- Paperback: 504 pages
- Publisher: Addison Wesley; 1 edition (26 Feb 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0321537114
- ISBN-13: 978-0321537119
- Product Dimensions: 25.1 x 20.1 x 2.5 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 503,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
In Starting Out with PythonTM, Tony Gaddis’ evenly paced, accessible coverage introduces students to the basics of programming and prepares them to transition into more complicated languages. Python, an easy-to-learn and increasingly popular object-oriented language, allows readers to become comfortable with the fundamentals of programming without the troublesome syntax that can be challenging for novices. With the knowledge acquired using Python, students gain confidence in their skills and learn to recognize the logic behind developing high-quality programs.
Starting Out with Python discusses control structures, functions, arrays, and pointers before objects and classes. As with all Gaddis texts, clear and easy-to-read code listings, concise and practical real-world examples, detail-oriented explanations, and an abundance of exercises appear in every chapter. This text is intended for a one-semester introductory programming course for students with limited programming experience.
Starting Out with Python discusses control structures, functions, arrays, and pointers before objects and classes. As with all Gaddis texts, clear and easy-to-read code listings, concise and practical real-world examples, detail-oriented explanations, and an abundance of exercises appear in every chapter. This text is intended for a one-semester introductory programming course for students with limited programming experience.
From the Back Cover
Introductory Programming / Python ®
Gaddis Books -- Understanding from the Start!
Starting Out with Python introduces students to the basics of programming and prepares them to go on to more complicated languages. With the knowledge acquired using Python, students gain confidence in their skills and acquire the logic necessary for developing high-quality programs. This book discusses control structures, functions, lists, and file I/O before introducing classes. As with all Gaddis texts, clear and easy-to-read code listings, concise and practical real-world examples, detail-oriented explanations, and an abundance of exercises appear in every chapter.
This book is ideal for a one-semester introductory programming course for students with limited programming experience.
KEY FEATURES
- Control structures, functions, lists, and file I/O are covered before classes are introduced.
- A clear and student-friendly writing style simplifies programming processes for beginning programmers, with two to three stepped-out explanations following each major concept.
- A variety of exercises in each chapter encourages students to put concepts to work as they are learned. Source code is provided so that students can run the programs themselves.
- In the Spotlight case studies walk students through the design of a problem by showing all the important steps.
- Checkpoints check students' understanding of important lessons at key places in each chapter. Other student-friendly features include Concept, Note, Tip, and Warning boxes.
- A student resource CD-ROM packaged with each new text includes Python, the IDLE development environment, source code from the example problems, and answers to all Checkpoint question.
COMPATIBLE WITH OTHER BOOKS IN THE GADDIS SERIES
Tony Gaddis's best-selling Starting Out With series provides accessible, detailed presentations of programming concepts using an approach that will increase confidence and competence in novice programmers.
The Starting Out With series includes books that meet most course and teaching styles. Titles include Starting Out with Alice, Python, Visual Basic®, C++, and Java™.
Visit www.aw.com/gaddisbooks for more information.
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8 reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Starting out with Python
8 April 2008
Format:Paperback
This book can be summarized as a late objects, no graphics, approach to teaching the fundamentals of programming. The focus of this book is on text-only programs that develop a functional programming style.
If you have any Gaddis Java book, you will notice the similarities to this book. There are numerous programming exercises and algorithm challenges for each chapter, which is one of the book's strengths.
The fact that this book feels like a re-writing of the author's Java books, however, is also a weakness. Many of Python's strongest and most unique features are simply not covered here. You will not find much information on the robust Python library, nor any mention of semi-advanced topics like list comprehensions. Even the simple-to-use, but effective, Pickle and cPickle modules are left out.
At times I felt like Gaddis was trying to make Python act like Java. Some concepts core to Java, like private attributes, are covered here. The details, however, are absent, leading the student to believe that a double underscore attribute is truly private (not merely "mangled"). This may seem like nit-picking, but that's my point. If you are looking for a book to learn the Python language, skip this one and go with Mark Lutz' Learning Python (Help for Programmers), which will teach you a lot more about the particular strengths of the Python language.
If, however, you are looking for a textbook for a beginning programming class, you could do much worse than this. The numerous exercises are helpful to a teacher and the writing is very clear. There are also topics covered here that should be covered in an intro class that are not covered in many of the books aimed only at learning Python.
I am a big fan of Gaddis' Starting Out with Java: Early Objects (3rd Edition) book, which I think is one of the best Java texts available. Too bad this book wasn't more...um...Pythonic.
If you have any Gaddis Java book, you will notice the similarities to this book. There are numerous programming exercises and algorithm challenges for each chapter, which is one of the book's strengths.
The fact that this book feels like a re-writing of the author's Java books, however, is also a weakness. Many of Python's strongest and most unique features are simply not covered here. You will not find much information on the robust Python library, nor any mention of semi-advanced topics like list comprehensions. Even the simple-to-use, but effective, Pickle and cPickle modules are left out.
At times I felt like Gaddis was trying to make Python act like Java. Some concepts core to Java, like private attributes, are covered here. The details, however, are absent, leading the student to believe that a double underscore attribute is truly private (not merely "mangled"). This may seem like nit-picking, but that's my point. If you are looking for a book to learn the Python language, skip this one and go with Mark Lutz' Learning Python (Help for Programmers), which will teach you a lot more about the particular strengths of the Python language.
If, however, you are looking for a textbook for a beginning programming class, you could do much worse than this. The numerous exercises are helpful to a teacher and the writing is very clear. There are also topics covered here that should be covered in an intro class that are not covered in many of the books aimed only at learning Python.
I am a big fan of Gaddis' Starting Out with Java: Early Objects (3rd Edition) book, which I think is one of the best Java texts available. Too bad this book wasn't more...um...Pythonic.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Very Easy to Understand
29 Jan 2012
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I really liked the teaching style of this book. I have never had a programming class before and I was able to pick up very quickly and easily the Python language. I probably know every page in this book backwards and forwards. I give it a double thumbs up!!
Good Book
4 Feb 2012
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The book is fine. For what I need to learn and get out of Python, this book is perfect for the "starter" of python. I had to use this book because it's the one my professor wants us to have.
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