Core Python programming

[Wesley J. Chun]

> Raphael Ribeiro wrote:
> > I wanna buy this book , for i heard it is PERFECT for a beginner , but
> > i saw it , and it was released in 2000, will i get obsolete if buy it
> > today, and will i have problems with the new features included after
> > 2000?


would it be a conflict-of-interest to post to this thread?  :-)

the book was sent to the printers in Dec 2000 and released
late that month and Jan 2001, depending on the distributor.
the writing phase of the book was quite challenging as i
started with 1.5.2 as the most current release.  as the
final deadlines approached, 1.6 and 2.0 became reality
rather quickly, and i had to lobby the publisher to delay
the release of the book until i had been able to bring the
book up-to-date as much as possible.

the book was designed for readers familiar with programming
to pick up Python as quickly as possible.  yes, it is par-
tially a reference book, but certainly not to the extent of
Beazley's Python Essential Reference -- it's a portable
version of the Python Library Reference!

in fact, once you "graduate" from Core Python Programming,
PER is a great book to carry around with you -- I know I do!
then if you have to go back to look up a topic for further
elucidation, then you can pick up CPP again.

some people have asked whether a 2e of CPP is forthcoming,
and i have to say that this is not the right timeframe yet.
i have to integrate all the changes from 2.1 and 2.2 into
the meat of the book as well as add new sections which i
felt were missing when the book went to press.  such chap-
ters may include topics such as:  Internet Client Program-
ming (FTP, NNTP, POP3, etc.), Databases/SQL, Zope, Win32
Programming, XML, Java/Jython/Swing, etc.

in the meantime, i will be coming out with some supplemental
reading, i.e., the new features found in 2.1, 2.2, etc., and
posting the PDFs to the book's website, keeping CPP as cur-
rent as possible.  look for those in the next few months.

i've also written a few articles for Linux Journal.  Jun 2002
features an interview with Guido regarding 2.2, and July 2002
will have an expose on some of the new features in 2.2 and
how to use them.

you can also read others' reviews about CPP on the book's
website here:

http://starship.python.net/crew/wesc/cpp/reviews.htm

David Mertz has finally reviewed CPP, adding one more
article to his bank of Python book reviews:

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-pbook3.html

if you have any questions, feel free to write!  i'm
open to any and all suggestions for the 2nd edition
as well as other topics you may be interested in.

cheers!

-wesley

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"Core Python Programming", Prentice Hall PTR, © 2001
    http://starship.python.net/crew/wesc/cpp/

Silicon Valley-San Francisco Bay Area Python Users Group (BayPIGgies)
    http://deirdre.org/baypiggies

wesley.j.chun :: wesc at deirdre.org
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