Just a suggestion, but why not go to the O'Reilly site (at http://www.oreilly.com
) first to look for current books and then check Bookshare?
"Learning Python, 3rd edition" by Mark Lutz (2007) is at Bookshare,
for example. I'm not a computer programmer, so someone else can
probably offer better advice, but for general search purposes I might
target a technical book site, like:
http://www.bookpool.com/
do a search by topic, and check the items that seemed popular or that
had good reviewer's comments. Since the criteria of a good text is
different for beginners in a field, this kind of information can be
useful. Also, again sometimes these authors have web sites that are
referenced in reviews. So in the case of Python, I saw at least one
comment from beginners about an early web site by Alan Gauld on
learning Python. A Google search brought up:
http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld/index.htm
Learning to Program by Alan Gauld which purports to be a web tutor,
with links to concepts, simple sequences, etc. Doubtless someone
working specifically in the area can make better recommendations.
Also, why not check the official web page for Python and look under
the documentation?
http://www.python.org/doc/
There seem to be tutorials, Beginners guides, quick reference guides,
PYTHON howtos, etc.
Just some suggestions on how I would go about trying to find resources
to learn a new subject without other sources of information. If
you're studying this the best source of information would simply be to
ask another person working in the same area what source they found
most useful.
HTH
Cheers,
Esther
On Oct 24, 2008, at 12:30 PM, Maurice Mines wrote:
My problem with many of the book-share O Reilly Books are that they
are somewhat dated circuit 2005 and older. Is this still true? Can
anyone recommend a good Python book? How good is the unpack utility
for the mac when using voice over?
On Oct 24, 2008, at 1:03 PM, Esther wrote:
Hi Dan,
I haven't been keeping up with the new O'Reilly Bookshare
offerings, and the listed entries were only based on doing a search
of their catalog, so please feel free to chime in with any
particular suggestions. Likewise, for the "Take Control" books.
I've heard (on another list) the recently issued "Take Control of
Making Music with GarageBand" come highly recommended, but I
haven't checked this out yet. There are sample download sections
for each "Take Control" book that you can check before deciding to
order.
For other users, the quality of books that are available at
Bookshare can be variable, depending on the source (many of these
scanned in). Since O'Reilly has been a participating Bookshare
member for over 5 years and the source material comes directly from
the publisher, this isn't an issue here. Also, distribution of
Bookshare material internationally depends on the publisher, but
again here O'Reilly has given permission for world-wide
distribution, so this is a good reference source for users outside
the U.S. I don't always find the "sort by publication date"
options on Bookshare to be reliable, so please be aware that there
may be books with similar title an different publication dates --
most notably there are entries for "Mac OS X for Unix Geeks" dated
2008 and 2003.
Cheers,
Esther
On Oct 24, 2008, at 7:38 AM, Dan wrote:
Hello Esther,
As always, you provide a wealth of knowledge and I really
appreciate it. I am a member of Book Share and I love the O'Reilly
books. And thanks for the other pages and archived message.
Dan
On Oct 24, 2008, at 10:28 AM, Esther wrote:
Hi Kaare and others,
For new Mac users coming in with a background in linux or unix,
there's an old but good web page called "Top Ten Mac OS X Tips
for Unix Geeks":
http://www.macdevcenter.com/lpt/a/2792
There were some quick introductory sites to unix (for general)
users mentioned in an older post to this list:
http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40macvisionaries.com/msg30161.html
That post also notes that you can find a number of O'Reilly Books
(including "Mac OS X for Unix Geeks" -- an up-to-date 2008
version of the older book that was the source for the Mac OS X
tips for unix geeks page) at bookshare:
http://www.bookshare.org
The O'Reilly books are available to bookshare users world-wide,
and are a particularly good general source of information on
computer topics -- including many specialized areas (Perl, Java,
C++ programming, Apache, etc.) as well as general-purpose
guides. The advanced search page at Bookshare.org has a separate
pop-up button where you can choose "O'Reilly books, available
worldwide". There are close to a thousand O'Reilly titles
available in accessible format at Bookshare.org, and information
about format (Daisy) is available on the result pages for each
book.
Possibly interesting O'Reilly titles for new Mac users:
Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard edition by
David Pogue
Mac OS X Leopard Pocket Guide by Chuck Toporek
Another good source of information are the "Take Control" Ebooks:
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/catalog.html
These are modestly priced (generally around $10) ebooks that are
available in downloadable PDF format. They're pitched more at the
general user, and are generally shorter and more topical than the
O'Reilly books. A nice feature is that if there are updates to
the version you purchased, you can download updated versions free
from the Take Control web site.
HTH
Cheers,
Esther
