I consider myself an 'early intermediate' Pythonista, with about three years of self-taught experience in the language, bolstered by all the good resources out there online. I first ran across Dan's page/blog through a Twitter link, I think, and have really enjoyed his Python Tricks emails. Some of them aren't news to me, but there have been multiple instances where they've given me a key insight into the behavior of Python, or an idea that's helped me improve my projects.
As he notes in the Introduction, this book grew out of the Python Tricks emails, and it really shows. Dan has a knack for constructing code snippets that illustrate Python concepts in very few lines, and also for writing extremely clear descriptions of why they behave as they do. Further, even though Dan has years of Python experience, it seems clear to me he hasn't lost the sense of the ways in which Python can be confusing to new learners. I've only sampled here and there from his Buffet at this point, but have already gained two new concrete pieces of knowledge: bytearrays are mutable whereas bytes are not; and all it takes to create an abstract base class is to use metaclass=ABCMeta and decorate as needed with @abstractmethod. Even though I'd looked at the Python documentation for both of these before, I never quite understood either of them. But, Dan's phrasing and presentation made them crystal clear on my first read.
One additional thing I like about the book is how Dan has included bits and pieces of his philosophy on Python, programming, writing good code, etc. Some people might be turned off by the editorializing, I suppose, but I really appreciate that the book provides these sorts of "meta" perspectives.
All in all, an excellent resource for someone with modest to moderate Python experience looking to round out their knowledge of some of the more subtle features/behaviors of the language.
$9.99 with 67 percent savings
Print List Price: $29.99 
The Print List Price is the lowest suggested retail price provided by a publisher for a print book format of this title, available on Amazon (e.g. hardcover, paperback, mass market paperback).
Learn more
Learn more
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Unwell Hydration from Alex Cooper
Hydrate & focus with every sip Shop now
Great on Kindle
Great Experience. Great Value.
Putting our best book forward
Each Great on Kindle book offers a great reading experience, at a better value than print to keep your wallet happy.
Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.
View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.
Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.
Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
Get the free Kindle app: 
Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.
Customers who bought this item also bought
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
About the author
Great resource for intermediate Python users to round out their knowledge of the language
I consider myself an 'early intermediate' Pythonista, with about three years of self-taught experience in the language, bolstered by all the good resources out there online. I first ran across Dan's page/blog through a Twitter link, I think, and have really enjoyed his Python Tricks emails. Some of them aren't news to me, but there have been multiple instances where they've given me a key insight into the behavior of Python, or an idea that's helped me improve my projects. As he notes in the Introduction, this book grew out of the Python Tricks emails, and it really shows. Dan has a knack for constructing code snippets that illustrate Python concepts in very few lines, and also for writing extremely clear descriptions of why they behave as they do. Further, even though Dan has years of Python experience, it seems clear to me he hasn't lost the sense of the ways in which Python can be confusing to new learners. I've only sampled here and there from his Buffet at this point, but have already gained two new concrete pieces of knowledge: bytearrays are mutable whereas bytes are not; and all it takes to create an abstract base class is to use metaclass=ABCMeta and decorate as needed with @abstractmethod. Even though I'd looked at the Python documentation for both of these before, I never quite understood either of them. But, Dan's phrasing and presentation made them crystal clear on my first read. One additional thing I like about the book is how Dan has included bits and pieces of his philosophy on Python, programming, writing good code, etc. Some people might be turned off by the editorializing, I suppose, but I really appreciate that the book provides these sorts of "meta" perspectives. All in all, an excellent resource for someone with modest to moderate Python experience looking to round out their knowledge of some of the more subtle features/behaviors of the language.
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2017
I consider myself an 'early intermediate' Pythonista, with about three years of self-taught experience in the language, bolstered by all the good resources out there online. I first ran across Dan's page/blog through a Twitter link, I think, and have really enjoyed his Python Tricks emails. Some of them aren't news to me, but there have been multiple instances where they've given me a key insight into the behavior of Python, or an idea that's helped me improve my projects.
Great resource for intermediate Python users to round out their knowledge of the language
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2017
As he notes in the Introduction, this book grew out of the Python Tricks emails, and it really shows. Dan has a knack for constructing code snippets that illustrate Python concepts in very few lines, and also for writing extremely clear descriptions of why they behave as they do. Further, even though Dan has years of Python experience, it seems clear to me he hasn't lost the sense of the ways in which Python can be confusing to new learners. I've only sampled here and there from his Buffet at this point, but have already gained two new concrete pieces of knowledge: bytearrays are mutable whereas bytes are not; and all it takes to create an abstract base class is to use metaclass=ABCMeta and decorate as needed with @abstractmethod. Even though I'd looked at the Python documentation for both of these before, I never quite understood either of them. But, Dan's phrasing and presentation made them crystal clear on my first read.
One additional thing I like about the book is how Dan has included bits and pieces of his philosophy on Python, programming, writing good code, etc. Some people might be turned off by the editorializing, I suppose, but I really appreciate that the book provides these sorts of "meta" perspectives.
All in all, an excellent resource for someone with modest to moderate Python experience looking to round out their knowledge of some of the more subtle features/behaviors of the language.
Images in this review
- Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2019
I am not a big fan of reading books in general. But, I just finished reading through every chapters in this book after 13 days of daily reading. I found this book both very fun and informative. If you are looking for something more than beginner python tutorials, this book will surely do a good job to satisfy some of the thirst that you had. Here are some Pros/Cons of the book.
Probably one of the best programming book I've read in a while.
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2019
Pros:
1. Good book material quality and size (small but also perfect thickness to carry around).
2. Great and interesting topics with intermediate+ level examples.
3. Concepts were very well described.
Cons:
1. Books lacks colors, It seems like HTMl version of this must have used some Markdown but the book is just plain black/white texts.
2. Wish there were some more examples per topics.
3. Chapters/Topics are short enough that *key takeaways* section can seem bit redundant. Maybe some kind of *quiz* or some kind of *small mission for readers to go find out* type of section would been more useful IMO.
But, I really enjoyed this book. So how about you give it a try as well?
Images in this review
- Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2017
- Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2023
Top reviews from other countries
-
-
Gero ZayasReviewed in Spain on February 1, 2025
Es un libro MAGNÍFICO y con ejemplos de código espećificos.
-
AlessandroReviewed in Italy on November 8, 2017
Un ottimo libro, tanti consigli utili, uno stile accattivante
Il libro si rivolge sostanzialmente a chi il Python lo conosce già, ma desidera aumentare e migliorare le proprie conoscenze scrivendo codice sempre più in stile pythonicoAlessandroUn ottimo libro, tanti consigli utili, uno stile accattivante
Reviewed in Italy on November 8, 2017
Una serie di piccoli esempi, presentati in modo chiaro e divertente al tempo stesso, illustrano molte delle funzionalità base e non del linguaggio.
Da semplici trucchi a veri e propri design pattern, Dan ripropone in un libro organico e completo la serie di tweet e mail della sua newsletter.
Proprio per la tipologia dei contenuti, il libro può essere letto andando in ordine o saltando da un argomento all'altro.
Come dice l'autore, nel primo caso quando arriverete in fondo, avrete la certezza di averlo letto tutto :)
Images in this review
-
- Ehsan DaneshReviewed in Canada on March 20, 2024
very well written book with very well thought right to the point examples
