[moneydance] Python/Jython books (was XML Tags)

[Ric Werme]

 Randall Pierce wrote:
>> I wonder if there is a "Python for Dummies" book?

I would have made some crack about never buying Dummies books because I
refuse to consider myself a dummy.  Fortunately,
Scott Zahn replied:

> There sure is such a book.  It's online and free.  Check out
> http://www.diveintopython.org.  It's my favorite tutorial on python.

Hmm, that page has a link to "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist:
Learning with Python" at
http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/thinkCSpy/ .  That looks more like a beginning
programming book teaching Python than teaching CS philosophy.  At any
rate, I think it's worth taking a look at it too.

Dive into Python looks like it may be a very good resource for writing
Python code the way it should be written, most of my other books made
it too easy to let me write code that looks like C translated into Python.
I need to spend more time with it.  However, I noticed a statement at
Amazon:  But this book should not be your starting point. Get "How to
Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python"

Other books that may be good that I have:

Learning Python (from O'Reilly so it has to be good)
I bought this largely because my first books predated Python 2.3, and
there's good stuff there I need to absorb.  Unfortunately, I haven't
taken the time to "dive" into it.

Jython Essentials (also from O'Reilly)
This is actually a bit of a disappointment.  It's written for Java programmers
learning Jython, so it's a bit of a challenge for Python programmers wanting
to use Moneydance.  Knowing a little Java makes this book a lot easier
to follow.  Probably more helpful is my
http://www.moneydance.com/dev/RM-NetWorth/wiki_jython.html
as it gives you all you need to know about making your first forays into
the Moneydance API.

Python Essentials (David M Beazley)
A rather terse description.  Not a Dummies book, but well regarded as
a Python version of the classic books on C by Kernigan and Ritchey.

	-Ric Werme

-- 
     There are 10 types of people in the world:  Those who
     understand binary and those who don't.