I had the opportunity to review this book before it should arrive at the desktops of the hopefully eagerly waiting readers (planned date = january). I am very thankful I could get my hands (eyes) on it, as it is very good: helpful, nicely printed (lots of stuff on more than 100 pages, but good readable). It gives a good overview of Python 2.2 with the new features smoothly integrated (like the new statically nested namespaces, though I missed the slightly different handling of the "/" (div) operator).
It covers all platforms (the differences between them are few) and many many modules, from sys, os, environment to strings, file system, TKinter, persistency and database to regular expression handling. It also mentions some internals of the implementation, to allow a better understanding of the underlying concepts.
Alas, even such a good book has its drawbacks. I strongly missed an index; especially for the new concepts, it is hard to locate their basic description, when they are just mentioned without explanation in some context (like back- quotes `). I would have decided to get an index in and the rather boring gathering about Object Access taken out, iff the cost of the guide were shooting too high. And I missed the description of the calender module (an especially helpful addition in standard Python!).
But all in all, I give high marks for this "little helper", which saves me working around with packs of paper stuffed in my trousers, which I used to print from the Doc.
Under "Assorted Hints", you find the wonderful saying: You should always say "spam" abd "eggs" instead of "foo" and "bar" in Python examples. That says it all - just pythonic!
PS:
2 small typos were mentioned by me on the "errata" page: page 72, it says strings are mutable (they are not) and page 119, they mention the fine database module "gadfly", but call it "gadly", which could send some reader off track on search of a description in the internet.
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