[NYLXS - HANGOUT] Re: [nylug-talk] PIG in new york?

[Dan Crosta]

Well -- just got back from B&N with the conclusion that none of the  
books they have there seem to fit what we want, or what I think we want:

Learning Python (O'Reilly):
A thorough and somewhat plodding explanation of the basic concepts of  
programming and their place and expression in Python. Doesn't get  
very far into the Python libraries, just covers the core language  
concepts. Latest edition covers Python 2.4.


Dive Into Python (APress):
As the name might imply, Dive Into Python gets started with fully  
working programs just beyond the toy program stage, and then goes on  
to explain concepts and practices using the many and long code  
listings. The physical volume is typeset in ... well, I can only call  
it an ugly way. I'd stick with the online version, which is freer  
anyway. It moves quickly through the intro stuff, and then explains  
in somewhat more depth Python's OOP, Exception structure,  
introspection, unit testing, etc. Finally, several chapters are spent  
on practical examples using library modules, mostly centered around  
HTML and web-related topics.


Beginning Python (APress):
A comprehensive if somewhat tedious exploration of Python for people  
with no programming experience or intuition at all. There's a lot of  
"which we'll learn more about later" in this book, which always  
bothers me but may not bother anyone else. Some interesting later  
chapters explore GUIs with wxPython, database connectivity, basics of  
network programming, etc. I wouldn't personally want to read this,  
but it might work for someone inexperienced.


Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner (Course Technology):
To be honest, I couldn't even look at what was in this book, the  
typesetting was so offensive. It was next to impossible to tell book  
text apart from in-text notes from footnotes from code listings. What  
I could manage to get through was highly didactic (as the title might  
have implied) and too "friendly" in a nudge-nudge kind of way.


As I walked back from B&N, I thought some more about what the  
structure of this class/group might work out to be... maybe this is  
because I just got out of school myself, but I think we might get  
more mileage out of a seminar format. Let people get whatever books  
they feel comfortable with as a guide or reference (Learning Python  
is probably a good bet); for the first few weeks we can do a rough  
and quick introduction to Python for people who haven't had any or  
much experience with it, and then move on to more interesting topics.  
There are lots of papers available from PyCon's in the past 3 years,  
and probably more show up with a little time spent on Google.  
Alternately or additionally, we could pick a project or a few  
projects to work on as a group, and use that as a vehicle for  
learning Python pragmatically, rather than pedagogically.

Thoughts?

dsc