Dive Into Python 3 - Grand Format

Dear Reader, This is a practical book aimed at busy developers. Every chapter takes a real problem and turns it inside out until you can't help but understand it. If there is background information you need to know, you'll learn it along the way. But you won't find long-winded treatises on the aesthetics of API design or the history of computer science. I don't have time for that, and neither do you.
But as practical as this book is, there is a touch of passion in it. I fell in love with Python the day I found it. Did I fall in love because of some abstract sense of elegance or style ? No. I fell in love with Python because it works and doesn't get in my way. The standard libraries are robust and easy to use. The syntax is not picky or arcane. Developing in Python is like writing pseudo-code that works.
After a decade of experience with dogmatic languages, Python is a breath of fresh air. This book covers the basics of Python 3 datatypes - from lists to dictionaries to strings and beyond. You'll learn about Python's powerful object model, regular expressions, XML processing, web services, unit testing, and refactoring. Along the way, you'll discover how to use the newest language features added in Python 3.1, including fast file I/O and easier string formatting.
Do you have experience in Python 2 ? Are you staring at a mountain of legacy code that you need to port to Python 3 ? This book will explain the differences and provide step-by-step case studies from my own experience porting real code. I hope this book makes you fall in love with Python 3. But if not, that's okay. You'll learn plenty anyway, and my passion can be enough for both of us. Mark Pilgrim.