I have read a couple dummies books and usually they are more of an introductory baby steps type of book. This was not the case. It feels they tried to offer more and it ended up coming across as babble.

I found myself getting bored at times. I can program in Perl and I started this book knowing I might be above the topics at times. I was looking to this book as an introduction to Python. The examples given were not as good as I would have liked. Overall, I don't think the presentation of topics were not good. For example, I thought two chapters on OOP was overkill for this type of book and probably should have been reduced to a chapter on the bigger things you may do.

I mention the examples again as I usually like to enter them for the fun of it. However, they really don't give a good feeling for the power of python.

I did like the spider example but it was lightly discussed.

The last two chapters I think were most useful for the links and other modules that were mentioned.

I should say glob was mentioned and I think the book should have talked about it more then just a passing mention.

So will I suggest this book? Probably not. It really depends on the person. I think it has to be a person that is between beginner and somebody who knows how to program.

I agree with some of the reviewers here, it is definitely disappointing to see a bad seed among the good "... for dummies" series. I have previous experience with programming languages, although this is not my everyday task. I got interested in Python and wanted the book to guide me through the basics. After reading the first 7-8 chapters I started asking myself whether I missed something in the previous ones, as I lost track (and interest) in the book.
I found the examples parsed in the chapters rather useless, and not practical. Since, I have found several useful on-line tutorials on www.python.org, where the user is taken through the chapters in a gradual, progressive way. The examples and exercises in a beginner's book should be based on what is learned in the previous chapters, giving the reader the idea that what is learned is put in practice, thus easily assimilated.

I don't recommend this book for a complete novice, as she/he will lose interest in Python programming very easily! This book has the advantage of presenting the main and most important features of the Python programming language, but it sues a more advanced audience.

The low rating is indeed due to the non adequacy of the book for beginners and for not following the good standards of the "...for dummies" successful series.

Sacha

This is a pretty decent book for those with some previous programming experience, but is definitely not for beginners (or Dummies) to programming. The first 2 chapters contain terms and concepts that assume an existing knowledge base.

From the Dummies title I expected that this was for beginners. The book itself claims that it is suitable for someone who wrote a few Basic programs at one time. I wrote a few Basic programs and it is not. An example: On page 20 it starts a discussion that turns on objects. This is a somewhat advanced topic by most accounts, but the chapter that deals with objects is hundreds of pages later.
This book that claims that it is suitable for beginners, claims a few pages later that it is more of a reference, really. But it is very poorly organized, as the previous discussion illustrates. Strange stuff like the explaination of Scheme as a functional programming language: In Python for Dummies this is explained as using functions to write programs. Really! It;s that bad.
The only audience I can imagine for this book is people who know something about Python, but prefer reading about it to programming. Reading it, they could pick up a fe pieces of information they hadn't seen before.

If you have programmed at the level of Visual Basic, or perhaps Excel macros, then this book is perfect for you. It's a pleasure to read -- with its variety of visual aids. In many books, the graphics just clutter the page. Not here. The concepts pop out at you and burn themselves into your memory.

I doubt you can become productive in Python any faster than with this book.

Python For Dummies by Stef Maruch and Aahz Maruch is a pretty good introduction to the Python language, while also stressing proper technique and style...

Contents:
Part 1 - Getting Started: Introducing Python; Getting Your Hands on the Keyboard - Using Help, Interactive Mode; and IDLE; Basic Elements and Syntax; Grand Tour of the Python Language; Working Like a Programmer
Part 2 - Building Blocks: So This Strings Walks into a Bar; Counting Your Way to Fun and Profit; Processing Lists and Tuples; Diving into Dictionaries
Part 3 - Structures: Staying in Control; Fun with Functions; Building Applications with Modules and Packages; Getting Classy; Introducing New-Style Classes; Feeling Exceptional; Tackling Some Advanced Features
Part 4 - Libraries: Using Python's Primary Services; Processing Text; Digging into Disk Data; Accessing the Internet
Part 5 - The Part of Tens: Ten Critical Python Idioms; Ten Great Resources
Part 6 - Appendixes: Getting and Installing Python; Python Version Differences
Index

Python For Dummies starts out by explaining how Python came to be, why it's different than other languages, and what sort of applications are best suited for the Python approach. After that's out of the way, you get coverage of each Python feature and how it works. If you've ever gone through a book on a new programming language, you'll recognize the general layout and approach. The authors don't assume much prior programming experience (typical for a Dummies book), so the material is approachable and the writing is conversational in tone. I appreciated the section on "Working Like a Programmer", as it tries to establish proper development technique and mindset. Too often, books like this just toss out the features and no thought is given to grounding the reader in style. Unfortunately, that can lead to bad habits that are hard to correct down the road.

About the only thing I found lacking in this book were some larger, more comprehensive coding examples. Most of the code snippets are pretty small in nature, and aren't indicative of the type of programs you'd find in the wild. There are a couple larger examples, but I think it would have been nice to see a few more "real life" programs dissected and analyzed. Still, for someone getting started, you'll have enough to get started with...

If you're looking for a gentle introduction to Python to get your feet wet, this might be an option you'd like to consider...