2009-08-08

'IronPython in Action' review

[Full disclosure: Michael Foord, one of the co-authors of IronPython in Action, had Manning send me a free copy of the book for review purposes and because I asked Michael for a copy since he is a friend]

To the point: if you need to program for Windows and you want to use Python, you should get IronPython in Action. The book does a good job of walking you through examples covering all the major APIs and tools a Windows programmer will end up using for whatever project they are working on.

I actually read this book while I ate breakfast most mornings. Now that's nothing special, but considering I actually continued to read/skim this book even though I have not actively used a Windows box since 2001 should tell you something. This book is clearly written, and does a good job to point out gotchas you might run into through example. But it also does a good job of not overloading you with extraneous info that you could get from other reference sources (every computer book should have something like Appendix C that is nothing more than a list of URLs for reference material). And as an added perk the authors try to be humorous when possible and are even willing to poke fun at Windows.

Now I am not suddenly going to start using Windows because of this book. It turns out Guido ended up with the same feelings towards Windows programming after reading this book as I did. But if I were to be forced to code for Windows, I would be glad I had this book on my shelf.