About "Programming Python"

The book Programming Python—an iconic applications-programming tutorial—has been published in four editions, each reflecting changes in both Python and the larger software ecosystem in which it is deployed. This site hosts support pages here for each edition. Please select the relevant link in the first column of the table below:

Edition Published Python Pages

Programming Python, 4th Edition

Jan-2011 3.2+ 1630

Programming Python, 3rd Edition

Aug-2006 2.5 1600

Programming Python, 2nd Edition

Mar-2001 2.0 1300

Programming Python, 1st Edition

Oct-1996 1.3 900 The 1st edition of this book was a broad introduction to both Python and its applications. The 2nd through 4th editions focus on common applications of the language and assume you have already learned the language itself from a first book such as

Learning Python

. That is, Programming Python is about what you can do with Python after you've mastered it. Because of this focus, its examples are larger and more advanced than those in introductory texts, and it's designed to be used as part of a multiple-book set: a follow-up to Learning Python and supplemented by

Python Pocket Reference

. See also the 2024 update for this book's latest

edition

.