Product Description

Customer Reviews (16)

An Easy Read for a Difficult Subject
This is a great introduction to programming. I've tried to learn programming in the past but I usually get distracted and end up moving onto something else :). This book is great for me! The book has a lot of attention grabbing content while simultaneously managing to explain difficult programming concepts clearly. I also enjoy its informal writing style (with light humor that's unlikely to have you laughing out loud, but is occasionally able to put a smirk on your face). So I gave the book 5 stars because:

1. The author doesn't have a dry writing style (like most programming books).
2. There are tons of workable examples to help you learn.
3. There's attention grabbing content that aids in your understanding of the material.
4. Their choice of using Python 3 as a first programming language (better than Basic in my opinion).

Good book, don't get thrown by obsolete example...
I like this book so far; it covers the basics, it moves at a good pace, and requires me to review and implement what I've learned.

Heads up:
In chapter 3, the code exercise given simply will not work as is - Twitter changed from Basic Auth to OAuth; the code exercise used to work, but doesn't now.I wasted a few hours trying to make it work before I went looking for help. Anyhow, the book's graphics of how the example code might have worked helped with comprehension; I just read Chapter 3 closely, and kept moving.I gotta admit, I really missed being able to 'code-along' with the book for the last half of the chapter - I missed the kick I was getting out making things 'work.'If you are really keen on making Chapter 3 exercises work, check out the following links - they may help:

[...]

Excellent Introduction to Programming Fundamentals
Using an interesting format based on the latest theories on how human learn, I consider Head First Programming to be an excellent introduction to programming fundamentals.

Make no mistake: despite containing a significant amount of information on the Python programming language, this book's main goal is to teach you the basics of computer programming which can be applied across (more or less) all programming languages. In order to teach those principles, the authors give you a good amount of Python in order to give you the tools to put into practice what you've just learned about programming through various exercises spread throughout the book. The exercises themselves are presented meaningfully as, for example, an independent programming contract with a health club to develop a p.o.s. system. This framework really helps to create a sense of accomplishment and also illustrate how what you are learning might be usefully applied in the real world. It is this approach, as opposed to many introductory books to programming which merely teach theory, that makes this book so great.

That being said, the book is not perfect. The solution to several of the exercises necessitates the use of (small bits of) code that hasn't been shown to you before anywhere up to that point, necessitating glancing at the answer for a hint. Also, there's at least one small mistake in the sample code (specifically for the final code exercise) that, while not making the program you're working on wholly inoperable, is frustrating to deal with as your seemingly perfect code keeps throwing up an error message when you attempt to close it. The sample code provided on the book website, however, is free of this error. Ultimately, however, while they were unsolvable except by looking at the answer provided, these small flaws served to force me to think more about what I was doing and I learned more because of them.

From what I've seen and heard of other introductory programming books, Head First Programming stands far above the rest and is definitely where someone with no former programming education should start, regardless of the programming language you'd eventually like to learn.

Great for beginners but needs more exercises
Like some of the reviewers here, I too bought this for my 11 yo son. The book keeps his interest and the fill-in exercises are good for helping him to think about the ideas behind coding. The graphics are well done and explanations about coding concepts using everyday experiences are worthwhile. I also like the way it takes a simple problem and keeps expanding it by using new structures.

While I realize this is not a textbook, I would have liked to see a few more programming exercises within the text, so that I didn't have to wander all over the Internet to find some. That's why I gave it 4 stars. Fortunately, the open courseware web site from MIT has an intro python course with doable exercises. Google "Codingbat" to find an interactive page that helps practice basic code writing.

Overall, this book is very good for the beginner. It succeeds in making computer programming interesting and meaningful to a different audience than standard computer books.

Head First Programing giving headaches
I read the Head First C# and JavaScript books prior to this one.This book takes the approach by presenting problems and suggesting solutions as though you are already a competent computer programmer.The idea that providing a focus is promising but is executed in a way that is mediocre.The text layout is distracting and having to read clues in the character speech balloons is cumbersome.The book layout gives the impression that it is meant to be written in which is unusual.Although the book alibis that its not Head First Python (which should be written at some point), its one of the few computer books that uses Python 3, yet there is only enough syntax to complete each individual task and does not really build upon itself effectively as mentioned.The use of so many techniques and applications as well as spending time out of the book on the internet was counter productive but does provide some recommendations for some good applications (Look Inside and go to page 395).I was happy this book was available at the library and I didn't have to purchase and then attempt to return it. ... Read more

Product Description
Dive Into Python is a Python book for experienced programmers. Whether you're an experienced programmer looking to get into Python or grizzled Python veteran who remembers the days when you had to import the string module, Dive Into Python is your 'desert island' Python book. If you've never programmed before, Python is an excellent language to learn modern programming techniques. But this book should not be your starting point. Get "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python" by Allen Downey, Jeffrey Elkner, Chris Meyers and learn the basics. Then dive into this book.Dive Into PYTHON was written by Mark Pilgramand is distributed under the GNU FreeDocumentation License. * Money raised from the sale of this book supports the development of free software and documentation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (37)

Okay Book
Mark Pilgrim's Dive Into Python books are exactly what they say they are: a way to jump straight into Python development. This is both a benefit and an hindrance. On the one hand, reading this book and following the examples, one will be set to write Python applications and get to work using the language. The book is good at being informative and in depth. On the other hand, diving into the complexities of ODBC and SOAP is not the best way to learn the language if you're just a hobbyist programmer. The examples are rather large and complicated for something that is ostensibly an introductory text and I am afraid I was lost quite a bit working through the examples. I was expecting a very light read, but the book left me confused a few times. However, the book is well written and it is clear that the author cares about the reader. I would not recommend the book to someone just starting programming, but to an advanced programmer or someone in industry, Dive Into Python is a good introduction to the language.

Excellent Introduction for Experienced Programmers
Dive into Python should be the first stop for learning Python for any experienced programmer. Moving immediately into interesting, relevant examples, this book makes learning this interesting language quite fun.

Great book
This is a great book for learning Python from scratch. I love its style of presenting each real Python program to teach multiple things, instead of each contrived little example to teach one thing. I wish all introductory books are written like this.

Mid-level overview
Dive Into Python is a great book. It's my first stop for Python information when I want to understand a new neighborhood.It does not give a deeply detailed discussion of any of the topics covered, but it does tend to give an adequate description of just about everything.That is not to say that it is a flaky useless overview. It clearly is not that. On the contrary it tends to assume a fairly competent reader. The great advantage of this level of coverage is the ability to actually *read* the book to get a meaningful starting point/overview.To capitalize on this use DIP includes a wonderful list of references for further reading.

In short, I use DIP in the same way that I use the abstracts of journal articles: it tells me everything I want to know 90% of the time and the other 10% of the time it tells me where to look to read more.

Avoid the $1 Kindle version
This book is fantastic, and is easily the best introduction to Python I have seen.

Do *NOT* buy the $1 kindle version though.This was not released by Mark or the publisher, and is not formatted in any way.This version is impossible to use!

If you have a Kindle I'd recommend the official version from the Publisher, or downloading it for free and formatting it yourself.

... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Good introductory book for learning both bioinformatics and pytho

Comparing to Perl, Python has a quite lagged adoption as the scripting language of choice in the field of bioinformatics, although it is getting some moment recently. If you read job descriptions for bioinformatics engineer or scientist positions a few year back, you barely saw Python mentioned, even as "nice to have optional skill".One of the reasons is probably lacking of good introductory level bioinformatics books in Python so there are, in general, less people thinking Python as a good choice for bioinformatics. The book "Beginning Perl for Bioinformatics" from O Reilly was published in 2001.Almost one decade later, we finally get the book "Bioinformatics Programming Using Python" from Mitchell Model to fill the gap.

When I first skimmed the book "Bioinformatics Programming Using Python", I got the impression that this book was more like "learning python using bioinformatics as examples" and felt a little bit disappointed as I was hoping for more advanced content.However, once I went through the book, reading the preface and everything else chapter by chapter, I understood the main target audiences that author had in mind and I thought the author did a great job in fulfilling the main purpose.

In modern biological research, scientists can easily generate large amount of data where Excel spreadsheets that most bench scientists use to process limiting amount of data is no longer an option.I personally believe that the new generation of biologists will have to learn how to process and manage large amount inhomogeneous data to make new discovery out of it.This requires general computational skill beyond just knowing how to use some special purpose applications that some software vendor can provide.The book gives good introduction about practical computational skills using Python to process bioinformatics data.The book is very well organized for a newbie who just wants to start to process the raw data their own and get into a process of learning-by-doing to become a Python programmer.

The book starts with an introduction on the primitive data types in Python and moves toward the flow controls and collection data type with emphasis on, not surprisingly, string processing and file parsing, two of most common tasks in bioinformatics. Then, the author introduces the object-oriented programming in Python. I think a beginner will also like those code templates for different patterns of data processing task in Chapter 4.They summarize the usual flow structure for common tasks very well.

