Python Essential Reference 4th Edition by David Beazley Review by Raj Jammalamadaka

This book is one of the best books I came across about Python. What I really like about the book is that whenever the author has to present some code: he immediately shows the difference between Python 2.x and Python 3.x which I think is very useful for somebody who wants to see the difference between those two versions of Python. The author also makes sure to present some code whenever he introduces a concept. I found this to be a more practical approach as it helps in driving the concept home for the reader.

In the first chapter, the author gives a brief overview of python's features and refers to the chapters in which he discusses these topics in detail.

 

The chapter on Functional programming is pretty awesome where the author covers Decorators, Generators and List Comprehensions.

 

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who had little introduction to Python. As the author mentions in the preface, this book is not for someone who wants to learn Python.