Learning Python, 5th Edition

I don't write too many reviews but I have to review this book. I'm just trying to learn the language to do some web, security, and rasberry pi development on my own. I tried to learn python over a year ago, got frustrated and quit. I tried to pick up the language again about 2 weeks ago. I have read and tried to work through Learning Python the Hard Way (LPHW). LPHW is a good resource and it did give me a general understand of the language. It teaches python version 2x. I have also read Dive into Python 3 (DP3). DP3 is also a good resource and it teaches python version 3x. I have also read and referenced [...] For the most part, I am able to write simple code. But I got frustrated when I tried to review and understand complex code structures. I had a hard time understanding the nuances of the language. I spent hours searching online and watching tutorial videos. But I was constantly frustrated because there were all these exceptions that didn't make sense to me. I kept on asking why this works and why that does not work. The best thing about this book is that it explain the nuances of the language by giving multiple examples. So it does explains it in a complete manner. A lot of other resources will touch upon a topic and then glance over it. I often wondered.. what about this... so a lot of other resources expect you to test the other cases out which in most circumstance will be okay, but in others, you are still left wondering "why?". This book does not do that. In fact, I almost didn't need to try the examples on the interactive python command line because it was so thorough. This book is not for the beginner. You will get lost among the trees in the forest because there is so much information in this book. If you are impatient or need to start coding right away, you really won't be able to do this with Learning Python. LPHW and DP3 are much better at getting you up and running. But to write error free code, you have to understand the nuances of the language which Learning Python teaches you. Learning Python the Hard Way (free on the internet) and Dive into Python 3 (also free) are great resources to get introduced to the language. I would recommend both before you delve into this book. But once you get an understand of the basics of python, this book will fill in the missing details. As a disclaimer, I have only been reading this book for a day. I have already read 300 pages. A lot of it was review. But I learned a lot of new stuff as well that filled in the gaps. I have not read the section on regex or the more advanced sections yet so this review is not complete. But so far, I am impressed on the thoroughness of the subject matter. The main grip I have is that I bought the kindle version. If I read it in a linear fashion the material seem to flow nicely. But when I come to certain sections, I need to jump around. You find this a lot with any technical book. The kindle version makes this difficult because I cannot "easily" keep track of what I was reading so I get side tracked a lot. I also cannot effectively add notes (yes, I know I can add notes). I ended up using 4 devices to read this book just to keep track of where I was. I may get the hardcopy so that I have an easy quick reference book to look at later at my desk. With a hard copy, I use bookmarkers that I can quickly page to. I know about the kindle bookmarks but they are cumbersome to use. Fortunately, its hard to beat the fact that I can carry this book on my phone if I wanted to. So I would rate the kindle version 3 stars. Overall, I would buy this again on kindle.

I wanted to pick up programming as a little hobby to do in my spare time. After stumbling through countless websites picking up little tidbits of information here and there (and spending ALOT more time and effort than I expected) I was starting to doubt if this was even possible to learn myself. As said before, I would pick up little bits of information and try to make my own little programs. I got very very basic information down but couldn’t comprehend how to to write anything more than a simple 20 line script. I was about to give up. Then I bought this book. and WOW. This book was absolutely amazing. I read it for hours everyday from when I purchased it. I finished the book 3 weeks later. I can say this book was monumental in what it taught me. (And it’s size too - LOL - the thing is massive but so worth the read) He teaches everything so simple and easy to read. Go through his lines of every example and try to understand what is happening. You’ll find by about page 500 everything is slowly starting to make sense. By page 1000 you’ll be thinking wow I can read and understand each example of code (even the longer ones). You start seeing how programs are put together, how every single line has a purpose. The syntax, the wording, the placement , the white space. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed learning programming from this book. It has enabled me to complete an online python course. I love solving problems on my own - each one is like a puzzle and I get a little joy when I successfully complete the challenge. Thank you Mark - for allowing me to experience this journey. I surely would have given up had I not found this book. This book is like sitting directly in his college lectures for a semester. Only I didn’t have to spend 4 months to get the information. I could learn as fast as I could read. All told it was a 3 week book for me and it was very very very worth it. I’ve purchased his second book (Programming Python) and hope it will be just as good as this one. If you’re serious about learning python than stop looking further. This needs to be a book you buy. The contents are expansive and in depth without overloading you. It’s taught in a simple easy to understand way. And the appendix is well laid out so after you finish reading it and get into the nitty gritty of programming you can always know exactly where to look in the book to get help on how to do something. A+++. Again, thank you Mark.

