Since my last book roundup nine months ago, some new Python books have been published, and some other books have made it to my desk that I did not have a chance to review previously. I haven't got my hands on all books I hope to review, but between the two installments, almost every book you might consider buying on Python today is discussed.
By the time next year rolls around, even more books will join the Python bookshelf. Surely there will be new titles I have not heard of; but here are a few that look promising. Python stalwart and brilliant Usenet essayist Alex Martelli has apparently contracted to write two separate books for O'Reilly -- one titled Python in a Nutshell (should be interesting to see Martelli's prolific writing inclinations squeezed into a compact size). Bruce Eckel, whose Thinking in Java has been very well received, has had not-yet-realized plans to write a Thinking in Python for a while; perhaps he will for 2002. Christopher Jones and Fred Drake have another O'Reilly title Python & XML underway, which looks promising. And I must mention that your humble author is in the process of writing Text Processing in Python for Addison-Wesley. 2002 looks to be another good year for Python.
I have not had the chance to look at a few currently in print Python books. No slight is intended towards these titles, but neither can I make any recommendation. These are:
- Core Python Programming, Wesley J. Chun, Prentice Hall (December 2000)
- Sams Teach Yourself Python in 24 Hours, Ivan Van Laningham, Sams (May 2000)
- Python: Developer's Handbook, Andre dos Santos Lessa, Sams (December 2000)
If I have missed any books altogether, I apologize to their publishers and authors. Let me know; I'll try to review them in the future.
While books are a wonderful way to get started with most topics (including Python), there is also very good documentation that accompanies Python itself. Take a look at the Python documentation at Python.org (see Resources later in this article) to get yourself started. The Python team has written an excellent introductory tutorial, and the quality of the module index, library reference, and language reference are much better than most programming languages, or free software in general, have. (The distinction between "library reference" and "language references" is always fuzzy to me when I go to look something up; try both if in doubt.)
Six months ago, the one Python book I made sure to keep within arm's reach while programming was David Beazley's Python Essential Reference. Mind you, the rest are all within a few steps of my chair, but Beazley's is the one I didn't have to stand up for. That's changed a bit in the last few months -- now the book in arm's reach is the second edition of Python Essential Reference. The main change between editions is simply an update to coverage from Python 1.5.2 to Python 2.1. The organization and most of the content remain the same. Apparently in response to some user complaints, the font size was increased slightly (and the length went from 318 to 396 pages); unfortunately, at the same time the 2nd edition is printed on paper with a much lower brightness -- readability (from a purely physical perspective) has actually gotten slightly worse.
Another title that was mentioned but not reviewed in the previous installment is Fredrik Lundh's Python Standard Library. At that time, only an encumbered electronic version was available, but since then, O'Reilly has published a printed version. Python Standard Library is a thin volume -- 281 pages in physical size, but more lines of the books are taken up with source code and vertical whitespace than with prose description. The total words do not add up to a large number.
Python Standard Library has a fairly narrow target and hits it well. The target is the experienced Python programmer who also has either the standard module documentation and/or one of the thicker books at hand. Almost all of the modules in Python 2.0's standard library are covered, but the coverage is not aimed at documenting every constant, function, and class inside each module. Instead, each module is introduced with extremely clear and articulate prose descriptions, followed by well-chosen typical usage examples.
Many of the other books I have looked at also use extensive source code examples; but in many of those, you have to re-read and ponder for a while to figure out exactly what an example is meant to illustrate, which part of it illustrates the topic at hand, and why it is an illustration. In contrast, the source code examples in Python Standard Library are only as long as necessary, are clear, have adequate inline documentation, and get right to the point being illustrated. Likewise, the prose introductions provide exactly the sort of clear guidance you might ask of the more experienced programmer in the cubicle next to yours (if you are lucky enough to have such a co-worker). The descriptions, however, by intention do not try to teach you basic concepts -- they assume you basically know what you are doing, and just need to refine how you do it.
