This book covers a wide range of topics. From raw TCP and UDP to encryption with TSL, and then to HTTP, SMTP, POP, IMAP, and ssh. It gives you a good understanding of each field and how to do everything on the network with Python.

Free Python books and tutorials.

Annotated list of free online books on Python scripting language. Topics range from beginner to advanced.

By Allen B. Downey, Jeffrey Elkner, Chris Meyers; Green Tea Press, 2002, ISBN 0971677506. Teaches general principles of programming, via Python as subject language. Thorough, in-depth approach to many basic and intermediate programming topics. Full text online and downloads: HTML, PDF, PS, LaTeX. [Free, Green Tea Press]

By Magnus Lie Hetland; Apress LP, 2002, ISBN 1590590066. Readable guide to ideas most vital to new users, from basics common to high level languages, to more specific aspects, to a series of 10 ever more complex programs. [Apress]

A Complete Introduction to the Python 3.

By Richard Hightower; Addison-Wesley, 2002, 0201616165. Begins with Python basics, many exercises, interactive sessions. Shows programming novices concepts and practical methods. Shows programming experts Python's abilities and ways to interface with Java APIs. [publisher website]

By Ivan Van Laningham; Sams Publishing, 2000, ISBN 0672317354. Split into 24 hands-on, 1 hour lessons; steps needed to learn topic: syntax, language features, OO design and programming, GUIs (Tkinter), system administration, CGI. [Sams Publishing]

By David Mertz; Addison Wesley. Book in progress, full text, ASCII format. Asks for feedback. [author website, Gnosis Software, Inc.]

By Sean McGrath; Prentice Hall PTR, 2000, ISBN 0130211192, has CD-ROM. Methods to build XML applications fast, Python tutorial, DOM and SAX, new Pyxie open source XML processing library. [Prentice Hall PTR]