Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional

by Magnus Lie Hetland, Fabio Nelli

Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional is the most comprehensive book on the Python ever written. Based on Practical Python, this newly-revised book is both an introduction and practical reference for a swath of Python-related programming topics, including addressing language internals, database integration, network programming, and web services. Advanced topics, such as extending Python and packaging/distributing Python applications, are also covered.

Ten different projects illustrate the concepts introduced in the book. You will learn how to create a P2P file-sharing application and a web-based bulletin board, and how to remotely edit web-based documents and create games. Author Magnus Lie Hetland is an authority on Python and previously authored Practical Python. He also authored the popular online guide, Instant Python Hacking, on which both books are based.

Genres: Programming, Reference, Nonfiction, Computers, Technology, Coding, Computer Science

635 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Amanda Sullivan]

The 2nd edition still carries a huge dependency on Python 2, despite claiming to cover Python 3.
This is an immediate problem, as your first instruction print "Hello World." is incorrect. In Python 3, you need to include parentheses. So you should be instructed to print ("Hello World").

I really enjoy Hetland's writing style, so I wish I could rate this higher...but the fact that you have to convert frequently isn't worth it. It works against you and not for you.

I would recommend 'Automate the Boring Stuff with Python' instead. It's in the same vein as introductory Python guides, and is completely up to date.

[Mike Han]

It was such thorough introduction to python. Although my brain has failed to retain 100% of the information, I certainly know now where to look if the need shall ever arise for me to do anything with python. Quite certainly a useful start to the language.

[Asade Tolu]

Simplified and concise explanations in learning Python programming. The use and examples of programs in the book helped a beginner like me in becoming more conversant with the python language.

The projects and exercises turns one into an advance-like programmer.

[Mahmoud Tantawy]

Good for beginners into even programming not just Python, can be a bit boring if you are not new into programming.
Definitely will use it as reference whenever i need help.

[Reader]

I have read this book through. Actually I do not recommend any of the readers who have not had the foundation of another contemporary programming language (like C++) and the basic knowledge of web to read this book. However, if you have learnt all these it's the best book for you because you surely do not want a verbatim beginner's book like C++ Primer Plus. This is because the book progresses in a rather fast pace, which is not very friendly for beginners.

For example, this book does not dig deeper into how python handles references, but if you've learnt pointers and references in C++ it's very easy to grip on what he's saying. Also, in Chapter14-15, the autho just went swiftly over python web design and you may find yourself not getting anything after reading it once.

[runzhi xiao]

I read this book with absolutely no knowledge about python and it works for me. So it is a good start to learn python from scratch.
But the problem is it seems too story-telling as it did not seriously tak about concepts like python class system, basic object types...etc... So it seems a bit not so professional as you might expect from elementary books about other languages(like c++) which lists all basic object types (int,short,float....).

[Dmitriy]

Well, OK book; however somewhat haphazard structure makes it confusing.

[Joseph Leskey]

A brilliant book this. It delivered that information which I wished were in my possession. So now I can program in Python. Yay.

[Ankit]

Great book to start with your Python journey.

[Marinda]

I have worked through a couple of books of Python and this is the very best of them all.

[Peter Bond]

First python book I read, easy to follow and understand to outline of programing

[Tom Alderweireldt]

Way too much repeating of 'wait I'll explain this more in detail in a later chapter'. Makes the book confusing and not to the point. I found it somewhat poorly organized, with many topics I do not need for technical (engineering and data science applications).
In fact for many questions in these fields, like practically playing with numbers, establishing precision, ... I felt left without answers on my questions. Tell us more about using arrays and how to invoke al those magnificent SciPy optimization algorithms.
So It took me only a but further on a starting basis, but nowhere near what I need for my engineering or data analysis problems. (curve fitting, minimizing least squares, ...).

So can be improved. I don't really recommend it.

[Earl]

An excellent book for those learning to program on a fundamental level.

In his book, Mr. Hetland, makes learning the Python language a fun experience by livening it with quirky remarks to remove the dry aire that so often surround technically oriented books. This as he gradually works you through the fundamentals of the language to more advanced topics, and closes with some basic programs to firm-up what knowledge he shared in the text of the book. Then at the end of each chapter there is a review section that summarizes the topic learned, further exploration/reading, and web links to explore more on the topic.

Overall, a great read.

[Ji]

I haven't really finished reading every piece of it, but it's good enough to call it a closure - and I might keep it for future reference. Given that I had pretty low expectation of this book based on its title, it's surprisingly well written and covered quite some non-trivial grounds for beginning Python programming. It's worth recommending for a Python beginner's book - substantial, and well ordered indeed.

[Paul Childs]

Good book for learning the basics. It gave me a good understanding of basic Python programming and syntax. There were chapters within that introduced working with graphics, networking, files and such. These chapters are not always as complete as one might wish, but they do give you an idea of what is involved which for this book is enough.

[Tadas Talaikis]

You can go insane when trying to recall how to differentiate between R, Pythin, Lua, etc. (?) Maybe I should end my search for ideal solution for my needs and go for Matlab instead. Open source changes too fast and what worked yesterday, today needs a lot of time fixing. Books here are dead in 21st century.

[Gian Luca]

Buon libro per iniziare a studiare Python, anche se lo stile dell'autore, che cerca di essere colloquiale, tende ad essere a volte confusionario, saltando da un concetto all'altro in un libero flusso di pensieri...

[Nicholas]

I stopped learning this to learn ruby.

[Kailai Shao]

right book to begin python-learning, however a bit garrulous sometimes

[Roman Gonzalez]

This was a great introduction on Python programming, I did a quick reading (over a week) in 2007 for my projects in University, and I was able to get really a good quality code project going on.

[Mohammad Shaker]

Start from very basic level, as it assume u have barely ntn with programming before, although it's good indeed.

[Rodney]

very easy to read and understand.

[Rodrigo Pérez]

Easy to read, with good examples and advices.

[Adnane]

It's the best for who is new in programming python :)