im going to try to start learning python tonight and was wondering what good tutorials and books were out there for it

This is a good source for tutorials. It goes from easy stuff to hard. It pretty good.

You might also want to check out Dive into Python.

Also, How to think like a Computer Scientist(using Python).

Instant Hacking.

It helps if you have a small project you want to do, it keeps the motivation running. I'm curious if you have one. Since I'm interested in learning Python too, but I don't have a goal for it so it never happens...

I am also learning Python. The books that I've purchased:

Learning Python, Second Edition
A very good book for starting out. Having read it through and thumbed through it a few times, I think it's definitely one of the "good" O'Reilly books. I'd highly recommend this one for starting out.

Python Cookbook
This one isn't as useful until you're sinking your teeth into something and you run into a snag. As it's basically an encyclopedia of solutions to common problems, you'll likely find it quite useful to find quick answers on various topics.

Game Programming With Python
I'm going to be working with OpenGL with Python, so I figured I'd pick this up to familiarize myself with working with libraries such as PyOpenGL and so forth. It seems like an ok book. If you have little programming experience in general, and you want to develop games or similiar media, than I think it's worth picking up. It's got enough of design, networking, graphics and embedding/extending of Python to make it a decent investment.

Python Essential Reference, Second Edition
This one is a little dated, as it's written for version 2.1 (current version is 2.4, though I've found 2.3 a good bet as not all libraries are up and running for 2.4). However, it's useful if you need a book with no fluff on the subject sitting at your side. No anecdotes, no essays, just syntax and explanations.

(I believe that those Amazon links properly credit GDNet. Let me know if I'm wrong.)

Quote:

Original post by SiCrane You might also want to check out Dive into Python.

I'll second this book. I've read through most of it and it's pretty good. One of the cooler projects/examples in the book is an MP3 metadata extractor. After reading through the first few chapters of this book I pretty much fell in love with Python.