Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
The Recursive Book Of Recursion - Ace the coding interview with Python and Javascript Al Sweigart
Publisher: No Starch Press Release Date: August 16, 2022 (on Amazon.com USA) # Pages: 328 ISBN: 978-1718502024 Price: $39.99 (Preorder on Amazon.com USA) Website: https://nostarch.com/recursive-book-recursion Over the years, this is the 14th book review that I've done. How book reviews are handed out is pretty straight forward. If there is an author who has a speciality that fits a particular book, Ronnie usually asks that author if they would be willing to review that book. Sometimes, he will approach all of us and make a blanket offer. Usually, I try to leave book reviews for topics other than Python to the other authors. When the book is on Python, and the offer goes out to everyone, I usually respond to Ronnie privately and say if no one else wants to do it, I'd be happy to. I got the offer, so I jumped on the chance.
Éditeur : No Starch Press Date de sortie : 16 août 2022 (sur Amazon.com USA) Nombre de pages : 328 ISBN : 978-1718502024 Prix : $39.99 (Précommander sur Amazon.com USA) Site Web : https://nostarch.com/recursive-book-recursion
Au fil des ans, celle-ci est la 14ème critique littéraire que j'ai faite.
As most of you know, Al Sweigart is one of my favorite Technical authors. I'm guessing that at one time or another, I've read just about every book that he's written on Python, and have read many of his blog postings. I've never been disappointed.
This book, however, made my face contort into “huh?” mode. The subtitle is “Ace the coding interview with Python and Javascript”. “Both Python AND Javascript?” my mind thought. Well, like I said, I've never been disappointed, so why not?
David Beazley (Author of Python Cookbook and others) wrote the foreword for Al's new book. I decided to borrow a short segment from his chapter…
“In my unbridled excitement to say more about recursion, I originally wrote this foreword in the form of a few short stories involving friends who’d applied recursive thinking in different ways but achieved a similar result. First, there was the story of Ben, who learned about recursion, took it too far, and somehow managed to disappear off the face of the earth under mysterious circumstances after committing the following Python code into production:
result = [(lambda r: lambda n: 1 if n < 2 else r®(n-1) + r®(n-2))(
(lambda r: lambda n: 1 if n < 2 else r®(n-1) + r®(n-2)))(n)
for n in range(37)]”
This sums up the issue with totally understanding the topic of recursion. You just might disappear from the face of the earth!
On to Al's new book.
Al states in the section “Who is this book for?”: “This book is for those who are intimidated or intrigued by recursive algorithms. Recursion is one of those topics that seems like black magic to beginner programmers or freshman computer science students. Most recursion lessons are hard to follow and make the subject seem frustrating, even fearsome. For these readers, I hope that this book’s direct explanations and ample examples can help make the topic finally click.”
After reading through a few chapters, I came across Chapter 10 - File Finder. I presented a function that recursively checks a folder and all subfolders for MP3 files many years ago in the Beginning Python series of articles here in Full Circle, so that immediately grabbed my attention.
The way he presents the topics (at least in Chapter 10) is to provide the full code of the example, then explain each section of the program afterwards. The File Finder type of program at first glance looks to be very simple and straightforward. However, when you dig into the code, it can turn into one of those projects that can cause a programmer to end up cross-eyed within a few pages. However, in true Al Sweigart style, he is not only able to present the project, but to explain it well – all in less than 14 pages.
I have to admit, I have felt for a long time that I had a pretty good handle on the subject of recursion, but deep down inside, I had a desire to learn more. Thanks to Al Sweigart's new book, I think I'm far better informed than I was before. I will re-read this book a couple more times, just to add to the knowledge.
Table of Contents: Foreword Acknowledgements Introduction Part I: Understanding Recursion 1 - What is Recursion? 2 - Recursion vs Iteration 3 - Classic Recursion Algorithms 4 - Backtracking and Tree Traversal Algorithms 5 - Divide and Conquer Algorithms 6 - Permutations and Combinations 7 - Memoization and Dynamic Programming 8 - Tail Call Optimization 9 - Drawing Fractals Part II: Projects 10 - File Finder 11 - Maze Generator 12 - Sliding-Tile Solver 13 - Fractal Art Maker 14 - Droste Maker