"As Python has grown to embrace developers on a number of
different platforms (Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac) companies have
taken notice and are adopting Python for their products. It has
shown up animating major motion pictures, serving up maps and
directories on the Internet, guiding users through Linux
installations, testing chips and boards, managing Internet
discussion forums, scripting online games, and even scripting
wireless products."
"Python is usually on the forefront of most high-tech
developments," says Mark Lutz, author of the just-released second
edition of "Programming Python" (O'Reilly US $54.95) "For instance,
as an object oriented language, it blends extremely well with the
XML view of the world, and there is a Python port to the new
C#/.NET system in the works. Because Python is a general purpose
language now used by so many people, it tends to keep pace with the
bleeding edge at large."
"Programming Python," describes the advanced uses of the Python
programming language. Among other things, Python supports
object-oriented programming; a remarkably simple, readable, and
maintainable syntax; integration with C components, and a vast
collection of precoded interfaces and utilities. "It's really
something of a completely new book that reuses the title of the
original/first edition," says Lutz, "This is a radical rewrite
from the ground up, to capture the modern Python community and
advanced applications, not just an update for Python 2.0."