Über 1.500 Seiten - das ist ein Biest von Buch. Da kann man schon mal ein paar Wochen und Monate Zeit mit verbringen. Dabei baut dieses Werk das Wissen logisch und - meiner Meinung nach auch didaktisch sehr gut gemacht - auf. Sprache und Ausdrucksweise sind sehr gut verständlich, die diversen Wiederholungen mögen dem einen oder anderen Leser überflüssig scheinen, ich empfinde das aber eher positiv, weil beim Lesen und durcharbeiten eines Buchs diesen Umfangs am Ende doch mehr Wissen dauerhaft hängen bleibt. Wer Python ernsthafter und intensiver nutzen möchte, ist gut beraten, sich dieses Buch anzuschaffen, denn es hat Referenzcharakter. Man findet sehr viele Themen und der Index ist gut gepflegt. Ich habe schon diverse Projekte in Java, C++ und C# realisiert, auch recht umfangreiche mit und ohne GUI, multithreaded, parallel und auch nicht parallel. Und dennoch muss ich sagen, dass - mal angesehen von den grundlegenden Sprachkonstrukten (Bedingungen, Operatoren, Schleifen, Listen, Arrays, Dictionaries etc ppa.), die in allen Programmiersprachen hinreichend ähnlich bis nahezu identisch aufgebaut und nutzbar sind - dieses Buch sehr deutlich zeigt, dass Python bei weitem alles andere als nur eine einfache "Script"-Sprache ist. Man kann definitiv schnell und easy Scripts mit Python schreiben und das auf vielen Betriebssystemen. Das ist genial. Alle erforderlichen Grundlagen dafür werden vom Author solide vermittelt und alle Konzepte sind hinreichend mit Beispiel-Code belegt. Easy to follow! Aber mit Python lassen sich auch mächtige und trotzdem effiziente Programme schreiben. Ich betreibe z.B. einen Cluster mit 15 Raspi 3B+ Platinen (60 Threads), um neuronale Netze, parallele Algorithmen für Machine Learning und Programme (in MPI programmiert) zu erforschen, eigene Programme zu schreiben etc. ppa. Neben C++ ist hier Python eine hervorragend geeignete Sprache nicht nur für die Steuerung und das Monitoring meines Raspi-Clusters, sondern eben auch für die darauf laufenden verteilten Anwendungen inkl. GUIs z.B. mit Tkinter oder Anbindung an MySQL oder SQL-Server für Datenbanken. Bei all diesen Python-Projekten hat mir das Buch von Mark Lutz erheblich weitergeholfen. Dazu habe ich auch sein zweites "Big Beast" mit dem Titel "Programming Python", das ebenfalls gute 1.500 Seiten hat, gelesen, wo es um die praktischen Anwendungen, also der echten Programmierung von GUIs und zahlreichen realen Anwendungen aus verschiedenen Bereichen geht. Auch dieses zweite Buch ist ein Referenzwerk für mich. Insgesamt kann ich "Learning Python" von Mark Lutz jedem empfehlen, der ein tieferes Verständnis von Python entwickeln möchte und der eben nicht nur ein paar kleine Scripts basteln möchte. Dafür gibt es sehr viel kürzere und kompaktere Darstellungen. Aber wer Python - wie ich - auch für größere und ernsthafte Projekte einsetzen möchte, sollte dieses Buch lesen und es in Greifnähe behalten. Ich beschäftige mich seit gut 1,5 Jahren intensiv mit Python und schlage noch immer das eine oder andere Thema in diesem Buch nach. Als absolut hilfreiche und lesenswerte Ergänzung zu den beiden Büchern von Mark Lutz möchte ich hier auch das Buch "The Python 3 Standard Library by Example" von Doug Hellmann empfehlen. Es gibt für mich kein besseres Buch, dass die unglaublich umfangreichen Standardbibliotheken von Python so gut erklärt. Für Fortgeschrittene, die mal Profi werden wollen, eine wahre Goldgrube.

This is not a reference book, it is a tutorial so you will be probably better off by reading it from the beginning to the end. It explains everything in detail. The first chapters give a nice overview of the language and then it goes more in depth. I was really into this approach because it gives context before diving into the details. This will lead to some repetition of important concepts sometimes which I personally find extremely useful. It explains differences with python 2.x also. Not an easy read but be patient and take your time to digest the material. You will find solutions to the exercise at the end. Pages > 1500.

The content of the book is very detailed and I personally found it useful during the learning process. The book came in not so good physical shape. The reason is partly paper quality, mostly though, it concerns packaging which allows the book to move freely inside the box.

Unnecessarily long, extremely dispersive and cluttered. Sometimes redundant and ripetitive, sometimes surprisingly dismissive. Check David Beazley books instead.

This is a great book. Explanations are so clear and logically written. I love it. Over a period of 4 months, I've brought two of these books. One for myself and one for my son who wanted to borrow it (I could part with my own copy, so I brought him one of his own).