Re: [pygame] Fwd: Plug: Game Programming with Python Book

[Snebjørn Andersen <sja@image.dk>]

Hi all,

My copy of "Game Programming with Python" arrived yesterday and as
promised, here is a short review. I haven't made my way through the
entire 450+ pages book, so this is based on my initial reaction to the
overall presentation of the subject and selected chapters that seemed of
interest to me.

My overall impression is quite favorable. The main focus is game
architecture and design with Python providing code examples, so this is
not a beginner's book on Python or programming in general. The general
atmosphere is, however, an example of the relaxed pragmatism that is the
true spirit of Python: try Python first, but don't be afraid of going
elsewhere if you have a good reason. Python also happens to be a great
language for demonstrating algorithms and design concepts.... but I'm
preaching to the converted here, right?!?

Obviously, a single book can't go into extreme detail with every
subject, but some chapters seem to contain introductory material that
one would expect to be well-known by the target audience. As an example,
I would be seriously worried if anyone designing multi-player online
games needed an introduction to IP networking.

My biggest problem with the book, or rather the accompanying CD, is the
choice of Win32 as the only fully supported platform. The CD contains a
measly 28MB of data, including installable binaries for Win32, but no
other platforms. My preferred development platform is Linux, but
unfortunately the book's code examples won't currently work on anything
but Win32. This may change if the pyui framework version (1.0) required
by the examples is updated to work on other platforms, which I will do
my personal best to make happen! 

In short: great book, but I could easily live without the CD, especially
if it meant a lower overall price.

Final verdict: 4 of 6 indentation level.


/Snebjørn