Learn to Program Using Python: A Tutorial for Hobbyists, Self-Starters, and Those Who Want to Learn the Art of Programming is probably not a book for most readers of this column. As the title promises, Alan Gauld's book is for non-programmers who want to become programmers, or at least to understand what it is programmers do. For this audience, Gauld has written a delightful book. A non-programmer I recruited to review this book confirmed that the first few chapters seem pitched right for a beginner.
Gauld walks through a reasonable range of topics, and keeps them in a good pedagogical sequence. The reader of this book should read the book from one cover to the other. There is a good index, but jumping around is not what this type of book is for. The source code examples do an excellent job of progressively presenting new concepts while remaining clear and to the point. Even though many books' use of sidebars and boxes is just busy and distracting, Gauld strikes a good balance with his "Things to Ponder" and "Points to Remember" that appear at the end of each chapter. Overall, this looks like a just plain fun book to read.
There is a certain style of programming book that I have trouble seeing the point of. Sample source code is important in learning a programming language or technique; but a certain type of book consists primarily of source, with the prose existing mostly to explain the source code in a line-by-line way. It is not merely the quantity of source code that I find ineffective. Python Standard Library has a high proportion of source code -- but the source code exists as a continuation and elaboration of the prose; the source code explains rather than merely being explained. In another style of book, the source code just lays there as a dead mass, with the prose vainly trying to vivify it.
Two of the books in the current roundup are in this source-code-with-commentary category. One is Python Annotated Archives. This is one of those heavy tomes that its publisher, Osborne, is fond of (720 pages). I cannot really recommend this book to anyone. Experienced programmers will not be able to find reference information easily, and beginners will lack the background to jump into any particular script. Moreover, it almost seems to be cheating to publish a book that just reproduces (albeit also discusses) all the scripts in the Demo/ directory of every Python distribution (copyrights are in order, I mean it in a "scruples" way). What are we really getting by buying this book?
A lot of concepts inevitably occur in 700+ pages. But there is
no particular order apparent to where they occur. Here is one
arbitrary example: the use of _doc_ strings is a fairly
important convention in Python programming. A beginner would
not know about it from this book unless she happened to turn to
page 162 to find an explanation of them -- not because that page
is where documentation conventions are discussed, but just
because the script being discussed happens to have some
_doc_ strings. A handful of other pages scattered through
the book also mention, "by the way, this is a _doc_ string."
An experienced programmer is unlikely to need the explanation;
a beginner is unlikely to find it.
Moreover, the explanatory prose is haphazard (and not
infrequently wrong or incoherent -- for example, I cannot make heads or
tails of the lead-in to the very first example, prime.py).
The author, Martin Brown, just sort of throws whatever explanation comes to
mind at each block of three or four lines of each script (which
are redundantly printed, then printed again with annotation).
But if someone doesn't understand what a loop or a numeric
operation does, the place to explain it isn't next to each
loop, but in an "about loops" or "about operations" section of
the book.
Programming with Python suffers a similar weakness to Python Annotated Archives. The cover advertises that it's "filled with over 40 full-length, annotated scripts." It lives up to its promise; but the Vaults of Parnassus have many more than 40 full-length scripts, covering a far wider range of purposes. If you need a Python script to accomplish some moderately complex purpose, you are a lot better off finding one to download from a Python Internet archive, like Parnassus (and a few dollars the richer for not buying a book).
There is a little bit of other stuff in Programming with Python than the scripts themselves. The scripts have a little bit of explanation -- but only a little bit. The beginning bit of the book has a brief summary of the statements (with built-in functions mistakenly called statements), modules, and some Python syntax. But the Python tutorial is better. The last few pages of the book have a pretty good set of FAQ-type questions about Python. I haven't seen anything exactly like that on the Web, and the questions presented are good ones, with accurate answers. But that is only 57 pages worth of material, and your particular questions will only be a few of those listed.
A popular type of computer programming book is the thick tome dedicated to being a complete reference for a language or tool. I've had a chance to look at three such books.
