Good python beginners books?

I am new to programming and after a month or so of googling, I have decided to learn Python. Can some one recommend some good books? Is this a good time to learn the language or people will soon jump ship since JAVA is now open source?

There is a nice thread for Python resources in here and it's sticky to appear on the top.

I learned using "Learning Python" by O'Reilly publishing. It's very basic, but great for learning syntax and basic modules.

I found this Python-based introduction to programming to be invaluable - use it along with something like the O'Reilly "Learning Python", which is basic but I still feel not *perfect* for a beginner.

http://www.amazon.com/Python-Progra...e/dp/1887902996

First java isn't used that much in the world so stay away from it. It can be fun playing with the GUI and good for learning but don't make it the language you program in the most. Here are 2 good free online books:

http://diveintopython.org/
http://openbookproject.net//thinkCSpy/

Yeah, the Learning Python book by O'Reilly is really really good. Personal experience. And with the newest edition, the author makes sure to point out most things that are currently known that will change with the release of Python 3.0 so that you already have a heads up on what not to spend too much time on because it will disappear or change soon enough anyways.

I agree with Learning Python (latest edition) as the best book for learning the language, but it is rather light on learning the libraries that come with Python. I suggest reading it along with Python In A Nutshell.

Once you have read those, I suggest you follow up with The Python Cookbook to learn the pythonic way of doing common (and not so common) tasks.

All of the above are published by O'Reilly.

Dave

Hey! I remember what it was like to be a begginner.


I would suggest A Byte of Python . It's an EXCELLENT book. It's what got me started in Python and now I love the language.

...um not sure when you last did a jobs search but Java programming jobs outnumber python ones 100:1 at times. sorry not trying to hijack the topic with a debate.

Anyway to answer the original question. Dive into python is great, especially since its free, however it does assume some prior knowledge of programming concepts, so its not ideal for an absolute beginner.

Another book I found helpful (and still use even now I'm fairly competent with Python) is "Core Python Programming" by Wesley J. Chun its about as comprehensive as any book can be without being just a reference text and the end of section exercises help you to understand the material rather than just copying sections of code.

If/when you start GUI programming, you could do a lot worse than "wxPython in action" by Rappin & Dunn and/or "Rapid GUI Programming with Python and Qt" by Mark Summerfield. Of the two I would recommend the latter , but thats probably just my own preference for Qt over wx

hope this was helpful.

I recommend Zelle's Programming Python as well. If you don't know anything about programming, then Learning Python will confuse the heck out of you.

I found dive into python and a byte of python too complicated as I have had no programming experience and recommend Python Power! by Matt Telles...it really gets down to basics and allows for those people who are not fluent in C++ or Pascal!