Rating: 
Summary: Any python user should buy this book!
Review: I have four python books, and this is the best of them!
-- It's comprehensive, and even covers new style classes.
-- It's well written, and seems to have very few mistakes.
Any python user should buy this book!P.S. Thanks to all that use and support open-source
technologies like Python ...
Rating:
Summary: Great Resource
Review: I have to admit, when I got this book I intended to use it as a learning guide (even though he tells you that's not what this book is about). I struggled, but got through it. I then went and read additional documentation (online, available freely) just to help me get comfortable. Now, I use it as my only reference guide. Once you have the basics, it clearly explains other topics that you may not be as familiar with. But you get it, b/c Python is so well structured. I would highly recommend this book if you are looking for a resource. If you are new to Python and have no other experience programming, this may not be the book for you...but after you learn the language, I'm sure you would still find it useful.
Rating:
Summary: Great Resource
Review: I have to admit, when I got this book I intended to use it as a learning guide (even though he tells you that's not what this book is about). I struggled, but got through it. I then went and read additional documentation (online, available freely) just to help me get comfortable. Now, I use it as my only reference guide. Once you have the basics, it clearly explains other topics that you may not be as familiar with. But you get it, b/c Python is so well structured. I would highly recommend this book if you are looking for a resource. If you are new to Python and have no other experience programming, this may not be the book for you...but after you learn the language, I'm sure you would still find it useful.
Rating: 
Summary: very useful reference
Review: I've made a complete switch to Python from Perl, and this book has been a very, very helpful resource in doing so. I have owned several other O'Reilly's Nutshell books (C++, Linux, Perl, and Java) but never found them as useful as Python in a Nutshell.
Sure, Python does have a rather decent online documentation, which is free, but I often find it hard to find the exact information I want even using the index. Not the case with this Nutshell book; it covers the ground that you definitely need to know to get started early and do useful work immediately. Writing is very lucid, too.
I only give four stars just because I didn't necessarily like the section on object-oriented coding basics. I found Learning Python to be easier to understand in that regard.
This is not the best book if you are a programming beginner, but if you are trying to add Python to your programming arsenal knowning other languages already, I highly recommend this book as your handy companion.
Rating:
Summary: super book!
Review: If you do any Python development, this is a great book. It provides everything you need to know about Python development. The authors write in a clear organized manner, and take the same amount of time to describe what other books take 1000 pages to do.
Rating: 
Summary: For professionals only
Review: Let me begin this review with a fair warning: this book is NOT for fresh programmers, hobbyists, system admins and other non-professional programmers out there, looking for a book that will actually help them LEARN Python language (even if the book has 4+ stars, it's still the O'Reilly Nutshell book).
(Btw. I know that, because I fit in all previously mentioned categories :-).
This book is (as title suggest) a QUICK reference of the Python language written by very competent author, I have no second thought about that, for already competent Python programmers that need good reference manual at hand.
I dare to say, that terse writing style, lack of examples and hard to follow explanations on some topics (without clear and simple code examples) will put off most of the new or intermediate programmers.
In my humble opinion this book is short for 200+ pages dedicated exclusively to code samples - I think examples in any reference book are as important as syntax and language explanations.
If you're already experienced programmer then you'll be more than satisfied with this book, just go ahead an click the button. If you're, on the other hand, starting to learn Python and need a good learning guide, I would recommend, that you begin with the book "Learning Python, 2 Edition" from O'Reilly.
Rating:
Summary: A great contribution to the Python community !
Review: Out of all the books I have read on Python, I keep referring back to Python in a Nutshell. I have only been using with Python for a 5-6 months at this point, and this book helps me to better understand the concepts I am trying to learn. Not only is it great reference book on Python, but it is also one of the better-written Nutshell books that I've read. A great contribution to the Python community !