A first option for the "about everything" Python reference is the second edition of Programming Python. I have already written about the first edition (see my previous roundup), and most of what I wrote there is still true. Programming Python has grown to an even larger 1255 pages, and now covers Python 2.0. A lot of new material is in it, but the same strategy of building up examples is used. Mark Lutz' writing continues to be clear and informative, and his examples well written. Programming Python is more of a very thorough course in Python than it is a reference one returns to. There is an adequate index, and it is not unduly difficult to find things. But the book's main point is to walk the reader through aspects of programming in Python.
The second option for a complete reference to Python is called, straightforwardly enough, Python: The Complete Reference, by Martin Brown. As in Python Annotated Archives, Brown has a habit of interspersing short snippets of source code with prose describing the code (this time with a distracting dark gray bar to the left of the code). I do not really like that style, but most of the sins of the other book are absent from this one. The Complete Reference covers pretty much the same ground as Programming Python; both are more about teaching Python (to a programmer experienced in other languages) than they are about serving as a reference. But The Complete Reference has its material divided into 27 well-chosen chapters, with both a detailed TOC and a good index. You may not be able to turn to the exact page that answers your question (as you can in Python Essential Reference), but at least you can easily find the right chapter to read. At a bit under 700 pages, reading 1/27th of the book to brush up on a topic is a reasonable task. The prose is also better organized and better written than Brown's other title.
In the "complete reference" category, I like the Python 2.1 Bible the best. If nothing else, it is more up-to-date in terms of Python version than the other options. But even beyond that, it is a nicer book for the particular slant. In the Hungry Minds tradition, the book is a bit too "loud" typographically -- I can hardly focus on the cover without getting dizzy, and the text is littered with a few too many icons, tables, dingbats, and the like. That said, I find the bright sans-serif header font and vertical white spacing to be very attractive; and the clean gothic fixed font makes for much more easily scanned source code samples than does the courier most books use. And even the judicious use of 10% screens draws the eye helpfully.
Aside from the (important) physical appearance of Python 2.1 Bible, the organization is the most useful for programmers with a bit of experience (the first few chapters develop the necessary basic concepts pretty well). The book is broken into more chapters (38), and the chapters are better focused on the most important Python concepts than are the other "big" books. Moreover, the TOC and index are both of extremely good detail and quality. Brueck and Tanner's prose is furthermore the best in this category of books -- factual, accurate, and to the point (Lutz, and especially Brown, tend towards "chatty").
- Read the previous installments of Charming Python.
- Read David's previous Python book reviews on developerWorks.
- To get started learning Python, head over to the Python documentation at Python.org.
- Python & XML, Christopher A. Jones & Fred L. Drake, Jr.,
O'Reilly 2001 (est). ISBN: 0-596-00128-2.
- Visit Bruce Eckel's "Thinking in Python" Web site.
- Python Essential Reference, Second Edition, David M. Beazley,
New Riders 2001. ISBN: 0-7357-1091-0.
- Python Standard Library, Fredrik Lundh, O'Reilly 2001. ISBN:
0-596-00096-0.
- Learn to Program Using Python: A Tutorial for Hobbyists,
Self-Starters, and Those Who Want to Learn the Art of
Programming, Alan Gauld, Addison-Wesley 2001. ISBN:
0-2017-0938-4.
- Python: Annotated Archives, Martin C. Brown, Osborne/
McGraw-Hill 2000. ISBN: 0-07-212104-1.
- Programming With Python, Tim Altom, Premier Press 1999.
ISBN: 0-7615-2334-0.
- Programming Python, Second Edition, Mark Lutz, O'Reilly 2001.
ISBN: 0-596-00085-5.
- Python: The Complete Reference, Martin C. Brown, Osborne/
McGraw-Hill 2001. ISBN: 0-07-212718-X.
- Python 2.1 Bible, David Brueck, Stephen Tanner, Hungry Minds
2001. ISBN: 0-7645-4807-7.
- Browse more Linux resources on developerWorks.
- Browse more Open source resources on developerWorks.
David Mertz' failures as a hunter, fisherman, and shepherd have led him to his life of critical criticism. Tomorrow he may try something else. David may be reached at mertz@gnosis.cx; his life pored over at http://gnosis.cx/dW/. Suggestions and recommendations on this, past, or future columns are welcome.
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