On Fri, 10 Feb 2006, nephish wrote: > i know this comes up from time to time. i am considering buying 'python > in a nutshell'. All the reviews i have read for it are very good. But it > only covers up to python 2.2. i use 2.3 at work, and tinker with 2.4 at > home. As good a reference as it is, is it too dated to be that good > still ?
No, it's not too dated. I still use it constantly as my main reference. When I know a facility is post-2.2, I use the online docs instead. But my preference is definitely for the Nutshell. Alex explains things extraordinarily well, in my opinion. The book is well-organized and well-indexed, so you can find things pretty easily. Two thumbs up, from here. > i have 'Learning Python' and 'Programming Python'. Learning is > awesome for me, Programming is a bit over my head. That tracks my feelings. I don't find "Programming Python" to be very useful. It's not the sort of reference book that, say, "Programming Perl" occupies on the Perl world. My own take on PP is that you can't open it up to a discussion of a particular feature and understand that feature without understanding a lot of other things having nothing to do with the feature, but that are implicit in the explanations and examples. (But I hasten to add, I've seen enough people swear how much they love that book, that this may just be idiosyncratic to me.) I think a good Python *reference* book is invaluable to any Python programmer. And to me, that book is Python in a Nutshell. There are a couple others that are good, too: The Python 2.1 Bible - 2.1, obviously; I don't know if there's a later version; The Complete Python Reference - published 2001, so bound to be a bit dated) Python Essential Reference - When I first started playing with Python, a library copy of this was my reference. I liked it, but I like the Nutshell just a little better, but that may be a matter of familiarity. If you're going for this one, I'd suggest waiting another couple of weeks. The Third Edition is coming out February 24, which means it will be the most current Python reference book, when published. I would be surprised if it didn't cover through 2.4. _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
