Python Without Fear

by Overland, Brian

• ISBN13: 9780134687476
• ISBN10: 0134687477
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2017-09-21
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional

Summary

Taking the same approach as he did in his best-selling C++ Without Fear, Brian Overland offers the perfect guide to Python for anyone moving from another language, or seeking to go beyond basic Python skills they’ve already mastered.

 

Overland’s Python Without Fear reveals the “whys,” “tricks,” and especially the “gotchas” behind each essential Python language feature. You’ll learn how to use Python the right way, avoiding mistakes that trip up programmers coming from other languages -- and avoiding hours of unnecessary debugging, too.

 

Best of all, you’ll enjoy learning Python. That’s because Overland teaches Python by showing how to leverage its power to solve fascinating, challenging puzzles and games. Along the way, you’ll learn how to use mutable and immutable objects; work with strings, functions, local and global variables, lists, data, inheritance, properties, files, exceptions, enumerators, generators, iterators, and even multi-file apps. Throughout, you’ll never get bogged down in unnecessarily complex examples or pointless discussions: Overland keeps you 100% focused on learning what works -- and what matters.

Author Biography

Brian Overland is a textbook author, sometime actor, programmer, film reviewer, and novelist. He has been professionally programming with the C family of languages since the early 1980s and spent 10 years at Microsoft, first as a software tester and then as programmer/writer, manager, and project lead. Almost unique among programmers, he is an award-winning writer deeply committed to teaching and simplifying advanced concepts. You can read his comments on technology, reviews, and his upcoming book projects at brianoverland.com.

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Into the Python Jungle
2. A Python Safari: To Infinity!
3. Python Safari: Scripts and Decision-Making
4. Mutable and Immutable Objects
5. Doing Stuff with Strings
6. Functions 1: The Basics
7. Functions 2: Local and Global Variables
8. The Eight Queens Problem
9. Still More Fun with Lists
10. 2-D Lists and the Game of Life
11. Classes 1: Code plus Data
12. Classes 2: Inheritance and Properties
13. Dictionaries: Fun with Databases
14. Files and Exception Handling
15. Enumerators, Generators, and Iterators
16. RPN Project 1: Lists as Stacks
17. RPN Project 2: Data Tables
18. RPN Project 3: Labels and Branching
19. Fun with Decoration and Doc Strings
20. Multi-File Apps