Textbooks on Perl/Python

[Magnus Lyckå]

Jalab wrote:
> Greetings all,
> Any help in finding a university level textbook on the subject of
> "Scripting languages" I am mainly looking for a book that covers Perl
> and Python only as the 2 main scripting languages and that is written
> for students, i.e. chapter summary, exercises, etc. I hate to force my
> student to buy and study from two separate books.

Honestly, I don't know if there is such a thing. Most
books about Python are listed at:
http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/moinmoin/PythonBooks

Both Perl and Python book as usually practical guides
or reference books for practicioners, rather than
school books. Neither language has typically been on
the curriculum. (Although I think this will change.)

There is Perl to Python Migration by Martin C. Brown,
but that's hardly what you are looking for...

Otherwise I think your best bet might be some Linux
programming book. But that won't be school books exactly...

Python: Visual QuickStart Guide by Chris Fehily is a
fairly cheap Python book, if you are worried about
costs. It's not a typical school book though.

A book commonly used for teaching Python is "Learning
Python", by Lutz / Archer, but it's slightly dated.

How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python
by Allen Downey, Jeffrey Elkner, Chris Meyers teaches
basic programming skills using Python, but that's not
really what you are looking for I guess. It's probably
the only book about Python written with students as the
prime target. It's rather a high school book though. It's
also on the web http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython.html

You could also have a look at web sites like
http://diveintopython.org/

I hope you find something suitable...