After giving the basic concept of programming with Python, the author focuses on other utilities which are very useful for day-to-day work for gathering, extracting, and processing data from different data sources. For example, the author discusses about how to explore and organize files with Python in the OS level, using regular expression for extracting complicated text data file, XML processing, web programming for fetching online biological data and sharing data with a simple web server, and, of course, how to program Python to interact with a database. The deep knowledge of all of these topics might deserve their own books. The author does a good job to cover all these topics in a concise way. This will help people to know what can be done very easily with Python and, if they want, to learn any of those topic more from other resources.The final touch of the book is on structured graphics. This is very wise choice since the destiny of most of bioinformatics data is very likely to be some graphs used in presentations and for publishing.Again, there are many other Python packages can help scientists to generate nice graph, but the author focuses on one or two of them to show the readers how to do general some graphs with them and the reader might be able to learn something else from there.

One thing I hope the author can also cover, at least at a beginner level, is the numerical and statistical aspect in bioinformatics computing with Python.For example, Numpy or Scipy are very useful for processing large amount of data, generating statistics and evaluating significance of the results.They are very useful especially for processing large amount data where the native Python objects are no longer efficient enough.The numerical computation aspect in bioinformatics is basically lacking in the book.The other thing that might be desirable for such a book is to show that Python is a great tool for prototyping some algorithms in bioinformatics.This is probably my own personal bias, but I do think it is nice to show some basic bioinformatics algorithm implementations in python. This will help the readers to understand a little bit more about some of the common algorithms used in the field and to get a taste on a little bit more advanced programming.

Overall, I will not hesitate to recommend this book to any one who will like to start to process biological data on their own with Python. Moreover, it can actually serve as a good introductory book to Python regardless the main focus on bioinformatics examples. The book covers most day-to-day basic bioinformatics tasks and shows Python is a great tool for those tasks.I think a little more advanced topics, especially on basic numerical and statistical computation in the book, will also help the target audiences. Unfortunately, none of that topic is mentioned in the book. That has been said, even if you are an experienced python programmer in bioinformatics, the book's focus on Python 3 and a lot of useful templates might serve well as a quick reference if you are looking for something you do not have direct experience before.

Elegant guide that is desperately needed
The bioinformatics world badly needs this thorough and elegant guide
that applies Python's marvelously rich facilities to the domain of
biology.

A very good Book..!!
This book is really a great one for Bioinformatics programming. It is very easy to understand and very good examples are given in the book that are related to biological data. The content of the book is very well organized. All the topics are very well covered and explained. The biggest plus point of this book is that examples and data are picked very wisely which is really needed for Bioinformatics readers to understand well and to make their learning process easy and interesting. All the tables and examples, errors one might get while programming, screen shots of data extraction from database are very good and logical. I am sure this book will be admired by all biologists who want to learn Python and those who are familiar with Python and looking for a book to enhance their programing skills for querying Databases, extracting data from HTML, working with XML, URLs, OOL etc, This is the best book as it has covered everything with every single detail with an ease to understand the content. I Think this book will make Bioinformatics programmers life easier..!! ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description

Guzdial introduces programming as a way of creating and manipulating media—a context familiar and intriguing to today's readers. Starts readers with actual programming early on. Puts programming in a relevant context (Computing for Communications). Includes implementing Photoshop-like effects, reversing/splicing sounds, creating animations. Acknowledges that readers in this audience care about the Web; introduces HTML and covers writing programs that generate HTML. Uses the Web as a Data Source; shows readers how to read from files, but also how to write programs to directly read Web pages and distill information from there for use in other calculations, other Web pages, etc. (examples include temperature from a weather page, stock prices from a financials page). A comprehensive guide for anyone interested in learning the basics of programming with one of the best web languages, Python.

Customer Reviews (5)

Good entry level book
This book takes that you have some basic understanding of computer programs, but is very introductory.

Very Nice Hands-on Multimedia Book for Learning Python
Not knowing Python, I read the book from cover to cover, doing many of the examples as interactive exercises.The book comes with a CD and includes a bunch of files (.jpg, .wav, .html) to experiment with (same files as the examples in the book).So, right off the bat, the reader is engaged in the material.

The CD that comes with the book runs on any PC and is easy to install and use.Because it's a multimedia-based book and self-study course, you get to do neat things like:

- manipulate images (.jpg files):understand bit representations of colors in a pixel, loop through pixels in an image, change colors in a photo, create a sunset (darken, lighten), convert to grayscale, remove red eye, repair photos, perform mirroring (symmetry in a photo)

- manipulate sounds (.wav files):understand the bit representation of sounds; view signals; change the volume; sample sounds at various rates; create echoes; splice sounds together; and learn a bit about compression, MP3, and MIDI

- manipulate strings and html pages:scrape Web pages for specific data and create your own Web pages based on the data you've pulled from other pages, perform string searches, work with files, deal with lookup tables (dictionaries) to act as primitive databases

- manipulate videos (series of .jpg images): there are tools on the CD that let you create simple animations (including fade outs and chroma key) and see how a stream of images combines to form a simple 3-second video

Overall, it's a great book, and a fun way to learn programming.

strong image analysis
Guzdial teaches Python from the angle that you want to use it to easily manipulate various types of multimedia files. The files might contain images, sounds, video or even just plain text. This gives some of you extra motivation to learn the material.

Along the way, you can learn how images are encoded in JPG, and how colours are represented, either in RGB or HSB. There is a fair amount of image analysis and modifications that can be easily done in Python. This does not approach the sophistication of what Photoshop provides. But being able to do a lot yourself, instead of invoking canned Photoshop routines, might appeal to you.

Audio manipulation is also covered, though perhaps not as extensively. There are more specialised audio tools available elsewhere, especially for music synthesis.

The discussion of movies is very weak. Due to the complexity of what is required. Here I suggest you turn to what Apple and others offer.

best python as a first language book so far
This book achieves both of the things you would want a Python as a first language book to do - it engages the beginner with things they might actually want to do, but doesn't fail to introduce the deeper concepts that are needed to come to appreciate the beauty and elegance of Python.

Focusing on computing applications in the arts, this book uses a clever approach to enable the beginner to do really interesting stuff, very quickly. There are things in there that would be of interest to any photographer, not just a software beginner.

Yes, Photoshop is faster and easier, but it hasn't got this level of control! If you ever wanted to write your own Photoshop plugins, this book might be of interest just as an alternative way to get to design your own effects.

The end of the book gets carried away, trying to pack too much in. It tries to explain OOP and Swing, HTML, Javascript and SQL. I think this is too much to get into one book, and if you are working through the text yourself without any mentors you should probably not give yourself too much grief if you don't get all the way through it.

Admittedly, it is also pretty darned expensive.

Otherwise great stuff! This book fills a gaping hole in the Python literature. If you are an intelligent beginner, it is a great place to get started in getting real control over your computer!

Great Book
Guzdial presents concepts in simple form that is easy for beginners to understand. Actually entertaining to read. Worth every penny! ... Read more

Product Description
Text Processing in Pythondescribes techniques for manipulation of text using thePython programming language. At the broadest level, text processing is simplytaking textual information and doing something with it. This might berestructuring or reformatting it, extracting smaller bits of information from it,or performing calculations that depend on the text. Text processing is arguablywhat most programmers spend most of their time doing. Because Python isclear, expressive, and object-oriented it is a perfect language for doing textprocessing, even better than Perl. As the amount of data everywhere continuesto increase, this is more and more of a challenge for programmers. This book isnot a tutorial on Python. It has two other goals: helping the programmer getthe job done pragmatically and efficiently; and giving the reader anunderstanding - both theoretically and conceptually - of why what works worksand what doesn't work doesn't work. Mertz provides practical pointers and tipsthat emphasize efficent, flexible, and maintainable approaches to the textprocessingtasks that working programmers face daily. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

A very good intro book
This book is interesting, the field it covers is not one with many texts, so it's hard to do comparative analysis.

On it's strengths, this book is probably best suited for programmers that aren't afraid to learn advanced material.It covers in great detail everything you ever wanted to know about python string processing (and honestly probably a bit more).It has a very readable style, and overall is exceptionally informative.Examples are clear, pointed, and useful.

On it's weaknesses, some material (ie parsers) might be extremely dense and hard to understand if you don't have a CS or Linguistics degree.On the other hand, if you do understand it (and the explanation is pretty good), you will end up a much better programmer for it.

Overall, I'd recommend this book for professionals with theory background that need to do advanced python work.I'd also recommend it to people without theory background, but only if they're not afraid of getting their feet wet.People who are afraid of learning should probably avoid this book.

4 stars mostly because I'm not really sure how to evaluate this book.

Instant Classic
TPIP is an instant classic in that all you need to do is add a solid understanding of python and you can instantly appreciate its classic nature. Text processing is more fundamental to programming than programming itself. For instance, most of the programs a programmer will write will be written with text. So gaining proficiency in dealing with text is key to not only programming but probably every facet of one's experience with a computer.

