Python Pocket Reference (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly))

• #25 in Best Python Books

13 Reviews

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This is a very handy and nice-looking reference to Python. With concise documentation on most of the common modules and built-ins, I find it indispensible when I'm working quickly. This is a great little book to carry around in your bag, because it's small and unobtrusive.

Makes a great companion to the online documentation, and is a handy first reference. Complex questions should refer to the documentation, but this is great for quick questions.

While this is not the tool for learning Python, it is a valuable reference. It is amazing how much information that is packed into this small format. Toss it into your laptop bag for a quick reference, particularly since the third edition contains an index and covers Python 2.4.

With so many useful applications using Python as a macro language (e.g. Testmaker), this handy reference will earn its keep. I wonder if O'Reilly has a Ruby on the way, since they have mastered the format.

Of course, there is always the online documentation, if you are online.

its not bad but it could be great with an index.

I read various reviews complaining about the lack of an index. Well, it does have one now and it complements perfectly what is a fantastic quick reference for many of your Python needs, from built-in modules to regular expressions. Of course, it does not include the formal grammar of the language, a complete reference of libraries available or anything other than quick pointers for someone who already knows what Python is but is not a guru yet (although anyone can forget how to open a file from time to time).

I've used the Perl pocket reference for years, and I almost always start at the index. The lack of an index in this book is *really* annoying. The content is great, once you find what you're looking for.

A pocket reference without an index?? What were they thinking???

This is a great book for anyone who uses Python, especially for programmers at that level of Python competence after the beginner stage but short of a master's fluency. It provides a brief but clearly organized summary of Python basics: the language, primitive data structures, printf and other control codes, and the basic, everyday subset of the support libraries. And, since the editors apparently listened to criticism of earlier editions, the third editions includes a useful index as well as table of contents.

Some readers will be disappointed that it's not the book that it never meant to be. It never meant to be a tutorial or text book, it never meant to be a full specification of the language and libraries, and it never meant to be an encyclopedic description of the many available libraries. Decide what you want: if that's a quick reminder of Python's most useful basics, then this book will meet your needs.

-- wiredweird

I've not been too pleased with O'Reilly's Python material in general; it tends to be verbose and needlessly abstruse, but the Python Pocket Reference has proven itself an exception.

In ~150 pages, Mark Lutz manages to deliver an informative reference for the 2.4 version of the Python language, which I find myself referring to rather often. It's concise, well-organized, and easy to use. I've found this reference an invaluable tool in learning the Python language, as well.

The clarity of this reference will, doubtless, be a boon to any Python programmer.

After reading the excellent C++ Pocket Reference, I decided that this book was worth a try, but I was disappointed.

The last half of this book is a list of module functions, that are MUCH more easily accessed thrugh the online documentation. I wish it was more a reference about the language than about the built-in modules. I don't remember (and I can't find it in the book index!) reading explicitly how to add an attribute to a class, or other language-specific operations.

Being a pocket reference, the language should be concise, but sometimes it is so obscure to be nearly incomprehensible.

Let me also point out that it is more than three years old, so it was not updated to cover Python 2.5, and of couse the upcoming 2.6 and 3.0. Furthermore it tries to cover many versions, with even some references to the 9-year old 1.5 release. I believe the latest would have been enough.

In no way this can replace the modules online documentation, not even as a quick reference.

It would be worth 5 stars if there was an index.

Python is a fast and easy to use language, though learning how to think in python, especially if coming from a more c-style language can take a while regardless of what book you're reading. This book won't help you with that. What it will do, is provide you with most (if not all) of the most-advanced features of python in a way that is really easy to digest for an intermediate/upper-beginner level python programmer. This book explains things that are not easy to find on the web or not apparent that they even exist in python (because, let's face it, python can be pretty magical at times). This book can be the catalyst that puts you well on your way to becoming an advanced python programmer. And all that from a tiny reference book!

I concur with the other reviewers that this book contains useful information but IT HAS NO INDEX, and FINDING that useful information is non trivial.

What were O'Reillys thinking? If a third edition ever appears, and if it has an index I'd be glad to buy it as the book does seem to pack a lot of information into a small compass.

This reference book is great for any beginner. I have recently picked up Python as my first language and have found myself commonly grabbing my reference book, going to the index, and looking up what I need. This along with the Python in a Nutshell book are my saving grace.

This is the third edition of the book. Content structure:

• The first few pages summarize how to run Python (command line
  args, environment variables, etc).
  
• The next 80 pages describe the core language itself (syntax,
  builtin types and functions, builtin class attributes, etc).
  
• The following 50 pages describe the most essential modules of the
  Python standard library.
  
• Finally, 5 pages summarise essential Python idioms and hints, and
  the 10 page index.
  

• the index, which according to 2nd ed reviews was sorrily missed,
  
• the significant additions (20 pages worth) to the core section
  
• coverage of Python 2.4.