Programming newbie coming from Ruby: a few Python questions

[Aahz]

In article <1154460978.604511.209260 at 75g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>,
crystalattice <crystalattice at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>The best book I've found for "teaching" you the language is from Deitel
>and Deitel:  Python, How to Program.  It's outdated in that is uses
>Python 2.2 but the vast majority of concepts still apply; it does
>mention when certain features are deprecated so you shouldn't have a
>problem.

The main problem with the Deitel book is that it does not, in fact,
teach you how to program in Python.  Instead, it teaches you how to
program in Java using Python.  (That's a little bit of an overstatement,
admittedly, but not much of one.)  There is also lots of incorrect
information.
-- 
Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>         http://www.pythoncraft.com/

"Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place.
Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by
definition, not smart enough to debug it."  --Brian W. Kernighan