简明Python3教程 2.序言

Python也许是为数不多的既简单又强大的编程语言。这有利于新手甚至于专家，更重要的是用它编程所带来的乐趣。这本书的目的是帮助您了解这种神奇的语言，展示如何快速而轻松地完成事情——事实上”编程问题的完美解决方案！”

本书的读者

本书可以作为Python编程语言的一本指南或者教程。它主要是为新手而设计，不过对于有经验的程序员来说，它同样有用。

其目的是，即使你对计算机的认识只是知道如何保存文件，你仍然可以从本书中学到的Python。如果你之前有过编程经验，你也可以从本书中学到的Python。

如果您有编程经验，你会对Python和您最喜爱的编程语言的差异感兴趣——我已经强调了很多这样的差异。但有一点要提醒你，Python将很快成为你最感兴趣的编程语言。

历史

I first started with Python when I needed to write an installer for software I had written called ‘Diamond’ so that I could make the installation easy. I had to choose between Python and Perl bindings for the Qt library. I did some research on the web and I came across an article by Eric S. Raymond, the famous and respected hacker, where he talked about how Python had become his favorite programming language. I also found out that the PyQt bindings were more mature compared to Perl-Qt. So, I decided that Python was the language for me.

Then, I started searching for a good book on Python. I couldn’t find any! I did find some O’Reilly books but they were either too expensive or were more like a reference manual than a guide. So, I settled for the documentation that came with Python. However, it was too brief and small. It did give a good idea about Python but was not complete. I managed with it since I had previous programming experience, but it was unsuitable for newbies.

About six months after my first brush with Python, I installed the (then) latest Red Hat 9.0 Linux and I was playing around with KWord. I got excited about it and suddenly got the idea of writing some stuff on Python. I started writing a few pages but it quickly became 30 pages long. Then, I became serious about making it more useful in a book form. After a lot of rewrites, it has reached a stage where it has become a useful guide to learning the Python language. I consider this book to be my contribution and tribute to the open source community.

This book started out as my personal notes on Python and I still consider it in the same way, although I’ve taken a lot of effort to make it more palatable to others:)

In the true spirit of open source, I have received lots of constructive suggestions, criticisms and feedback from enthusiastic readers which has helped me improve this book a lot.

Status Of The Book

Changes since the last major revision in March 2005 is updating for the Python 3.0 release (released in December 2008). Since the Python 3.0 language itself is still not finalized/released, this book is constantly undergoing changes. However, in the spirit of the open source philosophy of “Release Early, Release Often”, the updated book has been released and is constantly being updated.

The book needs the help of its readers such as yourselves to point out any parts of the book which are not good, not comprehensible or are simply wrong. Please write to the main author or the respective translators with your comments and suggestions.

It’s a constant tussle to balance this book between a beginner’s needs and the tendency towards ‘completeness’ of information. It would be helpful if readers also gave feedback on how much depth this book should go into.

官方网址

本书官方网址是 http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Python，你可以在线阅读, 也可以下载本书的最新版本, 也可在此购买印刷版本，并且可以发送建议给我。

License

This book is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
- This means:
  - You are free to Share i.e. to copy, distribute and transmit this book
  - You are free to Remix i.e. to adapt this book
- Under the following conditions:
  - Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of this book).
  - Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.
- For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this book.
- Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
- Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights.
Attribution must be shown by linking back to http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Python and clearly indicating that the original text can be fetched from this location.
All the code/scripts provided in this book is licensed under the 3-clause BSD License unless otherwise noted.
Volunteer contributions to this original book must be under this same license and the copyright must be assigned to the main author of this book.

Feedback

I have put in a lot of effort to make this book as interesting and as accurate as possible. However, if you find some material to be inconsistent or incorrect, or simply needs improvement, then please do inform me, so that I can make suitable improvements. You can reach me via my user page.

Buy the Book

If you wish to support the continued development of this book, please consider purchasing a printed copy or making a donation.

Something To Think About

There are two ways of constructing a software design: one way is to
make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies; the other
is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies.

– C. A. R. Hoare

Success in life is a matter not so much of talent and opportunity as
of concentration and perseverance.

– C. W. Wendte