Lutz - Learning Python, 5th Edition

• Python is a powerful multiparadigm computer programming language, optimized for programmer productivity, code readability, and software quality.

• This book provides a comprehensive and in-depth introduction to the Python language itself. Its goal is to help you master Python fundamentals before moving on to apply them in your work. Like all its prior editions, this book is designed to serve as a single, all-inclusive learning resource for all Python newcomers, whether they will be using Python 2.X, Python 3.X, or both.

• This edition has been brought up to date with Python releases 3.3 and 2.7, and has been expanded substantially to reflect current practice in the Python world.

Python is a popular open source programming language used for both standalone programs and scripting applications in a wide variety of domains. It is free, portable, powerful, and is both relatively easy and remarkably fun to use. Programmers from every corner of the software industry have found Pythons focus on developer productivity and software quality to be a strategic advantage in projects both large and small.

Whether you are new to programming or are a professional developer, this book is designed to bring you up to speed on the Python language in ways that more limited approaches cannot. After reading this book, you should know enough about Python to apply it in whatever application domains you choose to explore.

By design, this book is a tutorial that emphasizes the core Python language itself, rather than specific applications of it. As such, this book is intended to serve as the first in a two-volume set:

This division of labor is deliberate. While application goals can vary per reader, the need for useful language fundamentals coverage does not. Applications-focused books such as Programming Python pick up where this book leaves off, using realistically scaled examples to explore Pythons role in common domains such as the Web, GUIs, systems, databases, and text. In addition, the book Python Pocket Reference provides reference materials not included here, and it is designed to supplement this book.

Because of this books focus on foundations, though, it is able to present Python language fundamentals with more depth than many programmers see when first learning the language. Its bottom-up approach and self-contained didactic examples are designed to teach readers the entire language one step at a time.

The core language skills youll gain in the process will apply to every Python software system youll encounterbe it todays popular tools such as Django, NumPy, and App Engine, or others that may be a part of both Pythons future and your programming career.

Because its based upon a three-day Python training class with quizzes and exercises throughout, this book also serves as a self-paced introduction to the language. Although its format lacks the live interaction of a class, it compensates in the extra depth and flexibility that only a book can provide. Though there are many ways to use this book, linear readers will find it roughly equivalent to a semester-long Python class.