Python, the elegant and powerful core tool favored by Google, YouTube, and iRobot, grows more pervasive daily. And for those ready to discover what these companies see in Python, Learning Python is the best way to get started. This updated new edition places readers in the capable hands of a pioneer in the Python universe, Mark Lutz.

“Learning Python is full of tips, hints, and practical advice, gleaned from the real world experiences of thousands of students in my Python classes,” explains Lutz, adding that his new book is based on the feedback of thousands of real beginning Python students.

“It has the kind of practical advice and inside information that can only be had from someone with 15 years of Python experience,” adds Lutz. “It includes common ‘best practice’ advice, ‘Why You Will Care’ sidebars that cover real world use cases, and collections of ‘Gotchas’ — common mistakes of Python beginners, and ways to avoid them.”

With this friendly, easy-to-read, hands-on book, those new to programming or just new to Python can expect to grasp the fundamentals quickly and efficiently. This thoroughly updated resource not only covers Python 2.5 but also details the expected changes in the upcoming release of Python 3.0.

“My book is about learning Python fundamentals, not applications programming,” adds Lutz. “My goal is to teach Python well enough that readers will be able to apply it to any applications domain they choose. Other books teach applications topics such as the Web and GUIs; this book serves as a first book on Python itself.”

By the end of the book, readers can expect to know how to apply the Python language to whatever application domain they choose to explore — on the Web, gaming, numeric programming, systems administration, networking, animation, or any other computer domain. And once armed with a complete understanding of Python, developers can focus on their projects, not their programming language.

Revised and expanded, the third edition of Learning Python includes new introductory chapters on built-in types and statement syntax, a new full chapter on dynamic typing, and many new use case examples. Coverage includes:

• Types and operations — Python’s major built-in object types in depth: numbers, lists, dictionaries, and more
• Statements and syntax — the code you type to create and process objects in Python, along with Python’s general syntax model
• Functions — Python’s basic procedural tool for structuring and reusing code
• Modules — packages of statements, functions, and other tools organized into larger components
• Classes and OOP — Python’s optional object-oriented programming tool for structuring code for customization and reuse
• Exceptions and tools — exception handling models and statements, plus a look at development tools for writing larger programs

[tags]python, learning python[/tags]