple to learn, completely intuitive, amazingly flexible, and pretty darned fast. Python has only just started to claim mindshare in the Windows world, but look for it to start gaining lots of support as people discover it. To learn Python, I'd start with Core Python Programming by Wesley Chun." —Bill Boswell, MCSE, Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine Online "If you learn well from books, I suggest Core Python Programming . It is by far the best I've found. I'm a Python newbie as well and in three months time I've been able to implement Python in projects at work (automating MSOffice, SQL DB stuff, etc.)." —ptonman, Dev Shed Forums "Python is simply a beautiful language. It's easy to learn, it's cross-platform, and it works. It has achieved many of the technical goals that Java strives for. A one-sentence description of Python would 'All other languages appear to have evolved over time--but Python was designed.' And it was designed well. Unfortunately, there aren't a large number of books for Python. The best one I've run across so far is Core Python Programming ." —Chris Timmons, C. R. Timmons Consulting "If you like the Prentice Hall Core series, another good full-blown treatment to consider would be Core Python Programming . It addresses in elaborate concrete detail many practical topics that get little, if any, coverage in other books." —Mitchell L Model, MLM Consulting " Core Python Programming is an amazingly easy read! The liberal use of examples helps clarify some of the more subtle points of the language. And the comparisons to languages with which I'm already familiar (C/C++/Java) get you programming in record speed." —Michael Santos, Ph.D., Green Hills Software The Complete Developer's Guide to Python Python is an agile, robust, expressive, fully object-oriented, extensible, and scalable programming language. It combines the power of compiled languages with the simplicity and rapid development of scripting languages. In Core Python Programming, Second Edition , leading Python developer and trainer Wesley Chun helps you learn Python quickly and comprehensively so that you can immediately succeed with any Python project. Using practical code examples, Chun introduces all the fundamentals of Python syntax, objects and memory management, data types, operators, files and I/O, functions, generators, error handling and exceptions, loops, iterators, functional programming, object-oriented programming and more. After you learn the core fundamentals of Python, he shows you what you can do with your new skills, delving into advanced topics, such as regular expression...

Genres: Programming, Computer Science, Computers, Technology, Reference, Nonfiction, Software

1100 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2000

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

If anything, learn to love the Snake that is Python.

I've never used a language easier and faster for prototying, processing text info, making GUIs/debugging-programs/utilities.

Yeah yeah, I know there's that "other" scripting language. The Camel was just terrible for me. I still couldn't program in that language after a year without looking in my book over and over. It isn't intuitive, designed well, and... jeez, I'm getting tired just thinking about it.

The Snake is beautiful, I was doing more in that language in a week than I ever did in a year with the Camel.

[Steven Oxley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very disappointed with the quality of this book. It is advertised as the python book for experienced programmers, but I found it tedious - I skipped big portions of it - and even redundant within itself. The same concept that I knew before reading the book would be explained multiple times. Also, the code examples and text were peppered with obvious errors. I don't think anyone proofread the book before it was published.

[David Hurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book for picking up Python. Although it is important that the reader has mastered another major programming language before reading.

I wish the author had not addressed multiple versions in one book. It makes more difficult to remember this language... Which is already difficult due to the number of reserved words and methods.

[Minger]

Python is fun language with tons of wicked applications.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

slowly chewing thru this, but less urgently now that I'm working in different sofware on my current project.

[Zack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for learning Python if you don't need an easy introduction.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Regardless of how old this book is now (2014), it still covers the basics of python that you need to know.

[Madre Ma · Rating 5 out of 5]

like it so much. I has bought one.