python book for non technical absolute beginner

[Rhodri James]

On Sat, 06 Dec 2008 13:21:45 -0000, News123 <news123 at free.fr> wrote:

> No my question does anybody know a nice beginners book (or a learning CD
> or on line tutorial)? Ideally it shouldn't be too serious and have a lot
> of small nice mini-examples

For just pottering around with, your friend could do worse than the
LiveWires Python Course.  It doesn't go far into general programming
skills, largely because its designed for 12-15 year old kids to get
through in about three days of concentrated effort, but it will help
to learn the basics of Python and programming in general.

Caveat: the worksheets are built around Python 2.x (for small values of
x!), tell your friend not to use Python 3.0.  This is one of the few cases
where it really matters that 'print' is now a function; nothing freaks a
beginner like his output not behaving the way he's been told it should.


-- 
Rhodri James *-* Wildebeeste Herder to the Masses