Recommendations for Python Books

[Keith F. Woeltje]

If you want free, look at the Python web site page listing introductions
( http://www.python.org/doc/Intros.html ). The tutorial that comes with
Python is frequently recommended as a starting point, but I found it too
terse.

For someone completely new to programming, /Learn to Program Using
Python/ by Gauld would be a good first book, but you would need to
follow it up with the tutorial or another book. My favorite book so far
is /The Quick Python Book/ by McDonald, but I also liked /Learning
Python/ by Lutz and Ascher. Both books cover the basics, but their
organization and emphasis is different. I've looked at /Sams Teach
Yourself Python in 24 Hours/ by Van Laningham at Borders. It's
organization and content seem fine, but they use relatively small screen
shots to display example program output, and I didn't like that. /Core
Python/ by Chun looks like it might also be an OK starting point, but
I've only glanced through it.

O'Reilly has released a second edition of /Programming Python/ covering
Python 2.0, but it seems to be aimed at the intermediate to advanced
Python programmer, and probably isn't the best choice for starting out.

HTH, and good luck.
-KFW

Wong Da Qiang wrote:
> 
> Just a newbie to programming and python, need some recommendations on books
> to buy