Python Distilled

Python has grown into one of the world’s most popular programming languages, with a wealth of reference information available for it. For Python programmers, the richness of modern Python presents new challenges. It can be overwhelming to know where to begin–or even whether you’re coding in a reasonable style. Problems like these are the foundation for Dave Beazley’s new Python Distilled.

Focusing solely on the latest versions of Python (3.5 and higher), this title returns to the roots of Beazley’s classic Python Essential Reference. This new book is a concise but powerfully useful handbook on effective Python programming. Rather than trying to document “everything,” Beazley now focuses on what is truly “essential.” In so doing, he reflects all he’s learned through years of teaching Python to scientists, engineers, and software professionals, as well as writing software libraries and pushing the envelope of what Python makes possible.

Beazley covers abstraction techniques, program structure, data, functions, objects, modules, and other topics selected to serve programmers working on Python projects of any size. He never forgets that productivity isn’t enough; programming ought to capture the magic that lives inside the computer. It should be fun, too.