In TPIP, David Mertz provides the reader with a set of tools for manipulating text in python. The book is organized by type of text processing activity. For example filters are presented from a functional perspective, searching text is presented in terms of regular expressions, etc. Relevant modules are presented with each type of processing task in a reference format.

The greatest value in the book is that it approaches a fundamental and important programming topic that most books would treat sparingly or dismiss outright. TPIP might be in league with Friedl's Mastering Regular Expressions in that it takes outwardly uninspiring topics, makes them interesting, and teaches them with pedagogical finesse. Somehow, Mertz inspires the reader to feel intelligent while presenting the topics in an accessible way. Even mxtexttools becomes comprehensible in TPIP.

TPIP, though, is not without it shortcomings, especially in organization. The review of python and functional programming are put in appendices and the reference material is interleaved with the text, giving the reader a somewhat disjointed feeling as he makes his way through the book. Better would have been to build the book up from a solid review of the python language, proceeding to a thorough treatment of functional programming in python, to then present the meat of the book, text processing, as a well-organized whole with sensible segue between the chapters. The reference material should be moved to the appendices for easy access.

Even if these organization problems are never fixed, one would be well served to study this fine volume.

Valuable information poorly presented
There is a lot of good stuff in this book, but the presentation is lousy.

The first chapter dives into functional programming using obscure and terse high order functions including nested lambda expressions. He never does provide a "mere mortal" explanation for how these functions work.I was able to figure it out, but then I've been programming for 35 years in 20+ languages.

As a learning experience it was valuable debugging exercise for me, but as something for a programmer who was just getting to know Python, I can't think of a greater turn off.

Python as a rule is easy to read and easy to write.This book manages to make it unnecessarily hard.

Start with another Python book (or two, or three) then come back to this one when you have a lot of time and patience to spend.As I said there *is* some worthwhile information in there.

And now for something different...
I'd second most of the positive statements given by other reviewers. To boot - the author's voice is clear and pleasant. He shares his knowledge as it is, without dumbing it down or condescending. The index is very useful when you want to get in, get the information, and get back to work. This book is a great read for anyone learning or using Python seriously.

If you need to process text, this is a great book!
This book is not for everyone, but for "text processing", I know of nothing else that comes close; this book merits careful study.Note that "text processing" would include many web applications -- http is a text driven protocol.Do not be put off by the first chapter!It is the most abstract of any book I have read in decades.As the book says, you can skip it if it is a problem for you.As an illustration of how good this book is, I am now using regular expressions (selectively), and this was only possible with the help if this book!(If you do not even know what regular expressions are, you have not completed Text Processing 1.01.) ... Read more

Product Description
Provides a real-world code that does real work: no toy examples.Documents Tkinter in a reference section that is helpful and easy to use.Softcover.Amazon.com Review
Books on graphical user interfaces (GUI) have an unfair advantage over typical computer books. Their contents have immediate positive impact on everything they touch, from the popularity of the underlying language to the careers of the developers they reach. Even mediocre GUI books have a beneficial impact.

John E. Grayson's deeply thought out, maturely written Python and Tkinter Programming does the double service of being a excellent object-oriented GUI book and communicating the standard for Tk-widget-based GUI development to the Python community. The short-term result will be a rapid expansion in the popularity of Python itself; the long-term result will be a new batch of supportable, reusable code.

Grayson begins with a three-line "hello world" variant that works out of the box. He moves quickly to a variety of GUI calculators to exhibit buttons and label widgets. Familiarity with Tk from Tcl/Tk or Perl/Tk is helpful but not essential. The convenient bonus of the Python implementation is its inclusion in the standard Python release, of which the current stable version is 1.5.

Nearly half of the book is dedicated to Tk widget implementations and constitutes a translation of Tk into Python. By itself, it is a good teaching tool for students of Python who already know Tk in one of its other manifestations. Appendices covering build/install issues Python megawidgets and a Tkinter reference manual comprise nearly 40 percent of the book, leaving a brief 15 percent for the introductory tutorial, application building, and performance tuning. A late chapter on threads suggests a broad range of client/server applications, but is too brief to be more than a tease. Throughout the text, code snippets are presented in coherent blocks with annotations sensibly appearing as clearly numbered end notes to those blocks.

Grayson presents cross-platform issues with maturity and candor. While Python for Windows and Macintosh environments is stable, he asserts, the Tkinter module does not have the same global look-and-feel control. Fonts and colors are dictated partially by the platform OS.

The subtle challenge for developers is to develop supportable code in the breakneck boss-pleasing, GUI-driven environment. Grayson's elegant introduction to Tkinter advances the subtext of supportability noticeably farther along. By documenting Tkinter, he will push a group of laggard hackers to learn object-oriented principles. And that may be his lasting contribution. --Peter Leopold ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

Notes on "Python and TkKnter Programming "
This book is chock full of examples, with annotations, step by step progress, giving the reader a grasp of GUI construction techniques.It is quite a dive into the full range the TK package offers.Tkinter, Pmw, and Tk are all covered.

Not a bad book for GUI programmers.The only drawback is at the beginning of the book where the examples start, the examples are quite complex, well beyond "hello world" fundamentals of some programming language books, and if one is not comfortably familiar with Tk, there's some catch up reading to do.

Patchy but has good tricks for advanced programmers
This is no place to start and it's by no means a reference because for example it leaves out essential informationon the text widget.
if you are looking for a good reference just typeTkinter referencein Google and take the first result. That is a far better reference.
Still this book has a lot of clever code that you could take as inspiration, so it's worth having if you plan to use TkInter.
Please be aware that there are really serious alternatives to TkInter: WxPython and PyQt (both are free, well documented and very powerful).
You might like TkInter because it comes with Python by default, and because it has such a powerful text widget for example, but please consider
your choice carefully before embarking on months of programming.

A Good Python and Tkinter book
I am using this book as a reference for my Cs380 class (essentially Python and C class).
It's a good book, but the most important piece of information is that the book is available as "print on demand" from the publisher so you don't have to pay ridiculous amounts of money for a used copy!Go to the manning website (the publisher) and look for this, and you can get a brand new copy (on demand).

Good Syllabus
After a first scan of the book -- It looks like it provides the basic structure for my learning technique.My methodology of learning new material is to find one book to use as a syllabus and use other materials to fill in the missing information content.So, each project presupposes the necessity of more than one book -- and a library.This book is sufficient to build the study outline.

This book presents both tkinter and mega-widgets.Though the basic content for tkinter widgets looks complete, I have not yet determined if the author slighted tkinter widgets for pmw.If both are covered adequately, then pmw is a bonus.

The information may be out-of-date.This will be a problem with any book that was written more than a couple of years past.

If you purchase this book, purchase it from the publisher, where you can get it and the ebook for about the same price as the cheapest used book advertized on Amazon.I typically purchase the hardcopy because my study habits require the active use of pencils and highlighters to mark and annotate important material.I recommend purchasing the ebook for searches and because the hard copy has many typesetting errors, primarily the overlaying of characters.I did not see this problem in the ebook.

Excellent book on Pmw, not Tkinter.
It's a decent book for the experienced python programmer. Definitely not for the beginner. Try working with the "Python Programming" by Lutz before you tackle this book. The examples work for a system with python installed. The book does not cover the subject of standalone applications adequately even though there is supposedly a chapter.

The book has what would be an excellent reference on Python/Tkinter and Python/Pmw objects and interfaces but numerous typos and deletions make it awkward to use. I have seen books rushed especially one of mine which was in rough form without being spellchecked! I took the flak for what was an editorial snafu. The same may have occurred here with the reference sections. ... Read more

Product Description
Python is growing in popularity; based on download statistics, there arenow over 450,000 people using Python, and more than 150,000 people using Pythonon Windows. Use of the language has been growing at about 40 percent peryear since 1995, and there is every reason to believe that growth willcontinue.Despite Python's increasing popularity on Windows, Python Programming onWin32 is the first book to demonstrate how to use it as a seriousWindows development and administration tool. Unlike scripting on UNIX,Windows scripting involves integrating a number of components, such asCOM or the various mail and database APIs, with the Win32 programminginterface. While experienced Windows C++ programmers can find their waythrough the various objects, most people need some guidance, and this bookis it. It addresses all the basic technologies for common integrationtasks on Windows, explaining both the Windows issues and the Python codeyou need to glue things together.Amazon.com Review
Python Programming on Win32 zeroes in on the strengthsof the Python programming language for the Windows platform. If youwould like to use Python on Windows with Office 2000, this book is aperfect choice for getting started. While it's not an introduction toPython programming itself, the book does present some basic Pythonexamples. (The authors do provide an impressive list of real-worldprojects that have used Python successfully, including an applicationat NASA and a major Web search engine.)

