Learning Python

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Now that I'm on the IronPython / DLR team, it seemed prudent to actually learn the Python language.

There are some good online tutorials, but I found the book "Learning Python" by Mark Lutz to be extremely good.

If you really want to learn the language, it's worth buying the book.

It's large and thorough, yet a fast read. Things I liked about the book:

  1. It was a well ordered guide through the language. It struck a good balance between spec and tutorial.
  2. It felt fairly complete. I didn't feel like it was avoiding the hard parts.
  3. It digs deep at the right spots. For example, it's very good about explaining exactly how symbol lookup occurs.
  4. Doesn't waste space on fluff.
  5. It injected a steady stream of extra trivia, such as comparisons for C programmers and python design patterns.
  6. It has little exercises at the end of the section for review.

I did all the exercises and experimenting with IronPython 1.1, which is a testimony IPY's fidelity to the original language.

After reading, further gaps can be filled in from https://www.python.org/doc/ 

C/C++, C#, and Python certainly have some similarities, but they all have very distinct idioms too. So comparing the languages should be rich blog fodder.