Rapid Web Applications with TurboGears: Using Python to Create Ajax-Powered Sites 1st Edition

I bought this book because I inherited a Turbogears-created website at work, and it seemed like a decent framework. The framework itself is still clearly having growing pains (it was REALLY tricky to get the right combination of versions-of-packages to get the website running on another platform), but the framework itself is NOT the subject of this review - the book is.The first thing I've noticed is that the editors were apparently asleep. There are TONS of typos, and I haven't even progressed past the first third of the book in terms of doing the tutorials. I don't recommend anyone try to use this book to LEARN anything about how it all fits together - the code was obviously never actually run in some circumstances (clear typos in the code caused me to have to edit the examples given - the "Bookmarker" example in Chapter 4 is a perfect example of this.) Short shrift is also given to anyone who's not intimately familiar with large python projects - I understand that this is not intended to be a python tutorial, but better explanation of flow-of-control is warranted in a lot of cases.I suppose the more advanced topics might be more useful - given the amount of trouble I'm having with the introductory material, though, I may never find out. I don't recommend this book to anyone who's trying to set up turbogears for the first time - I struggled mightily with a few Python-related issues, and the book was no help at all. I'm also REALLY disappointed that the majority of other reviewers of this book are people with a financial interest in it. This, alone, should be a big tipoff.I will probably wind up getting decent use out of the book - my work project isn't going away soon, and TurboGears as a framework seems decent. But I'm certainly glad I paid less than $25 for it (from a seller I assume must have had a used copy, though it was sold as "new"), and I don't recommend anyone else pay more.Disappointing.

This book gave me the overall introduction I needed before diving into my first TurboGears project. Without this book, I would have had trouble seeing the "big picture" and how all the pieces fit together. I would definitely recommend it to those who are new to web development.Most of this book is great, but a few of these chapters are quite out of order. The "reference section" chapters that are written by Gigi Sayfan are absolutely excellent and a joy to read (chapters 10 - 22). The guided tour of the "WhatWhat Status" code in chapters 6 - 9 are not very organized, and they did nothing but confuse me until AFTER I had read chapters 10 - 22. Chapters 1 - 5 provide "first steps" instructions, and are well-written.After reading this book, I am convinced that TurboGears is in fact the best web framework available today. However, the skills and libraries that you learn in this book are not only applicable to TurboGears, but ANY web development system because TurboGears is a combination of the best open-source tools available. You can apply SqlObject, MochiKit, and CherryPy in almost any web development framework, and so even if you do not end up using TurboGears, the time spent reading this book will still be a good investment of your time.~Christopher Sebastian

I'm working on a Turbogears app. I find it a good framework. The book, however, is frustrating to work with. I rarely have time to read computer books sequentially. I generally jump around trying to find answers to my questions. I'm not finding answers... just partial examples throughout.For example, I would expect an AJAX example to have all the pieces necessary to implement an AJAX conversation with the file names clearly labeled. I would expect a diagram of how the pieces interact. What I find is little snippets of code without context and no diagrams anywhere in the book.I think the authors did a reasonable job of explaining Turbogears from their perspective. It was the editors' job to push them to explain things from their audience's perspective. This has the look of a rush job.

I ordered this book immediately after "discovering" TurboGears. It is full of useful information, but the editing and organization leave a lot to be desired.It is VERY IMPORTANT to be familiar with Python, because a lot of the programming examples contain mistakes. Many of the issues look like search-and-replace problems, because half of the examples in a chapter might refer to a class named one thing, and the others might refer to a different name that is obviously the same thing if you are paying attention.Given that online documentation for TurboGears also seems somewhat disorganized and scattered, I'll be using this book as reference information while working on my first TG-based site.Since the book provides a ton of information about a broad range of topics (TurboGears is, after-all, a conglomeration of a bunch of separate technologies), I'm overlooking the editing errors and giving it a 4 out of 5.

Please do us all a favor and boycot any book that relies on sample code to understand and learn how to use and doesn't bother to test the sample code. Most of the examples in the book do not work and you can expect to spend a great deal of time figuring out where the errors are. As a bare minimum a web site with downloadable corrected code should be provided. If all of the mistakes in the code were corrected I would strongly recommend the book.

Yes, there are tons of errors. But they are all minor and good for the readers; for these errors are not conceptual blunders that mislead readers. They are errors that make readers think harder. No, I am not advocating that authors should inject errors into their books on purpose. I am saying that minor errors are not so critical as to be given undue weight in judging a book.The book and the authors deserve ten stars because of the insight, clarity and happiness they bring.