Dive Into Python is a Python book for experienced programmers. Whether you're an experienced programmer looking to get into Python or grizzled Python veteran who remembers the days when you had to import the string module, Dive Into Python is your 'desert island' Python book. If you've never programmed before, Python is an excellent language to learn modern programming techniques. But this book should not be your starting point. Get "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python" by Allen Downey, Jeffrey Elkner, Chris Meyers and learn the basics. Then dive into this book. Dive Into PYTHON was written by Mark Pilgram and is distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License.