Rating:
Summary: A Classic Book
Review: Python in a Nutshell, by Alex Martelli, 2003 O'Reilly, 636 pages. Perhaps the best book about Python ever written, this book is the perfect capstone to anyone's library of Pythonic books, and also the perfect introduction to Python for anyone well versed in other programming languages. For newbies to programming, this would still be a good second book after a good introductory book on Python, such as Learning Python by Mark Lutz. Written by my favorite author and Pythonista, Alex Martelli, this book manages to fill three roles in extremely pleasing fashion. First and foremost to me, it is a great read, straight through. Mr. Martelli's prose is always sparkling and always keeps the reader interested. No matter how many Python books you have read, you will learn some nuances from this book, and it is about the best review of the whole Pythonic subject matter that I can imagine. While there is absolutely no fluff whatsoever in these 636 pages, it still makes for rather easy reading because the explanations are so clearly thought out and explored as to lead one gently to understanding, without in any way being verbose. It is obvious that Alex Martelli took his time and put in sufficient thought, effort, and intellectual elbow-grease to make this work a classic for all time. Secondly, this book is the ultimate Pythonic reference book, the best fit to this role I have yet seen. You will keep this book in the most cherished spot on your book shelf, or else right at your side on your computer desk, because you can almost instantly find any topic on which you need to brush up, in the midst of a programminng project. Third, Python in a Nutshell is the most up-to-date book on Python (as of April 2003) and includes the best and most complete expositions yet on the new features introduced in Python 2.2 and 2.3. These topics are not only covered in depth, they are integrated into the text in their proper positions and relationships to the language as a whole. They are explained better here than I have seen anywhere else, so much so as to make them not only understandable to me (a duffer), but indeed so that they appear seamlessly Pythonic, as if they had been a part of the language since version 1.0. Topics explored in depth include new style classes, static methods, class methods, nested scopes, iterators, generators, and new style division. List comprehensions are made not only comprehesible but indeed intuitive. The book is surprisingly complete. It covers the core language as well as the most popular libraries and extension modules. It is difficult to choose any one portion of the book to highlight for extra praise, as all topics are treated so well. It is a complete book, the new definitive book about Python. Everything about this book speaks of quality. In addition to the top notch writing and editing, O'Reilly really did the right thing and published this book printed on the highest quality paper, paper so thin that the 636 pages are encompassed in a book much thinner than one would expect for such a size, but strong enough to resist wear and tear. The text is most pleasing to the eye. Holding the book, and turning its pages, gives one a feeling of satisfaction. Any job worth doing is worth doing well. Alex Martelli and O'Reilly have done justice to a topic dear to our hearts, the Python programming language. Perhaps, in years to come, the passing time may make this book be no longer the most up-to-date reference on the newest features added to Python. But time can not erase the quality craftsmanship and the shear joy of reading such a well thought out masterpiece of Pythonic literature. Ron Stephens
Rating:
Summary: Nutshell v. Online Docs
Review: This is a great book, without question. The question is whether it is worth the price, given the free online HTML reference documentation. Pros:
+ Very nice typesetting. (Python Essential Reference is a bit small for eyes.)
+ Very good index; somewhat better than the online index.
+ Good explanations.
+ Some examples.
+ Much more advice than the online docs.
+ Most errata were corrected in the [09/03] printing. (I just received a [12/03] printing.) Cons:
- Does not cover some of the most useful (new) modules: timeit, logging, zipimport, itertools, sets, sum, heapq.
- In particular, I would love to have ADVICE on how to use logging effectively.
- DOES cover the dead (insecure) modules rexec and Bastion. So take your own decision. Personally, I would say it's not essential, but still worth the price. I go back and forth between the online index and this book.
Rating:
Summary: Martelli is a gifted teacher
Review: This is the best technical book I've ever seen. Beautifully presented and organized by a clear thinker, it has absolutely no filler. Martelli avoids the annoying witticisms and lame analogies which plague many computer books. Practically every topic of interest is covered, elegantly and concisely: this book teaches more in 10 pages than most books do in 50. Martelli nearly always provides additional references for more detail. This book is for those who either know Python already or are experienced programmers. I was able to learn the core language, advanced topics, and many libraries from this book. I should also mention that the Python is more enjoyable to use and more productive than any language I've ever used. The Python Cookbook, co-edited by Martelli, is also very good.
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