New editions of several Python books.

Magnus Lycka lycka at carmen.se
Thu Feb 9 11:12:46 EST 2006


While I work at a company that uses Python a lot (and would
have had a hard time finding such a place a few years ago) I
don't really have a clear opinion on whether Python's marketshare
(or mindshare) is growing significantly. Perl seems to be in
decline, but on the other hand, Ruby is attracting a lot of people.

One interesting thing I noticed when I visited Amazon.com
today, was that several publishers are busy making new
editions of their Python books. These classics are in the
pipeline:

Python Essential Reference (3rd Edition)
by David M. Beazley (Paperback - February 24, 2006)

I have the 1st ed. Just as with Martelli's Nutshell-book, this is a
really good reference book. (Or was in previous editions at least.)

Python, Second Edition : Visual QuickStart Guide (2nd Edition)
by Chris Fehily (Paperback - April 14, 2006)

In my opinion one of the best beginner books. Straight forward and
also affordable.

Programming Python, 3rd edition
by Mark Lutz (Paperback - July 2006)

Never a favourite of mine really, but a popular book...

And this is already reissued it seems:

Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner, Second Edition
by Michael Dawson (Paperback - November 8, 2005)

Finally...

Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional
by Magnus Lie Hetland (Paperback - September 26, 2005)

...was more or less a 2nd edition of Magnus' "Practical Python".

There is also a "Python for Dummies" on its way at last. (I'm not
sure Python *is* for dummies though. Despite being so easy to learn
and use, it mainly seems to attract smart and experienced people, why
else would Python programmers be among the best paid programmers?)

Somehow, the fact that so many books are reissued in a fairly short
period, makes me feel that the publishers feel that the winds are
blowing our way...

Any thoughts on this?

I don't see any similar republish trends among the other scripting
languages. (Although Ruby on Rails seems to  attract some attention --
four books in the pipeline.)




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