Slashdot: Python Programming On Win32 [Book Review]

“Python is an object-oriented scripting language, similiar
in ideas (if not in style) to Perl. It’s getting more and more
popular, as people discover the benefits brought by its simple
style. It’s a natural under Windows, thanks to good
object-orientation. Like many free software projects, though, the
Windows port of Python has suffered from poor documentation. Until
now, that is….”

“Python has made programming under Win32 really, really easy.
Not that it didn’t need to be easy before — it’s just that nobody
knew how it worked. This book knocks that for six. It covers a
basic introduction to Python, builds a slightly more advanced
tutorial on that and then covers a load of other topics to finish
off. The really big secret is that the information inside isn’t
just for Windows, though. Quite a lot of it is applicable
elsewhere. Topics like printing output to PDF files, using POP3 and
HTTP in python would be a useful addition to anybody using Python
who isn’t already aware of these things. If you’ve just started
learning Python, there will be tons of ideas for you to experiment
with.”

“But the big thrust of the book is COM (or OLE, or ActiveX or
whatever it’s called this week). The book slides you gently in,
explaining the ideas behind OO programming that you need to know to
take advantage of it, before presenting simple demos of what COM
can do and how it was achieved. Then it takes you on to bigger and
better things, and specifically to an accounting system that was
developed using Python/Win32. Please ignore the word “accounting”
in the previous sentence! It’s just an application that the book
uses to demonstrate Python and COM working together and ways of
using it (e.g. shoveling data straight into Excel from the
aforementioned accounting system).”

Complete
Story