Preface
This book provides an introduction to the Python programming language. Python is a popular programming language used for both standalone programs and scripting applications in a wide variety of domains. It is free, portable, powerful, and remarkably easy to use.
Whether you are new to programming or a professional developer, this book’s goal is to bring you quickly up to speed on the fundamentals of the core Python language. After reading this book, you will know enough about Python to apply it in whatever application domains you choose to explore.
About This Third Edition
In the four years since the second edition of this book was published in late 2003, there have been substantial changes in Python itself, and in the topics I present in Python training sessions. Although I have attempted to retain as much of the prior version of this text as possible, this new edition reflects many recent changes in the Python language and in Python training, as well as a handful of structural changes.
This Edition’s Python Language Changes
On the language front, this edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect Python 2.5 and all changes to the language since the publication of the second edition. (The second edition was based largely on Python 2.2, with some 2.3 features grafted on at the end of the project.) In addition, discussions of anticipated changes in the upcoming Python 3.0 release have been incorporated where appropriate. Here are some of the major language topics of which you’ll ...