Without repeating each and every reference given in the book, this appendix lists a number of resources that give good and comprehensive information on various subjects of interest to people building web applications.
Sometimes it's nice to leave the keyboard and just relax with a book (or e-reader) and do some reading about our favorite subjects. The following small selection of books is reference work I pick up regularly (some ISBNs may reflect the e-book version):
Especially for people familiar with Python, having some good books around about JavaScript and the jQuery libraries is very convenient. The following three books are good starters:
- Learning JavaScript, Second Edition, Shelley Powers, O'Reilly, 978-0-596-52187-5
Comprehensive introduction to JavaScript basics.
- jQuery Cookbook, Cody Lindley, O'Reilly, 978-0-596-15977-1
A large selection of practical examples of how to solve common requirements with jQuery.
- jQuery UI 1.7, Dan Wellman, Packt, 978-1-847199-72-0
A step-by-step explanation of all the functionality of the jQuery UI library, including advanced features like drag-and-drop.
Python has very good documentation online. Especially the coverage of the standard modules distributed with Python is excellent, but to get a thorough insight into the language itself and the features added in version 3, this book is a good start: Programming in Python 3, Mark Summerfield, Addison Wesley, 978-0-32168056-3
All of the following books cover Python subjects that play an important role in this book:
- Python Testing Beginner's Guide, Daniel Arbuckle, Packt, 978-1847198-84-6
Testing doesn't have to be difficult and this book shows why.
- CherryPy Essentials, Sylvain Hellegouarch, Packt, 978-1904811-84-8
The CherryPy application server that we use extensively in the examples in this book is capable of much more. Written by its primary developer, this book covers all the features and gives practical examples of some web applications as well.
- Using SQLite, Jay A. Kreibich, O'Reilly, 978-0-596-52118-9
This book shows what SQLite is capable of and is even a good introduction to database design and the use of SQL. Not Python-specific (SQLite is used in many more places than Python alone).
- Mastering Regular Expressions, Third Edition, O'Reilly, 978-0-596-52812-6
This book is everything there is to know about regular expressions. It's mostly not Python-specific, but as the regular expression library in Python closely resembles the one in Perl, almost all examples can be used as is in Python.
- CSS Mastery, Andy Budd, Friends of Ed, 978-159059-614-2
Not all style issues are covered by jQuery UI of course and CSS can be tricky. This book is one of the most readable ones I've found.