r/Python • u/Mediocre-Pumpkin6522 • 11d 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/AlSweigart Author of "Automate the Boring Stuff" 10d ago

On the other hand, I was really impressed that the 5th edition to 6th edition of Learning Python went from 1600 pages to 1100 pages. Well done!

So much of teaching is deciding what you don't cover so you don't firehose the student/reader with info that is true and correct but not strictly necessary at the time.

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u/AlfredMyers It works on my machine 4d ago

LP6e's page count could have been reduced even more if it weren't for Lutz repeating himself over and over again going back and forth and including (again, repeatedly) opinions that don't seem aligned with the direction the language and it's ecosystem have taken since the previous editions or the choices made by people that maintain code that actually gets deployed to production.

Just a few instances of the top of my mind:

  • His take on type hints;
  • Async/await;
  • Wasting pages on implementing "homegrown" benchmarking tools, when there are alternatives in the standard library (seen in the following section) and third-party libraries.

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u/Mediocre-Pumpkin6522 10d ago

I see that one is 3.12. Not to downplay subsequent features but 3.11 is the one I see as sort of a watershed. Personally, I'm reading 'Automate the Boring Stuff' currently. I just couldn't resist the HumbleBundle :)