In lieu of a generallanguage tour, this book centers on practical tips and examples forusing Python on Windows, beginning with downloading and installing thefree Python package. The most useful examples here present a Pythonlibrary for general accounting objects. You'll learn how to write COMservers in Python and then how to script them in Visual Basic (usedhere to build user interfaces) and how to control Word and Excel withOLE Automation in Python. One standout example looks at building andprinting accounting reports in Office 2000 using Python as the scriptlanguage.

Later sections look at other possibilities, including howto use Python's support for MFC to build user interfaces. A notablesection here looks at Windows NT system administration inPython. Because of its built-in support for dictionaries, Python is anatural fit for working with users, groups, permissions, and thelike.

While Python's initial habitat may be Unix, PythonProgramming on Win32 shows that this powerful and increasinglypopular object-oriented language may find its next home onWindows. Provided you have some previous exposure to the language,this book is an excellent resource for using Python in a Windowssetting. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Pythonprogramming quick-start, Windows Python basics, Python support forCOM/DCOM, the Pythonwin editor, Office 2000 scripting, Windows NTadministration and system programming, Python MFC programming, andActive Scripting. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

An oldie but goodie.
A good way to get Python to 'do stuff' in a Win32 environment. I've found it most useful for dealing with people who utilize an exclusively Windows environment. Mostly, I've just taken my programs that others 'need' information from and quickly tacked on a printed report or updated spreadsheet that they can use. I don't know about writing whole programs in Windows, but it was more than adequate at helping me bridge the gaps I needed bridged. I presume the book to be pretty dated, but nothing I used was so out-of-date as to be non-functional.

Required Reading for Python programmers (on Windows)
If you write Python programs to run on Microsoft Windows you are absolutely required to add this book to your library.Good coverage of writing COM servers, Windows Services, handling Windows Event logs.Information is very difficult to get elsewhere.Don't let the edition or the date turn you away.The fundamentals of Windows programming hasn't changed since Windows NT 4.0 was introduced so everything still works the same today as back then.

COM basics for Python
Who is interested in using Python to script within COM, thus fully merging Python into a win32 environment, will surely find this book useful.

Python and Win32 for Pinheads
If you know nothing about Python, Visual Basic, scripting languages, Win32 API, MFC, COM, active scripting, Windows Networking and NT administration, then after you've read this book you'll get some very general idea of what these all are about: this book covers them all, as well as many other things. But whenever it comes to tell you something really interesting, authors just say: "well, it's out of the scope of this book, so let's stop here..."

However, there are things this book does not cover. For instance, I thought scripting languages are a handy tool for text processing, but throughout this book I encountered only one mention of regular expressions - in the context of filtering file names, and you won't find regular expressions in the Index. From 10-page Chapter "Working with Email" you'll learn what SMTP and POP3 stand for, and from 15-page Appendix(!) "Threads" you'll learn that Python has something to do with threads, and fairly much about COM threading model.

Information in this 650-page book can fit a dozen-page article. Most of all this book looks like a slide show for marketing, trying to convince them that Python is the answer to all questions. And most of the time it sounds like: "It's easy, we won't tell you exactly what and how, but for smart guys like us who can read man pages, it's very easy."

Not for learning Python or programmin on Win32
This books is neither a Python tutorial book nor a Windows programming book.The title of this book greatly mis-represents the contents.

If you are not a Windows COM programmer who's trying to learn Python or aretrying develop Python applications on other platforms, please look forother Python books. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (41)

Great intro
The shelves of the cube farm where I work seem wallpapered with the bindings of O'Reilly books. Titles like this explain why. As with the best of the Nutshell series, this one gives the experienced programmer a running start at a new language. Don't expect much in the way of hand-holding or CS101 introduction. Do expect a concise, hardworking description of the language and its major APIs.

It doesn't start the way most language books do. Instead, and quite logically, it begins with installation of the language and its tools, an obvious pre-req to using it. As with other modern languages, the description of the language itself becomes entwined with its core libraries. Even so, this small language takes little more than 150 pages to cover quite thoroughly. The next 450+ pages present libraries that a skilled programmer expects: IO, process management, networking, and pacticalities of debug and optimization. A lengthy index helps the reader find isolated facts quickly.

As for the language itself - well, it has its fans, but I'm not one of them. I don't have to be, I just have to use it. This book is just what I need to get my job done.

-- wiredweird

Excellent reference book for Python.Not for learning, but great reference.
This book is strictly a reference book.It contains snippets of examples and detailed explanations about each Python function/features.It is very, very good for that.The section on strings, for example, contains about 15 pages on every possible string methods, and a brief example.Perfect for a reference.

Not a Nutshell
On the downside, there was a few chapters to read through before I actually started programming.On the upside, I really enjoyed reading it.This is a great book if you'd like to hear about the different types of Python.It's not a particularly good book if you'd like to learn Python in a reasonable amount of time to finish a project.

Just Good Enough
Just good enough, I do not recommend it. In case that you really want to profit your time go directly to the "Python Cookbook" from O'Reilly.

In a Nutshell is correct.
A great reference book, but alone it wouldn't be my way to learn the language; it's a bit terse for that.However, with the other book I got "for beginners" (that be me), they make a great pair. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (17)

Good language reference, not a library reference
The 4th edition is a good reference for the language itself.The content for 2.6 and 3.x Python are in there.It is not however a reference for the libraries.Most libraries are only mentioned by name, and their functions are not enumerated in a useful way.For instance, the network libraries are mentioned, but there is no detail on their functionality.

Very handy reference with all the answers
This is a great little book.I have had three revisions of it and plan to get the next one when it is published.I keep it in my mini 10v running ubuntu linux (9.10) netbook's sleeve when I travel.Perfect little reference and easily worth the cost.

Decent reference
Covers most of the stuff I need to know on a daily basis but I've honestly only used it when my internet has gone down.

If you know C++.
Jargon filled, many references to other languages; if you know what you are doing is is probably a good book.
Check out INVENT YOUR OWN COMPUTER GAMES by Al Sweigart if you want a more gentle learning curve.

One of the greatest computer books of all time
Python is a fast and easy to use language, though learning how to think in python, especially if coming from a more c-style language can take a while regardless of what book you're reading. This book won't help you with that. What it will do, is provide you with most (if not all) of the most-advanced features of python in a way that is really easy to digest for an intermediate/upper-beginner level python programmer. This book explains things that are not easy to find on the web or not apparent that they even exist in python (because, let's face it, python can be pretty magical at times). This book can be the catalyst that puts you well on your way to becoming an advanced python programmer. And all that from a tiny reference book! ... Read more

Product Description
In the second edition of this popular book, the authors added two chapters and converted all programming exercises to Python 3.

Mathematics for the Digital Age and Programming in Python is written in the same engaging not-for-dummies style as the Litvins' earlier books, but it is aimed at younger students. It offers a unique blend of mathematics and programming, designed to give students in introductory computer science courses an appreciation for the rigorous mathematics relevant to computing, as well as practical skills for writing programs.

The vision behind this book is that math and computer science should help each other. A programmer needs to be comfortable with abstractions, and that is precisely what math teaches. Computer science reciprocates by providing models and hands-on exercises that help clarify and illustrate more abstract math. Most importantly, both teach "precision thinking" an important means of solving problems that call for exact solutions.

Python was chosen because it is a popular commercial programming language that is well-supported, easy to get started with, and free. Python has many powerful features intended for software professionals, but it also has a convenient subset accessible to beginners.

Some students may choose to study AP Computer Science in high school, or major in CS in college. Others may decide to go into math, science, law, art, social sciences, or humanities. Regardless of your goals, Mathematics for the Digital Age and Programming in Python will help you gain a better understanding of the computerized world around you. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Math for the Digital Age
I really liked this book. It covers basically what an introduction to discrete math would cover but in combination with applications on the excellent programming language Python. This combination helps you get in control of otherwise difficult mathematical ideas. If you're a programmer it helps you write more efficient code and, as a student of math, the concepts are easier to grasp when you actually see them in action on the computer.

Great Book On Math & Python Programming
I do not write reviews as a rule, but this book is worth it! You can actually learn the various aspects of math as well as python programming. This will come in real handy when programming python on a higher level. I am a new program and a book like this was sorely needed!

A beautiful book on math with programming as a bonus
It is a wonderful book containing number theory and much, more math. The explainations will be understood by the average high school student as well as the honor student. The programming examples and problems will challenge all students. Using Python as the language removes the complexity of a language like Java. This allows students to do the programming while concentrating on the math.
Earl - Chicago Public Schools ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (26)

Good Principals - Bad Timing - Poor Focus
The programming principals in the book are sound and valid.However, the book was written based on Python 2.5 instead of Python 3.0 which is a sticking point; I say this because the original release date in late 2008 would have allowed for for at least Python 2.6, but I digress.Each project in the book builds upon the previous module that was covered which is good, however the opportunity to teach core programming principals at one time in the beginning is missed.The text is easy to read and the syntax is explained well with relevant explanations.By the end of the book, the reader should be able to make a text-based programs, a windowed program, and different forms of arcade games.I was very pleased to see the layout for a card game which no one else has done to date.However, the author presents a lot of various graphic user interface mechanisms and doesn't really focus enough on them before moving on.Several editors for python are covered as well; some are challenging to install and configure which could be discouraging.I would like to point out that the author's use of EasyGUI is great because it is easier to use than Tkinter that comes standard with Python and allows the user to make text based programs more user friendly.However, he moves from EasyGUI to Pygame (which could be a book unto itself) and then to Python Card (which needs another module wxpython).My point is that it would have been better if he had stuck with EasyGUI and focused more on one of the graphic modules instead of dabbling with all of them.I was fortunate that the book was offered at my local library.If you dont get this book, then I would recommend "Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python, 2nd Edition" by Al Sweigart which is written in Python 3 (and available as a free PDF) or "Game Programming: The L Line, The Express Line to Learning" (The L Line: The Express Line To Learning) by Andy Harris even though it's written with Python 2.

