Dive Into Python 3

In summary, I'm a little disappointed about this book which cost me around 45 bucks. I can feel the author is trying to explain something, unfortunately, it's not organized and not very detailed. I have many questions after I read first 6 chapters so I had to check some other materials to fill up the gap. Also, don't rely on this book as a reference. this book does not teach readers in a systematic way but more like pick up some fields then pouring out many examples, but if you look into those examples you will notice most explanations are more like "say-once" sentence so I had to go back to re-read again to understand why this function/method is used in this example. That's the painful part that if a book does not show the language in a systematic/vertical way. I feel disappointed about the organization of the book and tech review. From my viewpoint, this book is more suitable for someone who teaches Python then can use this as a textbook, but just a textbook, not good enough for self-learning material. not recommended for novice user if you are new to Python.

This book is great if your are a programmer with no Python experience. If you are not a programmer this is probably not the book you are looking for (waves hand). Judging from the other reviews the print version seems to be pretty bad. I purchased the Kindle edition for 3 bucks. How can you go wrong? Even if you don't have a kindle, you can read it on Amazon's cloud reader, Kindle for PC or Kindle for Android for your phone or tablet. Anyway, this book gave me a basic understanding of the language in a matter of hours.

As an offline reference to something available online, this isn't a bad book as long as you:A) Are new to PythonANDB) Are not new to programming languagesThe book got me set up and coding quickly, and the language is very clear, assuming you have some other coding background to compare it too. The examples are clear and easy to follow. He goes into the why and how of doing things wrong as often as how to do things right, which is very helpful when learning.That being said as far as intermediate to advanced topics go, this book held nothing for me, and I quickly found myself referencing the web when possible.3 stars: It will get you up to speed on python syntax and specifics quickly, but you will still be a newbie by the time you're done. You will still need other references for many modern programming tasks however.

Refreshing subject matter.

This book is primarily a collection of examples. Many are interesting and instructive demonstrating how to use features of Python to solve problems. He doesn't begin with the language structure, syntax, data types, statements, control flow, and object model. 1/4 of the way through the book we've seen some of these topics in individual examples, but they're not presented in an organized way. Thinking we MUST be getting there soon we instead jump into regular expressions for a painful amount of time and again with a disorganized set of examples.Maybe this is some Zen technique to learn programming topics, but as an experienced programmer I prefer a logical sequence of topics to build knowledge. It also lets me bypass stuff I don't need like regular expressions. This can't be good for a beginner either who would have no idea what was going on.

Previous reviews complaining about print quality were referring to the paperback book, not the Kindle version. I have the book on Kindle for iPad and Kindle for iPhone. It's fine on the iPad, not so much on the iPhone. Comments from other reviews about underscores not appearing do not apply to the Kindle version (at least so far; I haven't finished the book).For the Kindle version, the idiosyncrasy in the formatting of this book is that all the included code snippets or interactive Python sessions are rendered as images, not text. So if you change your font size it has no effect on these portions. On the iPad they are small but legible, and with a spread-finger gesture you can make them as large as you like. On the iPhone they are barely legible if you don't expand them. The description says "optimized for large screens" or words to that effect, and they mean it.If you're fortunate enough to have a large-format device and you're an experienced C++ or Java programmer, I highly recommend this book. I previously bought "Learning Python" which is excellent for its audience, but for those already familiar with other programming languages and object-oriented programming, there's way too much information that you already know. If you're already an accomplished programmer and you just want to learn Python, Dive Into Python is well written and is targeted at you.

The samples on Kindle are practically invisible. After that - the rest does not matter. Do not bother for Kindle

It will be a while before I get through this but so far a good teacher

Done the job.

Just as clear and fun to read as the first book.Informative.I would recommend reading it too ensure you have the basics covered.

As in the description, it is a fast introduction in python for people who already know how to program. I would have preferred some explanations on decorators and classes( the class section is very small, and inheritance is not covered ...). At the same time, even if useful, the regex part shouldn't be a prerequisite for the successive chapters.

Per chi ha basi elementari di Python o di altro linguaggio questo libro è ottimo. A mio avviso dovrebbero abbassare il prezzo perché le parti di codice del libro sono delle immagini scannerizzare e a volte non proprio ottime.Per il resto bel libro.

Great starter guide, but the online schools are picking up so this is more of a reference. buy the online version