Thanks for the comments on this topic. I shall read the thread suggest by
Tim and avoid the book. (I did look for reviews on Amazon, but I used
amazon.co.uk, so I missed the Perl book reviews).
I also emailed the company to ask more about the 'Python Certification' that
the book title alluded to; if I get a reply I will forward it to the mailing
list.
thanks again,
Paul
2009/3/4 Grimes, George
> The listing for the book on Amazon did not have any reviews but they had an
> almost identical page for their Perl book. It had 3 reviews giving one star
> (the lowest rating) each. All reported that it was just the reproduction of
> on-list postings, no original material, and no attempt to make a coherent
> presentation.
>
> It sounds like the sort of thing to avoid. I'm just learning Python myself
> and I'll look elsewhere.
>
> George
>
>
> George A. Grimes
> 972-995-0190 - Desk
> 214-205-0244 - Cell
>
> "The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that
> cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong
> goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair." --
> Douglas Adams
> -Original Message-
> From: Steve Holden [mailto:st...@holdenweb.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 8:44 AM
> To: python-list@python.org
> Subject: Re: Anyone read "Python Interview Questions: Python Certification
> Review"?
>
> Paul Sammy wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > On a recent trawl of the internet for some Python books, I came across
> > "Python Interview Questions: Python Certification Review" by
> > ITCOOKBOOK.COM <http://ITCOOKBOOK.COM>
> >
> >
> http://www.itcookbook.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=15
> > <
> http://www.itcookbook.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=15
> >
> >
> > Has anyone used this, or even one of the related books? I can find NO
> > reviews of any of these books online, and the page on the Java version
> > of the book has factual errors (the blurb talks about operator
> > overloading and pointers, neither of which Java has).
> >
> > Furthermore the ITCOOKBOOK homepage appears to selling some sort of
> > "20-step plan" which leads to suspiciously large amounts of money -
> > after paying them money of course (
> http://itcookbook.com/online_training/).
> >
> > Anyway, thought I would run this past you guys in case I'm being unduly
> > suspicious or cautious.
> >
> As far as I know there isn't anything like a useful Python certification
> in the marketplace at the moment, and this book certainly doesn't seem
> to be linked with one.
>
> The fact that they don't say how or whether you get certified would
> increase my suspicion level, and the 20-step plan appears to be a simple
> come-on with not much behind it.
>
> I am hoping that when O'Reilly School of Technology publish their Python
> classes (which I am currently busy writing) this situation will change.
> There will be a university-associated certification available for those.
>
> regards
> Steve
> --
> Steve Holden+1 571 484 6266 +1 800 494 3119
> Holden Web LLC http://www.holdenweb.com/
>
>
> --
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
>
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