Great book! Important subject
Computer science is a very important subject in our continuously evolving world. This book is great for beginners and I think would be a welcomed challenge for any child eager to learn programming. This book does not teach python but it uses it to teach general programming skills. I am just about to start computer science at the university level and had no previous programming experience. I am half way through this book and already am amazed at how much I half learned. I will add more to this review when I begin school in August to see if this book did give me a jump start or not. This book also came with a PDF version which is very nice to use when having to type up the examples the book gives you. (So you can keep your eyes on the monitor and not look away towards the printed book)

Out-dated
This book looks great for kids, but it is out of date for the current version of Python (3.1.2). My 11-yr-old couldn't even run the first program (hello world) without tech support from his professional-computer-programing uncle. Who told us how to change the code so it would work. The simplest program needs to be changed! I can't imagine how frustrating this is going to get. The website recommended in the book is less than helpful. I would not recommend buying this book unless you have a family/friend who can offer tech support.

Great introduction programming book for kids, and adults too!
My 10 year old found this book to be fun and challenging.It is a great starter book for teaching the basics of computer programming. It has many example programs and step by step instructions for each new concept.It also includes solutions in the book and on the website that can be referred to when you just can't figure out the error in your program.Highly recommend this book.

my son is learning how to program
I bought this book for my 13 yr old son who has been wanting to learn how to do programming. So far the book has kept his attention and he has tried and is learning some of the things in the book. I think its the best money I have spent. ... Read more

Product Description
If you're ready to use Python and open source in a real production environment, this book delivers the techniques and code you're looking for. Softcover. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Uneven
There's lots to like in this book. It takes you on a grand tour of a lot of techniques you may need to know if you want build a Web application.
Unfortunately some of the chapters are a mess: take for example Introduction toInternetworking and HTTP. There is far too much handwaving here. I'd like to know how logical ANDing a mask and an address produces two numbers. It doesnt. You'll lead your readers astray if you say that the mask is a special address. The explanation of the protocol stack could remain a mystery to many people.
This is why I gave up a long time ago with the book, but right now I am rediscovering the good chapters, like the chapter on MySQL.

Even now (2009!) stlil a very useful book
While this book is quite dated by computer technology standards, about 2/3 of it is just as relevant as when it first came out.The topics include:

-- The Python language itself.While I wouldn't suggest this is the ideal book for someone who's never used Python before, if you have just a bit of Python programming experience there's a lot of material you don't typically find in a "generic" Python tutorial such as heavy emphasis on the system programming libraries, and the somewhat more advanced Python techniques that are typically used for large-scale programming.
-- A bit about Linux and networking, and Apache.The sections here on basic shell usage are more than adequate for, e.g., someone transitioning to Windows who isn't that familiar with the command line.The networking section is good background and describes the use of helpful debugging tools such as wget, although the sections on, e.g., setting up your own DNS or DHCP servers aren't really applicable to most home installations today where the typically a wireless router or router/modem takes care of most of these details.The Apache information is good, although a few bits are outdated.Basically, the software involved has improved so much since 2001 that the finer details are often no longer needed to get your home network going.
-- CGI programming with Python.This is where the rubber meets the road... everything in this section is as relevant today as it was originally, and it provides clear instruction and examples on how your Python program gets control when someone clicks on a link on a web page and then what you're supposed to do about it!(The authors provide a quick HTML refresher in this area, although here too it's probably best if this isn't the very first time you've been exposed to, e.g., HTML forms.)
-- Database programming with MySQL.Again, just as relevant today as even.Like the comprehensive Python tutorial, there's a lot of meat in here for those who have lightweight backgrounds in databases.(And also like the Python tutorial, it's probably not the best standalone information on them, but if you've at least played around a bit in Access or MySQL or similar previously, you'll be fine.)
-- Web programming "techniques."This is the start of, "let's build an application framework!," and begins by discussing common themes that any web app faces -- parsing forms, string substitution, debugging broken code (that's running on some remote web server you can't directly touch!), maintaining state information, etc.They build a bunch of modules to make these chores easier, which they intend to be reusable for many web apps.
-- The Slither Application Development Framework.And here, in the last 1/3 of the book, they go on to develop a complete web app back end framework.There's some discussion about how -- at least historically -- pretty much any good Python web app programmer over time ended up doing this on his own, and this has led to there being many (dozens!) of Python app frameworks available today.Over time these have evolved, so, well... to put it nicely, Slither looks to be fine, but it's best to read about it from a historical context and learn from the authors' trials and tribulations rather than thinking you're going to actually deploy a Slither-based web app today.As others have pointed out, the full source code doesn't appear to be maintained anymore and with contemporary versions of Apache and Python the old version is somewhat broken.So read and learn about Slither, but when you're actually for your own production framework, either build your own (the whole point of the book is to teach you how to do this!), or if you don't have the time, use one of the many currently-maintained frameworks (I kinda like Django, but there are many to choose from... if you want something small and well-documented like Slither, try Aweful from Holden's book.)

This book is often under ten bucks used, which is a really good deal.I suppose if you're just looking for "how to I solve this specific problem?" (a "recipe"-type book), this tome isn't for you (that means you, "I already know I'll be using MySQL, so I don't care for the discussion of different database types"-man!), but if you're really looking for a deeper understanding of how Python, Apache, and the web all fit together, this book is excellent if a bit dated.

One other comment: The (much newer) "Python Web Programming" by Holden follows a very similar development to this book and serves as an excellent pairing.Thiruvathukal/Christopher/Shafaee tend to be a little bit more "low level" at times (they're working on Linux boxes whereas I suspect Holden spends most of his time on Windows), so you see more networking details and command line usage, but Holden also fills in some of the higher-level details that T/C/S don't mention.Specifically, Holden provides enough information about socket programming to make it clear that you can completely ignore Apache and write your own "raw" (web or other) servers and clients (and has examples of doing so), whereas for T/C/S, everything goes through Apache.Both good books, just slightly different emphasis in each one.

Learning Curve - Too Unfocused
Chapters 1-6 did not contain enough examples to get into thr mindset of the book. In particular, I would have like information better leading into the heart of the book in Chapter 8 and beyond.

Chapter 7, on the other hand, is an excellent introduction to the world of web programming.

Then, in Chapter 8 and beyond, not enough of a coding and understanding base has been built to follow the design considerations of the tools into the Slither and other tools.

In general, the information freely available on the Net for Python makes it look like the perfect tool for open source Web programming. However, the relative lack of intermediate documentation (ex. object-oeiented programming at more than a basic level) means that most actual Web sites are built in PHP, Java, or other languages not nearly as elegant. This book continues that tradition by including tools that aren't sufficiently explained to the point that I know either to: (a) use the tool, and don't reinvent the wheel; (b) these tools work, but you need to add to them for arobust application; or (c) nobody's done that (well) yet, so get going!

Still, Chapter 7 alone saved me weeks in development.

My biggest complaint is that I was anticipating learning the details of web-based MySQL database programming in Python. There's lots of infomation on MySQL programming - in MySQL. Also, as I do not own the web server - I pay a few dollars a month for that - I (a) can't configure the web server; (b) don't need to configure the web server; (c) need techniques that will work, having access to MySQL and Python, without having root access to the web server.

Thank you to our readers & web site
Hello, Everyone. First, we thank all of you for the generally positive comments about our book. We worked hard to bring you a book of high quality and are still alive.

I wish to point out that the nature of this project was to provide a solid framework that, initially, was aimed at helping our readers to learn the issues involved in developing serious web applications. Think of Slither as a web framework aimed at being understood pedagogically, similar to what Minix aimed to do for teaching/learning operating systems.

That said, a number of things have changed since we wrote the book. All of our day jobs became more demanding, similar to what's going on in much of the US workforce. We are committed to evolving Slither (the framework described in our book) and look forward to involving others in the project via our new home on SourceForge. A new release is already in the planning stages, which we hope will make Slither one of the best web programming frameworks ever--especially for Python programmers!

For those who wish to grab the latest code, please visit the Slither project at SourceForge. We do not post URLs due to Amazon's guidelines.

