good product

Good pocket guide, it does not cover everything so you will still need to use good ole Google. But is a good guide worth having.

Elegant sufficiency!

A great pocket guide to debugging python code. Many reference points in here which is useful for quick searching for solutions.

all good thanks, good reface book.

Very good

The first thing to note about the Python Pocket Reference is that if I was completely new to the Python programming language and wanted to pick up a handy reference guide to getting started with essential concepts, this would not be an ideal book for my needs whatsoever.

Apart from the single-page introduction, the book provides no logical flow that would allow someone new to Python to jump right in and start experimenting with basic functions and progress to advanced skills by the end of the book. There is other books that suit beginner Python programmers and I would suggest that a more detailed read in a tutorial format would suffice.

However, if you're an experienced Python programmer with existing awareness and knowledge of the topics covered (e.g. statements, syntax, types) then Lutz's reference is an excellent book to keep handy whenever you're working with Python code.

As this is not a tutorial or guide book, expect no images or graphics to break up large paragraphs of text, but instead well presented tables containing essential expressions linked to the current chapter and bullet-pointed lists with colour-coding and a distinctive preformatted typeface for code.

Regarded as support material for someone well versed in the conventions of the Python language, Lutz packs a large amount of convenient and useful information into the book's pocket-sized 210 pages and is able to concisely link related ideas together through dark red highlighting of chapter names within the text, serving as a sensible method of allowing programmers to read information related to a certain topic or function. The latest edition of the book (fifth) has been updated for the latest versions of Python – a reassurance to many programmers.

The stance taken in reviewing depends on your previous experience of working with the Python programming language and fundamental programming concepts.

Reviewer's Note: This review of "Python Pocket Reference" was written prior to 2015 and has been republished by the original author in July 2015.

Absolute Garbage. Badly organized and missing basic stuff. Poorly indexed. Poor contents listing. Lack of any page headers whatsoever.

So there's nothing "convenient" about this book except it's physical size. But if you can't find any relevant info, then what's the point?

For example: I want to read about the "partition" string method. I look for "partition" in the index - it's not there. I look in the "Contents" - it's not there either. Where do I find it? Listed under Specific Built-in Types>String Methods. What do I find? Simply the word "S.partition(sep)" on page 36 with no further explanation. Nothing. So how is that supposed to help anyone learn anything about how partition() works? It's pointless.

Another example: Page 72 under "Variables" is says "See Atomic Terms and Dynamic Typing" - no page number reference - no hint of where to find "Atomic Terms and Dynamic Typing". It's not listed in the index or the contents. This type of anonymous redirection to "See this... or... see that..." is repeated countless times". Absolutely useless.

Straight away you can see this book is a total waste of paper and ink. There''s no page headers to direct you towards the material you're trying to find. Why? Because the material you want probably isn't even anywhere to be found.

This book is like a mini version of Lutz's useless 1500 page "Learning Python" - both are absolute Garbage as far as I'm concerned.

It's seems the publishers O'Reilly truly don't have a clue.

I'm an experienced developer but new to Python. This book is a good quick reference guide that complete perfectly Learning Python from same author

un petit livre de la serie des indispensables de la collection des o'reilly

bref, toujours un objet pratique et concis

A bit costly since the book is imported. Can be very handy when you don't have access to Internet. Also, it can help you refresh your memory since it covers various topics concisely.

Great pocket guide , with time being of essence nowadays, it is faster for me to grab this book amd find a needed reference than googling it , especially when designing a logic amd you are away from your screen

Il libro dà una panoramica piuttosto completa del linguaggio.

In realtà non è particolarmente efficace come reference, a causa di una certa prolissità e di un indice analitico davvero povero, ma è un'ottima panoramica del linguaggio per chi sa già programmare, decisamente superiore agli altri libri dello stesso autore che sono di una prolissità e dispersione eccessive.