Thinking in Python

• Bruce Eckel

ISBN: none yetBR Mindview, Inc. (December 2001)

Bruce Eckel's python version of his "Thinking In..." series, and is freely downloadable (see below). He's got some cool python stuff not generally covered elsewhere, including the use of design patterns.

This is not an introductory Python book. This book assumes you've learned the basics of Python elsewhere. The current version of the book is 0.1.2. This is still a preliminary release, and Bruce needs feedback. The html has a built-in comments system.

[http://www.mindview.net/Books/TIPython Home page]

Python Cookbook

• Edited by Alex Martelli and David Ascher

0596001673 BR O'Reilly (July 2002)

This book is a handy collection of snippets and examples on a wide variety of topics. It ranges from built-in data structures and text processing to GUI and Web programming. It is useful as a "how do I do that?" reference and also as a way to learn Python idioms and tricks.

[http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pythoncook/ Home page]

There is a 2nd edition covering Python 2.3 & 2.4 with many new and updated recipes:

• 0596007973 BR O'Reilly (March 2005)

  [http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pythoncook2/ Home page]

Data Structures and Algorithms with Object-Oriented Design Patterns in Python Bruno R. Preiss

[http://www.brpreiss.com/books/opus7/html/book.html An online book] that demonstrates many different algorithms using examples in Python.

Remember, though, that the book is still a work in progress. So be prepared to find some code bits that are more C++ish than they are Pythonic.

Getting Started with Pyparsing PaulMcGuire

A detailed introduction to Pyparsing, a pure-Python module for developing recursive descent parsers. This book is downloadable as a PDF, including topics such as:

• "Hello, World!" on Steroids
• The Zen of Pyparsing
• Extracting data from a complex web page
• S-expression parsing
• Search query parsing
• Writing a search engine in under 100 lines of code

[http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514235/ Publisher's page] O'Reilly Short Cut (October 2007)