Python Distilled

Preface

More than 20 years have passed since I authored the Python Essential Reference. At that time, Python was a much smaller language and it came with a useful set of batteries in its standard library. It was something that could mostly fit in your brain. The Essential Reference reflected that era. It was a small book that you could take with you to write some Python code on a desert island or inside a secret vault. Over the three subsequent revisions, the Essential Reference stuck with this vision of being a compact but complete language reference—because if you’re going to code in Python on vacation, why not use all of it?

Today, more than a decade since the publication of the last edition, the Python world is much different. No longer ...