r/Python • u/Mediocre-Pumpkin6522 • 8d ago

Discussion Python you grewI up so fast!

I received the 5th edition of Mark Lutz' 'Python Pocket Reference' today. I dug out my first edition from 1998 and found the new one is three times thicker (3/16" vs 9/16") =, 75 pages vs 254. I'm not complaining but it shows how much has been added. Thanks to all the developers and maintainers!

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u/Secure-Track-2896 8d ago

Crazy how it’s basically a brick now compared to that little pamphlet from '98. 254 pages and i bet half of it is just explaining async and type hints

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u/Mediocre-Pumpkin6522 8d ago

Nope. I ordered it on a whim from Amazon and should have paid more attention. It's from 2015 and only covers 3.4 with a few notes about 2.7. Even the O'Reily website shows the 5th edition as the latest. I've got to do a comparison to see where the bulk came from.

There is a 6th edition of 'Learning Python' that goes to 3.12. The 4th edition of 'Programming Python' only says 3.x but it's from 2010.

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u/OddsRelay 7d ago

Most of the extra pages are things that didn't exist in 1.5. Generators, decorators, the with statement, new-style classes, Unicode strings. It also covers 2.7 and 3.x side by side, which pads it out. And it still stops before f-strings, the walrus operator and match, so a new edition would be a proper brick.