Best kept secret in web programming
Talk about a sleeper! This book may be one of the best kept secrets in the world of Web programming books. It could be described as Web programming with Python and Open Source tools. In the hands of most authors, this much breadth would produce a multi-volume set of books complete with material that could readily be found elsewhere. The reader is fortunate that it was written and edited by educators who know how to present the pertinent and relevant details of the OS, the Shell, the Python language, Apache, SQL. Lesser books give you the world but require the reader to determine what is relevant and how to use the features described. The manuscript is original and efficient; definitely not a regurgitation of material available on the Web. The advanced sections pertaining to the development of an application server are rich with good programming methodologies. However, some chapters may be exceedingly routine for intermediate and/or advanced server-side programmers. The book could be described as a "LAMP" developer guide for novices (where the P stands for Python not Perl).

A previous reviewer cited some typos. In an effort to keep that comment in perspective, I believe the number of errors for this amount of breadth + depth is very low. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (15)

You need a lot of background for this book
I recommend knowing the basics of Intel assembly before approaching this book. The code is extremely unPythonic, but it's still extremely useful.

Excellent coverage of Python for debugging
I quite enjoyed reading this book. In the first few chapters, it provides useful insights into how 'debuggers' work. It explains what soft, hard, and memory breakpoints are, and how they can be implemented using Windows API. Having explained the details, the book then concentrates on commercial PyDbg and Immunity debuggers, and how they can be used for fuzzing and disassemblyAt times the book is too detailed, and gives too many API details instead of concentrating on the big picture. But overall it's very well written, gives just enough information without becoming too verbose.
If you are a hacker or a pen-tester, do get this book - as it will raise your knowledge to the next level.

Follow me on twitter; [...].

Definitely not for beginners!
Like others on here I eagerly awaited this publication for almost a year. I kept hearing about it in different circles (discussions) and was told "it would be worth your while to pick it up".
After I bought it I went down to the library to begin work on it. For those who are more Python savvy it's probably a good or even great book. For anyone who hasn't had any teachings on programming in Python it's almost utterly useless. Very hard to follow and some of the examples given aren't correct in the book. There is an update page for some of the errors. Even with the so-called "fixes" included though, it's still very difficult to follow and also gives some very poor code examples.
If you're familiar with Python this MIGHT be the book for you but for me it was a headache and nothing more!

Debugging the debugger..
Information seems accurate but the code is missing. After hours searching on line it seems that code is only for 32 bits systems. I couldn't find any form of support from author, nor from publisher (All technical books should have, these days, a forum or some other means for readers to find out other people's experiences) Hopefully second edition will iron these issues (and will be free for people frustrated with the first one).

RE noob's take on Gray Hat Python
I'm finding the content of the book interesting, but the presentation is lacking.Even after editing my copy with the errata supplied on the book's website, I keep finding mistakes in the code examples.The author has the reader constantly modifying a few files, but it seems as if the author wrote down the walkthroughs after he had coded them, not during.As a consequence, you may find edits that need to be made to existing code a few pages ahead of where they're needed.Also, the book fails to make any changes in typeface(bold, strike-through, etc) to represent additions / edits to source files constantly under change.It feels as if a bit of version control for the authors and/or editors could have gone a long way in making this book (more) readable. ... Read more

Product Description
If C and C++ are the languages of choice for game programmers, why should you consider using Python? Game Programming with Python explores this question in depth and teaches you why and how Python can reduce your development time, improve your technical designs, and make the entire development process more efficient.

Game Programming with Python is about building games using Python. It deals with general concepts of game development and specifics that apply when using Python for game development. Some of the general topics include simulations, game architectures, graphics, networking, and user interfaces. The Python-specific topics covered include Python development strategies, using Python for data-driven systems, performance tuning, modules and packages, and interfaces between Python and other programming languages. Additionally, a series of increasingly complex examples are developed throughout the book using Python.

Python is already being used by professional game developers in a number of popular commercial games, including the award winning Star Trek ® Bridge Commander™ (Totally Games), Freedom Force™ (Irrational Games), and Earth & Beyond™ (Electronic Arts). Games such as these use Python in three major ways: as a full-fledged programming language to develop real software systems; as a scripting language to control and interface between systems written in other languages; and as a data language to describe game rules and game objects. Throughout the book, each of these major uses of Python is discussed along with the differences between them.

Written for Python programmers interested in learning game development, as well as game developers interested in using Python, the book assumes you have some programming background and a basic grasp of software engineering principles. Some knowledge of the game development process is also assumed, although a concise overview is provided.

Key Features
* Explains why and how Python can reduce your development time, improve your technical designs, and make your entire development process more efficient
* Teaches you how to use Python for game development with three fully functional sample games, example programs for specific topics, and a library of game infrastructure code
* Shows how to develop game infrastructure in a modular, flexible way using key technologies such as OpenGL graphics and TCP/IP networking
* Describes key areas and algorithms of game programming, including artificial intelligence, dynamic content generation, collision systems, network protocol design, user interfaces and game application structure
* Shows how Python can interact with other languages in game environments, including writing extension modules and extension types, and embedding Python as a scripting language

On the CD!
* Open source libraries and tools
* Code from within the book to build three functional games and other example programs

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Microsoft Windows 98/2000/ME/XP/ NT, Pentium II 400mhz or equivalent, 64MB physical RAM, video card with 4MB VRAM, 60GB disk space. You also need to have Python. Optional: OpenGL hardware accelerated graphics card, 28.8K modem or TCP/IP network connection.Amazon.com Review
Python may not be the first language you think of when you consider computer games, but it's surprising adept at tying together elements of game systems and not at all bad for the implementation of games in its own right. Game Programming With Python explains how to write game code in Python, and goes a long way toward showing that this isn't just a pet project of some hobbyists--that you'd really want to consider Python for game work. Sections dealing with graphics are particularly impressive. Even established Python enthusiasts will smile at what Sean Riley has accomplished in the area of terrain generation.

Much of the book is as interesting for its coverage of algorithms and design patterns generically as for its detailed coverage of Python programs. Riley takes care to explain, for example, the empirical logic behind the A* (a-star) path-finding algorithm as well as its specific implementation in Python. He devotes similar care to collision-detection algorithms and the simple artificial intelligence behind tic-tac-toe. Riley makes extensive use of libraries in his games, and studying his code is a good way for readers to learn about PyUI, PyOpenGL, and network services libraries. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to push Python to somewhere near the limits of its capabilities by using it to write games. The author talks about game design, useful algorithms, and strategies for using Python to interconnect game elements as well as using Python for core game functions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Great idea; somewhat mediocre execution.
First, a warning about my review style: I tend to focus heavily on negative things. That's probably because negative things are easier and more fun to write about. So while this review may have a mostly negative tone, do note that I don't hate this book... I just think it has a lot of room for improvement.

A few years ago I happened to be writing a game in Python when I came across this book at the bookstore. I was already familiar with both Python and game development, but I was uncertain of a few details at the time, and I liked what I saw on a cursory flip-through, so I decided to take it home. A few years later, I am again attempting to write a (different) game in Python, and this book came to mind, so here I am writing this review.

Sadly, some of the information in the book was already out of date when it was published. Python 2.3 was released in July 2003 (this book was released sometime in 2004), and yet this book seems to be written for Python 2.1, which was released in 2001. The language changed a lot within that time, though not so much as to make the code completely obsolete. The book does not take advantage of "new-style" classes introduced in Python 2.2. If the author didn't want to complicate the issue by distinguishing between old-style and new-style classes, he should have used only new-style classes, not old-style. All you have to do to make a class new-style is derive it from the "object" class; the author needed to devote only a few words to the subject. There's no discussion about the semantics of division, which was already in flux: if you put "from __future__ import division" at the top of your module, the expression 1/2 returns a float (0.5); otherwise it returns an integer (0). The new semantics should be taught because that is what future versions of Python are going to use by default.

The most blatant example of the author's ignorance is his recommendation that you download PyUnit. There's no need to because PyUnit has been included with Python since version 2.1! (Again, version 2.1 was released several years before the book was.) The only thing you get by downloading it is an old and obsolete version. To be fair, though, PyUnit's website needs to make it clear right up front that it's bundled with Python 2.1 and you only need to download it if you're using an old version of Python.

The worst thing has been noted by several other reviewers: the heavy dependence upon PyUI, a library created by the author that was never even finished. Although it has been put on sourceforge, nobody has been maintaining it. It would probably be best not to even bother with learning how to use it, because you'll have trouble getting it to work and nobody else uses it. Its only value is that it'll help you follow the book's examples. If you need a GUI for your game, there are others you can find at the pygame website, such as pgu or OcempGUI, both of which are currently maintained.

However, this is not all as bad as it sounds. A lot of the advice is still good, and if you keep learning about Python, you'll figure out how to work around this book's deficiencies. Unfortunately, this book is geared towards Python newbies, who shouldn't be expected to know how to do that. The code seems to be reasonably-written, it's just out of date. The sad thing is, if this book had been released a few years prior, and it didn't depend on a library that nobody uses or maintains, it'd probably be perfect. As it is, it was out of date even when published, and is only more so now.

