Guido van Rossum on IronPython in Action
Guido van Rossum is the creator of Python and its Benevolent Dictator for Life (BDFL). He is employed by google and not known for his love of the Windows platform. That aside I sent him a copy of IronPython in Action and he has reviewed it. As you can tell from the title of his blog entry it isn't a typical review, but he does say some very nice things about the book:
IronPython in Action and the Decline of Windows
Seeing a book like IronPython in Action, by Michael Foord and Christian Muirhead, is another milestone for IronPython. This is a solid work in every aspect, and something nobody using IronPython on .NET should be without. The book is chock full of useful information, presented along with a series of running examples, and covers almost every aspect of IronPython use imaginable.
There are some introductory chapters -- some fluff about .NET and the CLR, an introduction to Python, and an introduction to with .NET objects from IronPython. The Python introduction has a slight emphasis on differences between IronPython and CPython, though there aren't enough to fill a chapter. This is a good thing! The chapter does a pretty good job of teaching Python, assuming you already know programming. In general, the book is aimed solidly at professional software developers: unless you are paid to do it, why would anyone want to get intimate with Windows?
Unfortunately reading the early chapters that go through developing a simple Windows Forms example application seems to have given Guido terrible flashbacks to a brief period of C++/Win32 development and the rest of the article becomes somewhat a rant about the Microsoft / Windows programming experience. I think Guido is a little unfair to Windows Forms, it's certainly no worse than other GUI toolkits I've used, and whilst a little verbose in places is generally quite good. Ironically the only examples of pixel positioning in the book (that I can recall anyway...) is to demonstrate how much easier the visual designer can make some aspects of GUI development... Anyway, it's good that Guido liked the book - whatever he may think of Windows development.