Python for Unix and Linux System Administrators: A Book in Revue

So it's been about 6 months, but I'm finally sitting down to write a review of Python for Unix and Linux System Administrators by Noah Gift and Jeremy M. Jones, available from O'Reilly books. ISBN 978-0-596-51582-9

Disclosure: I am in no way related to Noah or Jeremy. I received this book for free when I attended a class given by Noah at PyArkansas in October of 2008.

Python is a great book for anyone who deals with Linux/Unix on a daily basis, and especially those who preform many repetitive tasks. Written in a clean style with plenty of code examples, if you are a sys admin this is a book that belongs on your shelf.

Broken up into chapters, Python has topics for a wide range of admin activities. From log/text and XML parsing, up to building GUI apps with GTK, to writing a script to tar files with certain extensions and sending you an email, this book is light enough for skimming for a solution, but also allows you to dive deep enough to develop applications to meet your needs.

I was a novice python programmer when I first encountered this book, and since then my progress has made leaps and bounds. Every so often I come back to this book for new material, and if I were a sys admin I'm sure this would be one of, if not the prime resource.