Most of the good things in the book, such as the chapter on procedural content generation, don't seem to have much to do with Python itself, but rather are good concepts that happen to use Python for the examples. I think the book does have things to teach. But if you're a Python newbie, you'd do well to get another book about Python if you want to use the language as it is now, and not as it was six or seven years ago. Or, if you're an experienced programmer, you could do what I did and "pick it up" using the official tutorials and documentation, which are freely browsable and downloadable online.

On the positive side, the book especially deserves kudos for the idea in the first place. Although I had the idea of writing a game in Python before knowing about this book, the idea may not strike others so readily, especially if they haven't heard of Python. Too many books either start you with writing in C or C++, or else writing in some toy language such as some variant of BASIC that nobody uses. Python is as easy to use as the BASIC dialects, but as powerful as C++. It's just not as fast as C++ -- an obstacle that can still be tackled when you're ready for it. It's a language with a great variety of uses and an established user base, so it'll have use for many things beyond game development, while still being reasonably suited for that task. What more could you ask for?

In summary: the book was great idea, but the execution leaves some to be desired.

Not for the beginner, but a fantastic source for pros
Game Programming With Python is not for beginners.I will say that up front.There are many advanced topic that seasoned pros and up and coming programmers will enjoy -- procecedural content, a* path-finding, asynchronous game servers.These are not for the faint-of-heart, but they are exceptional topics for game programming.Having done an a*star path finding implementation back in my brief time as a game programmer, I can appreciate his work.

A lot of the examples and example code are written in Python and written to a Python graphics library, so they may not be pertinent to your development environment.However, some of the topics presented are very applicable to game design, especially some of the advanced topics.

Personally, I liked the book.When I browse books at my neighbor book store, I usually flip to the back to find the interesting things.I skip the Chapter 1 "What is XML" stuff, and head to the juicy stuff in the back.Not so with this book. All of it is juicy geeky techy stuff.

masterpiece of python and game programming
I recently picked this book from my shelf as a my new bathroom material and was surprised what I was thinking two years ago.

The book is outstanding not only in demonstrating python's real power but supprisingly also in game programming. You need a bit of (may a lot of) object-oriented background to really appreciate this book. The skeleton of game concept is very precise and clear once the "high-level" language applied (or outlined).

I give it 5 star, the only problem with this book is sometimes the variable name is misleading (ex. category part), but probably that's just me.

Very good introduction to game coding
I know Python pretty well and I find that it is often an excellent way to quickly explore new programming concepts.Python is so powerful that you can quickly get a feel for the subject by coding a bit.At work, you may have to use a different language, but at least you will know the subject.That's how I got to understand XML and unit testing for example.A good book always helps the process though.

As a newbie to games, I found this book to be an excellent introduction to game coding.It basically walks you through the material you need to create simple 2D real time games on OpenGL, including how to code simple multiplayer games (using Twisted for the networking).It does an excellent job of demystifying basic game concepts and makes me think that I could write a simple game myself, given sufficient time.

The code samples, which I mostly did not run though, are well-crafted and minimalist - just enough to get the job done and no more.This is very clean and expressive code where every line serves a purpose.

I am more interested by turn-by-turn web-based 2D games, so I am currently not using the book all that much.However, once I have figured out my user interface, I will surely return to it to learn how to manage game objects, persistence, game states, and the like.

One caveat, and not a big one.As another reviewer stated, the book excels at showing how to develop modular code by gradually building libraries of reusable code that you can use for a number of games.The author pulls off the trick of doing that in a Python-sensible manner, without adding the overhead that Java/C++ would require, but that Python doesn't.

However, the resulting code, while extremely well thought out, easy to describe, and modular, is distributed though multiple classes in numerous files .This makes it somewhat hard to just start hacking his code.I quickly got lost while trying to modify the network protocol he used for the sample tic-tac-toe application.

In other words, while his code structure is very appropriate to a serious production system, I feel that it is a bit too complex for me to use as a starting point.Monolithic code has many drawbacks but can provide an easier _initial_ learning curve.

I just love it ...
When I buy a book with source code I first run the examples and then I start reading, so I followed all the installation steps and every single example worked nicely so. The book is clear, concise, fun tu read and I do recommend it fully. If you are serious about writing your own online game and learning Python, get this one. It 's worth the money. ... Read more

Product Description
Programming Python demonstrates advancedapplications of the increasingly popular object-oriented scriptinglanguage that's freely available on the Web.Hundreds of thousands of developers around the world use Python for Internet scripting, systems programming, user interfaces, product customization, and more. The Python interpreter is available onmost popular Unix platforms, Linux, Windows and the Mac.This book is the most comprehensive resource for advanced Python programmers available today. It focuses on real-world Python applications and has been reviewed and endorsed by Python creator Guido van Rossum, who also provides the foreword. Updated for Python 2.0, this edition is really 4 books in one, with in-depth coverage of Internetscripting, systems programming, Tkinter GUIs, and C integration domains.An appendix contains recent Python changes, and there's a platform-neutralCD-ROMwith book examples andPython-related packages, includingthe full Python 2.0 source code distribution.Amazon.com Review
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 guide

Customer Reviews (2)

1st Edition was Better - Stay Away
I am aware that there is now a 3rd edition (Programming Python) out now of this series, but I cannot in good conscience not comment about the problem with this particular edition.

I own the first and second editions. I heartily recommend the 1st over the 2nd. In fact, the 2nd edition is actually missing material from the first - even though the 2nd is ALMOST TWICE THE SIZE of the first.

This is the worst part.. the best reason to even own the 1st edition (the only reason basically IMHO) is a section near the back of the book. And get this.. thats the only part they took out for the second edition.

Thats right, they added a bunch of useless text, and gutted the only thing that made the first edition of any value.

I have both on my bookshelf, the 2nd edition is in perfect condition and collects dust. The 1st is worn from use. Take from that what you will.

Excellent, but needs updating
I can't really complain about the book, except that newer 2.5+ libraries are not covered (e.g. the "subprocess" module"). It isn't meant to be comprehensive in the sense that you won't learn everything, but it covers enough for one to become a good python programmer. ... Read more

Product Description
A guide for professionals and general computer users alike to learningto program Python. Topics covered include data types and variables,debugging, and namespaces. Also includes sample applications thatillustrate ideas and techniques in action. Softcover. DLC: Python (Computer ProgramLanguage). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Everything you always wanted to know, but were afraid to ask
So, I got a ton out of this book, as the last real programming I did was back in about 1992, in Pascal. Lots and lots have changed, and Python's a real easy transition to a modern language.

One thing that could be improved about the book would be to make it IDE-specific, and teach how to use Eclipse or X-Code to develop a complete application, instead of focusing on the scripting.

But that's minor - the book is a great (re-)introduction to getting a computer to do what you want it to do.

Not really for the novice
As a slightly experienced C programmer and a somewhat experienced Python programmer, I found this book useful.It described Python's features and at the same time put them in the larger context of what modern computer languages do.Like several other reviewers, however, I think the level of this book would be far too intimidating for someone learning to program for the first time.Also, for me the final section of the book ("Case Studies") delved too deeply into object-oriented and GUI issues not directly relevant to my work, and I put the book aside at that point.Bottom line: a nice recap but not really for the novice.

fills a niche, but not the ideal beginner's book
In some ways this book seems like it's in search of an identity. It's obviously intended for the novice, and its short chapters and general topics reflect that, but many things are left unexplained or explained poorly, such as the chapter on object-oriented programming. This book definitely fills a niche for introductory python books for an audience with no programming experience, and my frequent frustration has not necessarily outweighed the value of the short chapters on diverse topics. Part of the problem may be that Amazon sold me a copy of the 1st edition rather than the 2nd. I'm going to finish the book soon and print out the Python tutorial to see if that can answer some unanswered questions.

Programming Python Pleases Poor Programming Producers!
I am a graduate student with over 10 programming languages in my toolbox.Python is by far the easiest to learn, easiest to debug and work with.My gratitude goes out to the developers of this powerful language.

This is an extremely well written with very concise explanations and a great amount of humor added in (look at the Spam class in chapter 6!).

This could be the start of a new British Invasion, except this time with the Knights who say "NI".

Beginning programmers and experienced developers will frequently reference this book.

Basic profgramming intro
I'm biased, I wrote it! But Amazon[.com] keep asking me to review it so here I go... It does have exercises, albeit hidden in the text rather than listed at the end of each chapter. That's because it was never intended to be a classtoom text but for enthusiastic amateurs. The best way to learn is type in the examples, then modify them. There are, sadly, a lot of minor typos, fixes are posted on the web site.
Enjoy. ... Read more

Product Description
Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional is the most comprehensive book on the Python ever written.Advanced topics, such as extending Python and packaging/distributing Python applications, are also covered.

