Learning Python

[kentborg-KwkGvOEf1og at public.gmane.org (Kent Borg)]

Jerry Feldman wrote:
> I may need to learn Python in the next few weeks. I would like someone
> to recommend a good book to use to learn Python. I've been writing C and
> C++ code for 20 years (FORTRAN and BASIC for much longer), so I want a
> book that is written more for C or C++ programmers.

I am a fan of the O'Reilly "Python Pocket Reference".  Everything a tiny
reference should be.

Wanting something more verbose I recently spent a few hours I browsing
through all the Python books at the Harvard Coop and decided on "Python
Essential Reference" by David Beazley.  It starts with 130-pages
describing the language nicely, read it through with a Python
interpreter in front of you to try stuff--it doesn't waste your time
telling you what a computer is.  That done it moves into the key aspects
of the key libraries, read interesting ones carefully, skim the ones
that don't immediately interest you. 

The library descriptions frequently are not complete, but they include
nice examples that give a good start on how it works.  Conversely, the
complete reference for mainline libraries is on python.org, but it is
frequently confusing and not at all clear how to get started with a
given library.  The book and online complement each other nicely.

Obviously Google then comes in, the other day I was looking for an
implementation of rtrees and landed on some orphan code that I am not
sure will work but looks promising.


Something I have not found is the right whack in the head to get one to
think in pythonic terms and not program like a C programmer.  Fully
grokking "list comprehensions" seems a start, but I am thinking I need a
journal article length piece to reread every while until it sinks in.


-kb