By Mark Hammond, Andy Robinson
First Edition
January 2000
Pages: 672
ISBN 10: 1-56592-621-8 |
ISBN 13: 9781565926219
(Average of 2 Customer Reviews)
Despite Python's increasing popularity on Windows, Python Programming on Win32 is the first book to demonstrate how to use it as a serious Windows development and administration tool. This book addresses all the basic technologies for common integration tasks on Windows, explaining both the Windows issues and the Python code you need to glue things together.
Full Description
- The Python language and the PythonWin extensions
- Building a GUI with COM
- Adding a Macro language
- Distributing the application
- Client-side COM for output and data access
- Integration with mail and other internet protocols
- Managing users and drives
Cover | Table of Contents | Index | Sample Chapters | Colophon
Featured customer reviews
An old book, but still very useful, September 06 2005
I bought this book recently, despite it's age, and I haven't been disapointed. It realy is in need of a major update or rewrite, but don't let that put you off.
The book offers very useful short introductions to a wide variety of important topics, with just enough info to get you started. You will very quickly need to move on to more thorough resources, but this book will very quickly get you started.
My first exposure to the book was through an extract posted as an article to onlamp.com, the subject being GUI programming using wxPython.
Here are a few peeves with the book. Several major examples revolve around a financial preogramming library which is not given in the book, and which doesn't seem to be available online anymore. This doesn't completely wipe out the value of those exampes, but it severely weakens the book. The COM and DCOM information is distributed across 3 or 4 chapters, which sems a bit odd. COM is a big subject and does affect many areas of functionality so perhaps there is no ideal way to handle it.
Python has moved on a bit from when this book was written, but I found that to be less of a problem than I expected. Even so O'Reilly - please update this book, as you have a number of your other Python books. Your still have a way to go before your current range of Python material is decently up to date.
Simon Hibbs
Python Programming on Win32 Review, January 27 2002
As a newcomer to Python and Windows programming, I am finding this book a great introduction to many aspects of both topics. Things such as using COM, DCOM, good coverage of database work, GUI software and IDEs for Python etc etc. Really useful.
Python Programming on Win32 Review, August 24 1999
Submitted by aadi deshpande [Respond | View]
I hope they go into much better detail about creating connectable com clients than the demos given in the extensions ( though i couldn't live without the extensions right now )
and about creating GUI programs from PythonWin
( which i've not been able to do to date )
I hope to god they also have a section on writing full fledged win32 programs using Sam Rushing's calldll api set
that would be truly truly useful
aadi
Python Programming on Win32 Review, July 28 1999
Submitted by Anil Punjabi [Respond | View]
Star Log <open>
Star date : July of 28th, 1999.
We are still waiting for Mark and Andy's book on Python for Windows. 2 months to go .. project deadline approaching us at high speed, heading towards collision...
Mankind in trouble .. still waiting for THE book... waiting for hope, waiting for an absolution yet to come ....
Star log <close>
Media reviews
"Python Programming on Win32 zeroes in on the strengths of the Python programming language for the Windows platform. If you would like to use Python on Windows with Office 2000, this book is a perfect choice forgetting startedr While Python's initial habitat may be UNIX, Python Programming on Win32 shows that this powerful and increasingly popular object- oriented language may find its next home on Windows. Provided you have some previous exposure to the language, this book is an excellent resource for using Python in a Windows setting."
--Richard Dragan, amazon.co.uk
"a valuable reference that adds to your arsenal of development tools...This is (or should be) one of the classic O'Reilly books."
--Robert Altena, Algorithmica Japonica, Nov 2000
"A great introduction both to programming Python under Windows and to COM programming for non-Windows programmers. Python has made programming under Win32 really, really easy. Not that it didn't need to be easy before -- it's just that nobody knew how it worked. This book knocks that for six. It covers a basic introduction to Python, builds a slightly more advanced tutorial on that and then covers a load of other topics to finish off. The really big secret is that the information inside isn't just for Windows, though. Quite a lot of it is applicable elsewhere. Topics like printing output to PDF files, using POP3 and HTTP in python would be a useful addition to anybody using Python who isn't already aware of these things. If you've just started learning Python, there will be tons of ideas for you to experiment with: the book brims with practical ideas that focus on one programming paradigm that a lot of people seem to forget about: Getting Things Done. Also, it was written by the author of the code, and it shows."
--Chomatic, slashdot.org, May 2000