Ten different projects illustrate the concepts introduced in the book. You will learn how to create a P2P file-sharing application and a web-based bulletin board, and how to remotely edit web-based documents and create games. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (41)

the purchasewas good idea
thank you very much i've been wanted this book for months and it was on the wish list and finally got it

thank you Rod Castillo

This is actually the 2005 edition, not the 2008
This book is mislabeled -- it is actually the 2005 copyright edition, not the 2008 edition. (You can see this for yourself by using Amazon's "Click to Look Inside" feature, where you can see on the title page that the copyright of this edition is indeed 2005.)

The current edition of this book is the one that lists the copyright as September 8, 2008. (The edition whose page you are currently viewing incorrectly lists its copyright as September 18, 2008.) The actual 2008 edition is also somewhat longer, and includes an additional appendix (on Python 3). Oh, and it's ten bucks cheaper, to boot. :-)

Click on the author's name above to find the newer edition.

Wonderful read, cover to cover
I took this book with me on vacation and read it cover to cover.I have ready many books on various languages so I have experience the good and the very very bad.This book bubbled up on my very good list.I now feel comfortable with Python and have already started developing in it.

Not only does the author pack the book with many examples, he does a great job explaining why it works and why one way is better then another.He also covers the long and short approaches to certain language constructs.Apress continue to produce good quality books.This is a perfect example.

I recommend it for anyone at any level who wants to learn all they need about python.

Good Resource
This book is very useful for novices and intermediate programmers, with limited utility for experts. I started out as a relative novice, and found it to be very useful. At the end of each chapter it reviews the functions introduced in the chapter and makes a quick summary of what was covered in the chapter, making it easier for someone with some previous programming experience and who has a vague idea of python syntax to just skim off what they need for the first few chapters, and makes a nice review for someone who was learning the content of the chapter for the first time.

The book progresses in a logical manner - starting out with basic stuff like variables of various kinds input and output, before going to more complex stuff. More or less, it covers all the OO, networking and GUI stuff, and then a bit more, going over things like making extensions to Python and web development. It contains a good amount of example code, and various projects. After reading it, I feel more comfortable with the language.

I would recommend this book to any novice or intermediate programmer, and if you can get your hands on a copy for cheap, it would also help a competent programmer in other languages pick up python quickly. All in all, a good book to have around.

Not clear and well structured
The secrets to a good technical book, especially one that is comprehensive is organization and clarity.I found this book to be lacking in those regards.The material needs to be organized better, motivated better and the book as a whole could be more accessible.Note that if you was DIS-organized Python material there is a ton of information on the web.For Python in particular, the secret to a good book is not listing all the hodge-podge of neat modules, but providing a coherent and sensible story for how all they stuff fits together.I think other books do that better. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (11)

Very Useful Resource
I used this book throughout a Natural Language Processing course and it helped immensely. I particularly liked having the hard copy instead of the digital version especially while working on lengthy projects and trying to understand several topics.

The sections of this book are well-defined and easy to navigate due to the bolded terminology. Great code examples are given frequently, so it is easy to follow along and grasp new concepts.

One thing you may want to know is that this book is available as a digital copy from the Python website currently. Although I prefer having a hard copy, the digital copy may be right for you.

too scattershot to be really useful
If you already know what's in this book, it's probably a great book.But if you don't, it's not.

I've been programming in C and C++ for around 15 years.I taught computer science at Stanford.I write crosswords for the New York Times.Neither programming nor language is new to me.But I found it very difficult (nigh on impossible) to learn anything from this book.I couldn't learn about NLTK effectively, and I couldn't learn about Python, either.I bought the book to learn both; imagine my disappointment!

In both cases, the reason is that the book is organized from a "let's do this, let's do that" perspective.If you want to do exactly what the authors did, that's great.But if you want to do something different, it's terrible.As a representative example, exercise 2.8.13 mentions, "You can get all noun synsets using wn.all_synsets('n')."

That's great to know.But why is the only indication of a piece of useful functionality sitting inside an exercise?There needs to be a well thought-out layout: "Here are all the pieces of NLTK.Here is what each piece does.Here is what the submethods are and how they work."As it stands, if I want to do something new, I have to either write it myself or just guess as to whether it's functionality that NLTK provides.

The treatment of python is sadly similar.Python depends heavily on something called a "list comprehension".List comprehensions are used throughout the book.But their syntax, from a programming perspective, is never defined.Having read (and reread) much of this book, I can say with confidence that I still don't understand how they work.Given my programming background, I would think I would have a much better understanding having spent so much time trying to figure it out.

Again, there needs to be structure."This is what's in Python.This is what it all means, one piece at a time."

You can find this book online for free; I read it that way the first time, got confused, and figured buying a paper copy would help.Sadly, it didn't.

A great book for the practice and experiment of NLP and Text Mining
This book is ideal for people who are familiar with NLP and Text Mining and looking for a tool that can help implementing their ideas and doing experiments. Especially, it is a perfect fit for students and faculties doing research in this area. Some may complain what if I don't want to use Python. To my best knowledge and my years of experience in NLP and text mining, NLTK is by far the most complete toolkit for this task. Considering the short learning curve of Pytyon, even if you want to implement something in a different language eventually, it always be good to take a quick look at the data using the NLTK toolkit. Thanks a lot for the great contributions from the authors. I wish I had this book 6 years ago.

A great resource for computational linguistics and NLP
If you already know how to program in Python and are doing NLP projects, this book is very helpful. If you are looking to learn Python so that you can do NLP projects, you will need to first learn Python elsewhere before this resource will become useful. Example code is abundant and is well explained.

Tardy but good
The book I ordered took quite a long time to arrive, but it was in great shape when it did come. ... Read more

Product Description
This book presents a balanced and flexible approach to the incorporation of object-oriented principles in introductory courses using Python. Familiarizes readers with the terminology of object-oriented programming, the concept of an object's underlying state information, and its menu of available behaviors. Includes an exclusive, easy-to-use custom graphics library that helps readers grasp both basic and more advanced concepts. Lays the groundwork for transition to other languages such as Java and C++. For those interested in learning more about object-oriented programming using Python.  ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Not What I Expected
Although it was in fact the write product, it was not nearly in the condition I expected for it being in "good" condition.The book has about 35-40 pages being held in by a paperclip over 25 more just barely hanging on.I am very disappointed in the condition I have received the book in, and will probably not be using this vendor in the future.

Some python, less OO
This book was OK as a primer on python.However, I turned to the web more and more as our class progressed through this book.I'd say that 60% of what I now know about python I learned from online sources.This book gave me the problems, but not a good instruction on how to solve those problems.Most of the students in my class have echoed these sentiments.I wound up purchasing an O'Reilly book on python to supplement this text.

Some issues:
* While there are many finished classes documented in the book, the actual use of those classes is dramatically missing.
* The index is user hostile.For example, looking up "child class" says "see class, child" instead of just providing the relevant pages.
* The text is far more about how to write python than about OO techniques.Pages are spent on how to write sort and search routines in python, but very little is spent on how to design solutions from an OO perspective.
* UML diagrams are used, but not well discussed.

If you really just want to learn OO and are starting from scratch, you might want to investigate Alice as a teaching language.If you really want to learn Python, then you may want another textbook.

Good digrams, but that is about it
The title is a little misleading unless you take it as a literal python statement.It is true that there is object-oriented programming IN python.It is also true that this book discusses object-oriented programming IN python.But the book does little to discuss object-oriented programming WITH python.The book provides an intro to the common python elements, which the authors do provide a nice object-oriented emphasis.After that the book turns into a project-type book.Project learning (i.e. learning by example) can be a very useful approach to teaching, but in the case of this book, it seems like the emphasis is on the projects and not the more relevant concepts that form the basis of the projects.The book then comes across as a rather narrow and boring approach to learning an implementation of python.As a note, I also find it irritating when authors present oo design and graphics with a 'simplified graphics package', typically of the authors own design.I did not find one mention of TKinter in the book or index.Instead, you are given 'getting started with graphics', using the author's cs1graphics module.It either appears that the authors are deliberately shying away from real-word graphics packages because of their own limitations or that they are suggesting that their students are limited in their ability to tackle what they eventually may need to work with.Ultimately, I think the authors do a disservice in this method of presentation, where you start with a canvas, add a brand new circle (the sun) and continue adding basic shapes until you end up with a scene that vaguely resembles a composite of a tree, house, sun, and car (rectangle with two circles).If the authors extended their initial discussion of oo design and focused on it as it directly applied to python then they might have a book worth half the price they are charging, which in its current state, in my opinion, is worth about 1/10 the price.

Best Python Book but
There are only some problems have the answer (less than 5% of the total).This was not a problem because David Letscher, one of the author, was my professor, since he rarely used problem from the book for the tests and the final.

There is also a small problem with the graphic library, cs1graphics.py which people need to use for some covered topics, is not completed.

However, Of all learning Python books I've read, this book is the best.It covers basic to advanced topics in a very well-organized way with clear explanations.
... Read more