This book presents a practical guide for learning Python, a language that is easy to use, has a powerful interactive interpreter, and has robust object-oriented features. The beginning programmer will learn to develop applications in Python for web development, scientific applications, and system tasks for users or administrators. The book will allow the reader to learn skills needed to write good, re-usable, robust code. The book will include coverage of Python on Linux, Mac OS/BSD, and Windows operating systems. The book will begin by providing an overview of Python, including how Python compares to other programming languages. The rest of the book will be divided up into three sections. The first section will be a comprehensive tutorial, guiding the reader from writing simple, basic Python scripts all the way through complex concepts such as list comprehensions and object-oriented programming. The second section will cover the use of Python in specific program development domains, such as XML, databases, scientific applications, network programming and web development. The final section will be a useful reference of the standard modules, with useful examples to illustrate how to implement features in the various modules.