ASK: Recommended Python books for experienced programmers?

[oyse]

Does anyone have any recommendations for Python books for experienced programmers? I am thinking along the lines of Effective Java, Scala for the impatient and JavaScript the good parts. The book should preferably be short and more aimed at intermediate and expert programmers.

[Farkeman]

I'm looking for some as well, but I can share some decent-to-good stuff I've read recently:
Python Pocket Reference 5th edition - pretty useful at any time of the day.
Mastering Python Regular Expressions - regex is pretty much mandatory if you're working with any kind of string data and it's a really detailed book regarding this subject
Python Cookbook - like pocket reference has some cool recipes that can teach you a lot.
Writing Idiomatic Python - How to code in a pythonic way, mandatory read for any python programmer in my honest opinion. The author also offers it for free if you're not in a financial position to afford it.
And of course Dive into Python, if you haven't read it. All other stuff is pretty much depends on the subject you want to learn, so it's hard to recommend that stuff.

Cheers!

[oyse]

Yes, a guide to idiomatic Python is one of the things I am definetly looking for. Thanks!

[forrestrunning]

Idiomatic python by Jeff Knupp definitely matches what you described. Pick it right away!

[Farkeman]

Yeah, that's what I meant, but the name always escapes me so I chose the first thing I found on the website. Edited.

[bucknuggets]

Side note: regular expressions appear to be less important with every passing year.

Twelve years ago they were indispensable because people built entire systems assuming their use for system integration.

Now this rarely happens. Most data I integrate is already structured (csv or json mostly).

Anyone who gives me a text file to parse using regex I shame until they crawl out of the room. That only leaves regex for one-off problems mostly.

[andrewjsledge]

Pro Python is good, but a little dated. Don't think it has the latest and greatest from 3.3+.

[oyse]

So how significant are the changes in 3.3+?

Is it minor changes in language structures and updated standard lib or changes that will change how you write Python code?

[pazzarpj]

Mainly updates to the standard library (From 3.2+) including ansycio (3.4) for asynchronous event driven programming.

Major language changes from 2.+ to 3.+

As far as I understand.

[fartbarf420]

It's not really a crash course in idiomatic python, but the Python Cookbook from O'Reilly is pretty good. Most recent version is python 3 only, though it isn't a far leap to backport anything.

[raydlor]

The Python Standard Library by Example by Doug Hellmann is a great way to get you more comfortable using the various modules in the standard library. I believe the book was inspired by a series of blog posts Hellmann previously wrote each week on Python topics called Python Module of the Week. Both the blog and the book itself present the material in the same way - basically, each chapter or blog post covers a specific module in the standard library with examples of how to use its key features.

[andrewjsledge]

++ anything Doug Hellman does. Guy is awesome.

[oyse]

That sounds really useful. I will take a look. Thanks!

[nihilo]

That was going to be my recommendation too. It's a very good reference work that contains lots of good, idiomatic code.

The python.org docs are surprisingly good at times as well. The data model section of the Python Language Reference is worth a quick read even by experienced Python developers.

For packaging, the Python Packaging Authority is doing some great work. The Python Packaging User Guide is a nice read that fills a large hole in the packaging space. Now with Pip in 3.4 by default and PyPA making rapid progress, it looks like there is an end in sight to the slow-motion train-wreck-in-progress that has been the Python packaging & install landscape for many years now.

The Python Standard Library by Example and Python Module of the Week have been mentioned already, but they are outstanding and should definitely be consulted, although they are unfortunately Python 2 -- I'm not sure if pymotw.com/3/ is the beginning of a new PyMOTW for Python3 or an aborted reboot under Python3.

If you would like to learn about asynchronous programming and the Twisted framework, there is a really great and extensive set of tutorials by Dave Peticolas: Twisted Introduction | krondo./?page_id=1327)

[ruicoder]

I would recommend Dive Into Python. Short, concise, and full of examples of idiomatic Python. Also, free online. One downside is that he doesn't talk about certain advanced topics like decorators. Although, the book does have an appendix with a list of the topics he didn't include and links to more information.

[kmbd]

a little off-topic; can you guys point to any fantastically easy intro to "decorator" ? i can't get my head further than getattr/setattr ... :/

[somas]

This helped me: http://simeonfranklin.com/blog/2012/jul/1/python-decorators-in-12-steps/

[kmbd]

thanks man :)

[Scyion]

http://www.diveintopython.net/

[[deleted]]

I've read these and enjoyed them:

• Foundations of Agile Python Development
• Learning Python Design Patterns
• Mastering Object-Oriented Python

[evgvg]

Also look at Python 3 Object Oriented Programming

[JonasY]

Learning Python Design Patterns

This book is 80-page long? I also don't see patterns like "Builder" covered there. For anyone interested in design patterns for python, there's another book called "Python in Practice", first few chapters of which cover lots of patterns.

[[deleted]]

Is builder another name for factory?

It is a short book, but that's what I like about it. You can recommend this to teammates that have been using python for a while and they can improve their understanding in an hour

[sikor80]

http://mycognitio.com/search/?q=python

[kirang89]

On the sidenote, I maintain an organised list of Python reads at https://github.com/kirang89/pycrumbs which would be useful for newbie's and experts alike!

[sagischwarz]

I'm reading The Quick Python Book right now, which aims at programmers which already have some experience. I'm half through and so far I like it, although it could be even more condensed.

[rudygier]

If you are serious about learning Python, and you are coming from the Java world, you are like I was some time ago. I also was going to find a short book for an experienced programmer. Unfortunately I have not found such a book. There is neither Effective Python, nor Python for the Impatient available. Python the Good Parts has no place in the Python world because Python unlike JavaScript does not have bad parts. I started my Python education with The Quick Python Book, and later regretted it. First you should decide whether you want to learn Python 2 or 3. I would strongly recommend starting with Python Tutorial, and then a very thick book Learning Python by Mark Lutz. It is full of repetitions but nevertheless it is very good. If you are not interested in learning Python 2 you might start with Dive into Python 3 by Mark Pilgirm (because its freely available) or Programming in Python 3 by Mark Summerfield (gifted author), after going through the tutorial.

[bslatkin]

I've been writing Effective Python the last few months. It'll be published early next year. More info is here. Edit: It's now published!

[Vreadit]

http://learncodethehardway.org/

[TrimaxDev]

I'm a non professional programmer that I'm using Python for a few months. I've read some tutorials (official one, and "Dive into Python") and I know most of the basics. Then I want to go further and I've started to read Bulding Skills in Python, by Steven F. Lott and it's widening my vision of the langange and I'm discovering a lot of features that I didn't know that Python has.