EH-Net

Hey all im new to the EH scene and as a matter of fact the whole 'H' scene.
Im re-starting to learn the Python Scripting language as it seems to be a wise choice. I already know a little Python (note i said RE-starting) and some VB 6 but from reading the forums that seems bad for my 'health'.

My question to you all is as follows: What are the decent books that i could acquire too learn Python? I have bought one and it diddnt particulary grab me, i ended up stopping with the language after a while as i felt i had no direction. I understand that you have better/bigger fish to fry, for that i thank you far any and all input you may provide me with.

Many thanks,

the complete and utter n00b.

 

Hi PyHacker and welcome to the forums.

As you wrote that you already learned it once it shouldn't be too hard to get in again. I would recommend to work on some projects so that you have a certain goal to achieve for yourself. This should also keep you motivated.

Besides the onlice resources and the good official python documentation I can recommend the book Learning Python which can be found here (http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-3rd-Mark-Lutz/dp/0596513984).
I also liked Python in a nutshell (http://www.amazon.com/Python-Nutshell-Second-OReilly/dp/0596100469) and  the Python Cookbook (http://www.amazon.com/Python-Cookbook-Alex-Martelli/dp/0596007973).

Ahh Fantastic, much appreciated UNIX. Ill check all three of them out. Ther just seems to be a vast number of Python books out there.

Thanks again.

You are welcome.

Check also the official documentation (http://www.python.org/doc/) which should be enough when you understand the basics of programming in general.

PyHacker, 

I was fortunate enough get a copy of Justin Seitz's  Gray Hat Python: Python Programming for Hackers and Reverse Engineers at  Chicagocon 2009s a month or so ago, and it looks great from what I've read of it.   It's an O'Reilly book, and I've yet to see that publisher lay an egg yet really.   Check it out:

http://oreilly.com/catalog/9781593271923/

Then there's also the 'far' simpler learning / method book, which don reviewed on eh-net, 'Hello World! Computer Programming for Kids and Other Beginners'

While it doesn't get 'uber-advanced,' it does make both someone's initial learning curve easier, and is a great refresher for main points and usages, in Python.

Again, it's much  more simplistic, and may be TOO easy to follow, but if you're looking to get back in quickly, it might be enough reminder / refresher, to be of help.

You can try this site:

http://openbookproject.net//thinkCSpy/

This is off topic, but Otter I actually own some O'Rielly eggs.  There are plenty of them out there.  They usually happen in two cases:

1.  O'Rielly rushes to press to be the only one publishing a book on a topic (or to beat another publisher to press).  This is happening less and less as there are more publishers in the market competing for share, but still happens occasionally.  The "regular expression pocket guide" is a prime example of a book they published that is completely unusable in any way, shape or form.  I know regex's and can't use the thing as a reference.

2.  They are publishing the second edition of a book and can't get the first edition's author back (see Advanced Perl Programming)

Yeah i saw Grey Hat, it looks good but im worried about it becoming another paper  weight. I feel like i might fall out of my depth. What is the feel of the book? Advanced, Elite, Baisic?

I learnt Python just through wanting to achieve a particular task and then googleing for things that I did not know or understand.

The way I learnt certainly takes longer however is much more fun than any book.

Why not grab the O'reilly book "Learning Python" and "Python Cookbook" and just start hacking code.

Come up with projects to do, even ones that already exist, and convert them into python. Make up a list and start working on them after reading the first 8 chapters of learning python. Use the books as a guide, don't try to read them. Attempting to just read a programming book from cover to cover is not an efficient means to learn a language. Immersing yourself in it, is imho the only way.

I would not recommend this book, at least not to a beginner. It had in my opinion some good points but was unfortunately lacking in some areas.

Unix, can you expand on this? I'm still in two minds regarding this buying this book, any additional insight would be appreciated.