book on Python for Fortran programmers

[Alex Martelli]

Anna wrote:

> On Tue, 15 Apr 2003 12:15:18 +0000, Michael Prager wrote:
> 
>> beliavsky at aol.com wrote:
>> 
>>>Python has been suggested by several posters to comp.lang.fortran as a
>>>scripting language worth learning. What are some good book(s) and web
>>>site(s) to get an experienced Fortran 95 programmer started in Python?
   ...
> Well, if you're looking for up-to-date, from the reviews I've seen,
> _Python in a Nutshell_ would be worth looking at for this. I've gotten the
> impression that it's particularly suited to experienced programmers.

I am, of course, quite biased in favour of the Nutshell (guess why;-),
but I do think it might be particularly helpful to Fortran programmers.

Being a Fortran programmer IS, after all, a substantial part of my own
background -- Fortran was my first language, the one I wrote my thesis in,
the main one I taught when I served as a university professor, etc, etc).

If you're interested in numeric programming, as many Fortran programmers
are likely to be, the chapter on Numeric might be helpful, for example.
(Do also look at the feedback about it that was posted on this NG -- I
haven't yet examined that feedback but it seems to be pointing out a
couple of important points that have to be added to that chapter!!!).

I would suggest having a look at the sample chapter, and table of
contents, that you can get from the O'Reilly site (or amazon.com, etc).

The chapter that the editor chose to make available as a sample is an
early but crucial one, summarizing the essentials of the language
itself (except for exceptions, modules/packages, and OO stuff, which
each have their own chapter) -- so, I think it might help you judge
whether the book can best meet your needs.


Alex