O'Reilly Media, Learning Python, 3rd Edition

This would probably be a fine book for someone who is migrating from C++, but I found many of their explanations needlessly cryptic. They use, in all of the examples, phrases from Monty Python - understandable, but totally useless for someone who wishes to relate functions to real-life application.

In short - if you've already mastered C, this book may help. If you have minimal or no programming experience, this book will show you how to perform functions, but will not explain what you'd want to use these functions for in application programming.

This book is very well-written, although the pace might be a bit slow (if you prefer a "faster" but more superficial book, try the Python Quick Visual Startguide). The author is extremely clear and the text very well-organized.

This book covers both the basics and the advanced stuff, so it might be all you need for a good while. Once you get familiar with the language basics, you might be able to learn the rest (such as GUI and web programming) through online tutorials.

To pick nits, the authors (or perhaps the editors) need to learn the difference between affect (the verb) and effect (the noun). They use effect throughout, even when it is being used as a verb.

Also, I was somewhat disappointed with Tkinter, but this probably wasn't the fault of the authors. It's a big subject, and this book is more about teaching core concepts. With regard to big add-on libraries, such as Tkinter, this book is more about whetting your appetite. Knowing that such add-ons are there is half the battle, and the book accomplishes that, in addition to great coverage of core concepts.

I think my disappointment related to Tkinter had more to do with Python than the book. Python (the language) seems terrific for thin-client, browser-based development (CGIs), but not quite ready for prime time GUIs.

And now that I've read it, I can highly recommend it even for experienced programmers. You will have to skim over basics in various chapters, but it's well-written and covers many topics, including 5-10 pages on 2.2's new-style classes, including static and class methods, instance slots, class properties, and __getattribute__.

It refers you to Python's documentation for the details of complex topics, but still gives you an idea of the concepts in play. For example, after a couple of paragraphs on instance slots, it says,

"... Slots are something of a break with Python's dynamic nature, which dictates that any name may be created by assignment. They also have additional constraints and implications that are far too complex for us to discuss here (e.g. some instances with slots may not have an attribute dictionary __dict__); see Python 2.2 release documents for details."

Which I think is a good compromise. They don't fill the book with details, but they don't simply wave their hands and give you no clue as to issues outside the scope of the book.

It is well-written and well-organized. It covers the core language well and gives a good taste for standard packages and many other tools including things like Pyrex and ctype.

(And you won't be disappointed with Python itself. A great language!)