first book about python

[tac-tics]

Philippe Martin wrote:
> I don't know, if I were the genious that made up Python I would not believe
> in any bible (small b)

Take it to alt.religion please.

> I want to learn python.
> I plan to buy a book. I always find printed material more convenient than
> reading on-line tutorials.

I had the same problem as you. I heard lots of good things about
Python, but was unable to sit myself down in front of my computer long
enough to learn it. So I picked up a copy of Learning Python and read
the entire thing in a night.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596002815/ref=pd_bxgy_img_b/002-4705377-6120028?ie=UTF8

I'm sorry I can't really do a comparison between different books, this
being the only one I bought, but it got me to the point where I could
start playing with code and reading the online documentation (which is
superb).

Coming from a relatively strong background in Java and C++, this book
was very easy to digest. The book is not a "teaching programming" book,
so unless you have experience in at least one real language programming
language, it might not be worth your time.

My only complaint about this book is the confusing way it presenting
Python's OOP model and the way they present for loops (they make it
sound like for loops are 100 times slower than in Java or C++... They
don't get the actual point across effectively, that  they are just
different.)