[Book Review] Think Python

[Book Review] Think Python , by Allen B. Downey, O'Reilly Media, ISBN 144933072X

This book is a good balance between examples and theory, in my opinion. The most difficult part that I find when learning something new is to have simple examples, but not simpler. The examples should be precise enough to illustrate the point quickly, but without all the extra baggages or make the reader jump thru a lot of hoops (so- called Yak Shaving). This is very difficult. I think the author goes thru the distance to make sure that is the NOT the case. Also, I find the author tries hard to only use the tools already introduced in the book to make sure there are no blind spots.

I enjoyed reading Chapter 15 - 17 on objects, functions, and methods within Classes. I am not brand new to Python, but I found the chapters were informative and fill in a lot of the gaps for me.

The only small suggestions I have would be to still go with subprocess instead of os.popen() in chapter 14 since subprocess is suppose to replace a host of old modules. Also I think it might be helpful if there is a section at the end of the later chapter on where to go next. Say if you want to use wxPython instead of Tkinter or some online resources on Object Oriented Programming.

All in all, I think this is a great learning book on Python.