Programming ArcGIS with Python Cookbook - Second Edition

I took a Python scripting class a few years ago but haven't used it in quite a while. I needed a refresher on Python scripting for an ArcGIS upcoming project and this book was perfect. The fundamentals were nicely reviewed and the rest of the book is full of easy to reference practical examples. I especially like the "How it works..." sections that explain the finer points of the code. This book may be a little challenging for those unfamiliar with object-oriented programming, but I highly recommend it for anyone who has some Python experience.

The python steps are very ordinary and something I would do on a daily basis, maybe not even once in awhile. So a bit disappointed on the content.

Excellent programming book! Very explicit with good examples to practice on ! Definitely recommend it !

Not a good programming book. We used for 2 weeks and swapped to another book cause this one had so many errors.

So much useful information! Hopefully they'll come out with a newer version that addresses Python 3.x with ArcGIS Pro, however.

If you can Google search, "arcpy ______" you don't need this book. Waste of money.

I haven't gone through all the exercises yet, but so far I liked this book very much. There are many useful examples which you could readily apply to your daily jobs (if you are GIS user), such as exporting a map to pdf or image file, automating printing process, and creating geoprocessing tools, etc. Many of the examples are not too long to follow, and very user friendly (the book comes with all the necessary electronic files, including codes). Considering the fact that the first edition came out only in February 2013, this second edition came out rather fast; I guess there's much update since then and also many requests for the updated version (so, authors,thank you for your quick action!). One drawback was that I'm using ArcGIS ver. 10.1 (the book is written for ver.10.3) and some scripts did not work (e.g. Chapter 6, reading from a text file and plotting wildfire points). For those parts, ideally, the authors could have clarified which script would or would not work in which version of ArcGIS. Overall, I would recommend this cookbook to those who have taken intro Python class for ArcGIS, and want to explore further.

It's a perfect book to start learning arcpy. The exercises are interesting but not too complicated so you don't feel frustated and every step is explained so you can't get lost.After doing an arcpy online course (beginner level) I purchased the book Arcpy and ArcGis- Geospatial Analysis With Python but I think it's not the best option for beginners. I recommend Programing ArcGIS with Python Cookbook for beginners.