Pro Python by Marty Alchin - Book Review

Pro Python - This is one of those books you need to really spend time on to seriously appreciate what a great technical book should be.

I received this book a while ago, other than the quick flip through the chapters, I didn't spend time reading it until now. I bought it during a project we were working on and needed something that would give me real practical ways on how to use Python. Most of the books I started with only touched on the basics as listed in the free Python book.

But Pro Python is entirely different. It contains one of the full description of decorator patterns in Python I've seen in any books. Despite spending countless hours on the web, no one actually explained those patterns. It might be that they don't know it or can't be bothered to go that deep. That's exactly where this book shines - it addresses some of the topics you will find useful for real life projects like the credit card processing application we were working on.

Despite being a pro book, it breaks down advanced topics into basics, functions, classes, meta programming, and includes distribution, not always covered by other texts.

This book does more to explain the Python mindset needed for clear, concise code, than some of the explanations I have read that seem to favor dictating a “Python Way” to the reader. Therefore, once you have learned Python basics, this book is a must for your library.

Bon Apetit!