I’ve bought (no, Packt Publishing didn’t send me a copy for review) Tarek’s book quite sometime ago, but job changes, and extra-Python issues kept me away from reading it with the attention if fully deserve. When I saw the announcement, I thought that this was the book I wanted in Python. First, a little bit of perspective.

I’m a a biologist, self-taught programmer/coder/you-name-it. I only had a brief course on programming logic with Pascal in 1993 (I think). I first learned Basic on Apple ][, then on PC, then moved to Visual Basic, Pascal, C and C++, most of them with the help of books. About three and a half years ago, I got tired of compiling things and decided to learn a different language that would be more agile to code with. Not liking Perl, made me check Python. And I got hooked. Of course as a lay programmer, I won’t discuss why it’s better or worse than any other language using technical terms, but I can say that Python fits my needs in fast and efficient programming and I’m quite happy with the choice I’ve made. So, this review will not be technical, but will try to expose the book’s strengths and the weak parts.

Chapter one gives a good introduction on how to install Python and some nice pointers on how to program Python, such as IDEs and initial settings you can add to it. Also there is a short overview of the modern Python implementations. Is it a necessary chapter? Yes and no. No, because the schooled Python user won’t need it, his or her programming environment will already be installed, configured, set and ready to go. Yes, because this chapter works as a disclaimer for the not-so-experienced Python programmer, and shows everyone of what is expected of this book and what standards will be used. In my opinion, it’s a necessary starting point, so the author knows that everyone is at the same level. This chapter is also a good short summary of good practices of installing and setting up Python.

Tomorrow, chapter 2.