By Fredrik Lundh
First Edition
May 2001
Pages: 300
ISBN 10: 0-596-00096-0 |
ISBN 13: 9780596000967
(Average of 5 Customer Reviews)
Python Standard Library, an essential guide for serious Python programmers, delivers accurate, author-tested documentation of all the modules in the Python Standard Library, along with over 300 annotated example scripts using the modules. This version of the book covers all the new modules and related information for Python 2.0, the first major release of Python in four years.
Full Description
Cover | Table of Contents | Colophon
Featured customer reviews
Excellent Book, June 30 2004
I have no idea why other readers haven't though highly of this book. Anyhow, this is my first O'Reilly book. I had worked with Python for a few months before I bought the book. This book increased my knowlegdge of Python a great bit. While it is not a complete reference ( it never claims to be anyway ), I find myself looking in the index a few times each day to find out a module's purpose or to find a module that can accomplish a certain task.
I also like how the author presents [i]code[/i] that demonstrates what a module does. It's a lot easier to learn from.
Overall, this is an excellent book.
Python Standard Library Review, December 20 2001
I've found the book itself useful. Unfortunately the CD-ROM is flawed. The CD-ROM that came with the book has the contents of the top-level directory recursively across the CD.
Python Standard Library Review, August 16 2001
Sadly, far from O'Reilly's best book. It's not quite clear what the
author wanted to achieve: it's too thin on the details to be a reference
work (plus, it lacks the tables of options, commands, methods, etc.)
to make it referential; it's not focused on teaching concepts.
I'm a disappointed buyer. If I were asked to recommend a good book
on Python's library, I'd recommend _Python:_The Essential_Reference_,
by New Riders.
(It does seem that O'Reilly is working on Python In a Nutshell, though,
and if that's as good as Perl in a Nutshell, it would be *great* !)
Python Standard Library Review, June 11 2001
Or if the CD contained an electronic version of the book. I hate having to keep digging for the book in my mountain stack of other books everytime i want to look something up wen i'm programming. I don't know about you, but for a supposed champion of open-source concepts, O'Reilly sure seems real paranoid about making its 'IP' more accessible.
Python Standard Library Review, June 05 2001
Ok book. But the accompanying CD is really not worth it. If the price could've been knocked down even just $3 without the CD, it would have made a more compelling buy.
The Pythonworks IDE demo is really nothing but an ad while none of the included scripts exceed 4KB.
Media reviews
"With useful, witty code examples, 'Python Standard Library' is a joy to work through, providing much more meat than any standard reference work."
--Martin Howse, Linux User & Developer--VSJ, Feb 2003
"Ideal for any working Python developer, Fredik Lundh's 'Python Standard Library' provides an excellent tour of some of the most important modules in today's Python 2.0 standard. Mixing sample code and plenty of expert advice, this title will be indispensable for programmers...There's a lot of expertise on display in 'Python Standard Library.' The code does much of the talking in this example-packed text, which is sure to earn its place on any working Pythonprogrammer's bookshelf."
--Richard Dragan, amazon.co.uk
"When I offered to review Python Standard Library, I expected to find a dull list of library functions with dry descriptions of their arguments. I was pleasantly surprised, though, when I started reading the book. The author claims to spend hundreds of hours answering questions on the comp.lang.python Usenet newsgroup. It shows. Rather than the dry manual I expected, this book is filled with useful examples--it doesn't answer every question readers might have, but for its size and readability it does a good job. Unlike some books I have seen on other programming languages--where readers are handed a lot of code but figuring out what it does and what it is related to is left to them--I found all the examples in this book relevant to the subjects being addressed."
--Phil Hughes, Linux Journal, June 2001
