|
|
@@ -20,55 +20,6 @@ If you do have previous programming experience, you will be interested in the di
|
|
|
Python and your favorite programming language - I have highlighted many such differences. A little
|
|
|
warning though, Python is soon going to become your favorite programming language!
|
|
|
|
|
|
-[[history_lesson]]
|
|
|
-=== History Lesson
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
-I first started with Python when I needed to write an installer for software I had written called
|
|
|
-'Diamond' so that I could make the installation easy. I had to choose between Python and Perl
|
|
|
-bindings for the Qt library. I did some research on the web and I came across
|
|
|
-http://www.python.org/about/success/esr/[an article by Eric S. Raymond], a famous and respected
|
|
|
-hacker, where he talked about how Python had become his favorite programming language. I also found
|
|
|
-out that the PyQt bindings were more mature compared to Perl-Qt. So, I decided that Python was the
|
|
|
-language for me.
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
-Then, I started searching for a good book on Python. I couldn't find any! I did find some O'Reilly
|
|
|
-books but they were either too expensive or were more like a reference manual than a guide. So, I
|
|
|
-settled for the documentation that came with Python. However, it was too brief and small. It did
|
|
|
-give a good idea about Python but was not complete. I managed with it since I had previous
|
|
|
-programming experience, but it was unsuitable for newbies.
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
-About six months after my first brush with Python, I installed the (then) latest Red Hat 9.0 Linux
|
|
|
-and I was playing around with KWord. I got excited about it and suddenly got the idea of writing
|
|
|
-some stuff on Python. I started writing a few pages but it quickly became 30 pages long. Then, I
|
|
|
-became serious about making it more useful in a book form. After a _lot_ of rewrites, it has
|
|
|
-reached a stage where it has become a useful guide to learning the Python language. I consider
|
|
|
-this book to be my contribution and tribute to the open source community.
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
-This book started out as my personal notes on Python and I still consider it in the same way,
|
|
|
-although I've taken a lot of effort to make it more palatable to others :)
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
-In the true spirit of open source, I have received lots of constructive suggestions, criticisms and
|
|
|
-<<who_reads_bop,feedback>> from enthusiastic readers which has helped me improve this book a lot.
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
-=== Status Of The Book
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
-- The book was last updated on {docdate} and generated using
|
|
|
- http://www.asciidoctor.org[AsciiDoctor] {asciidoctor-version}.
|
|
|
-- Last major update of this book was in Mar-Apr 2014, converted to
|
|
|
- http://asciidoctor.org/docs/what-is-asciidoc/[Asciidoc] using
|
|
|
- http://swaroopch.com/2013/10/17/emacs-configuration-tutorial/[Emacs 24] and
|
|
|
- https://github.com/sensorflo/adoc-mode/wiki[adoc-mode].
|
|
|
-- In Dec 2008, the book was updated for the Python 3.0 release (one of the first books to do
|
|
|
- so). But now, I have converted the book back for Python 2 language because readers would often
|
|
|
- get confused between the default Python 2 installed on their systems vs. Python 3 which they had
|
|
|
- to separately install and all the tooling, esp. editors would assume Python 2 as well. I had a
|
|
|
- hard time justifying why I had to aggravate readers and make them go through all this when the
|
|
|
- fact is that they can learn either one and it would be just as useful. So, Python 2 it is.
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
-The book needs the help of its readers such as yourselves to point out any parts of the book which
|
|
|
-are not good, not comprehensible or are simply wrong. Please {contact}[write to the main author] or
|
|
|
-the respective <<translations,translators>> with your comments and suggestions.
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
=== Official Website
|
|
|
|
|
|
The official website of the book is {homepage} where you can read the whole book online, download
|
Swaroop C H