Simon Willison’s Weblog

Dive Into Python reborn

17th September 2003

Sweet. Mark Pilgrim is working on Dive Into Python again, funded by a dead tree publisher for publication in 2004 (hopefully). The free version will stay available as well. I’ve always preferred reading paper to reading a screen so I’m definitely down for a copy.

If you haven’t read Dive Into Python yet, you’ve been sorely missing out. It’s all good, but the sections I’ve found most useful are as follows:

• 1.13. Mapping lists and 2.5. Filtering lists—a full explanation of list comprehensions.
• 2.6. The peculiar nature of and and or—almost a tertiary statement for Python.
• Chapter 6. Unit Testing—the best explanation of unit testing I’ve ever read, with a great practical example of the technique in action.